Please pray for
Mountain View Church
-our LPD Church of the Week
Mountain View Church is located in Sardis. For several years, they have met in Mount Slesse Middle School, but with COVID, they have been streaming services online.
Pastor Darryl (Kim) Botha, and their two daughters, Kaitlyn and Danielle, immigrated to Canada from South Africa in 2017, and they are enjoying living and serving in Canada.
Pray for the church, as they minister online, and also as they look to the Lord for a location in which to meet when they are once again permitted to do so. To learn more about Mountain View Church and to view their online service, please see their website at: https://www.mountainviewchurch.ca/
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Leading From the front lines, rather than the rear ...
In World War One, British chaplains of the Church of England were ordered to remain safely behind the front lines, ministering to soldiers in hospitals and ambulances. Most complied with these instructions.
This removal from harm’s way compromised the chaplain’s ability to effectively relate to and to minister to their fellow soldiers. Robert Graves, a war poet wrote of them, “If they had shown one-tenth the courage, endurance, and other human qualities that the regimental doctors showed, we agreed, the British Expeditionary Force might well have started a religious revival.”
Of the 2000 Anglican clergy attached to the British Army, 88 died in battle. One of these was Theodore Hardy.
Hardy, an Anglican Priest, was 51 years old when the war broke out. He volunteered for military service as a chaplain, but was considered too old. After his persistence, he was permitted to enlist as Temporary Chaplain to the Forces, 4th Class and attached to 8th Battalion.
Rather than hanging back in the relative safety of the hospitals, Hardy distinguished himself for his bravery, not in fighting, but for his gallantry in rescuing wounded soldiers from the front lines of battle.
In 1917, he was awarded the Distinguished Service Order. The London Gazette wrote of the event that led to this award:
Rev. Theodore Bayley Hardy, A. Chaplns. Dept. For conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty in volunteering to go with a rescue party for some men who had been left stuck in the mud the previous night between the enemy’s outpost line and our own. All the men except one were brought in. He then organised a party for the rescue of this man, and remained with it all night, though under rifle-fire at close range, which killed one of the party. With his left arm in splints, owing to a broken wrist, and under the worst weather conditions, he crawled out with patrols to within seventy yards of the enemy and remained with wounded men under heavy fire.
Later, he was awarded the Military Cross, again for bravery in rescuing the wounded under fire.
Finally, he was awarded the Victoria Cross, again for bravery in action. The London Gazette describes the events in this way, “For most conspicuous bravery and devotion to duty on many occasions. Although over fifty years of age, he has, by his fearlessness, devotion to men of his battalion, and quiet, unobtrusive manner, won the respect and admiration of the whole division. His marvellous energy and endurance would be remarkable even in a very much younger man, and his valour and devotion are exemplified… Notwithstanding, this very gallant chaplain was seen moving quietly amongst the men and tending the wounded, absolutely regardless of his personal safety.”
Hardy continued to tend to the wounded on the front lines. He was later wounded in action, which led to his death in France, on 18 October 1918, two days before his 55th birthday – and just three weeks before the end of the war.
As I consider the life and service of Hardy, I can only admire his desire to serve, his courage, and that he led by example.
He could have stayed home because he was considered “too old.” Once enlisted, he could have served safely in the military hospitals. Instead, he chose to go to the front lines with the troops he served, unarmed, yet willing to take enemy fire on their behalf as he rescued and comforted the wounded.
As we go through this season of COVID, there is much advice and counsel coming from the “experts,” remaining in the safety of the “hospitals,” far from the front lines. One well known church consultant published a book last September that instructs us as to how to lead the post-pandemic church… While this no doubt offers some good counsel, isn’t it also rather presumptuous and premature?
With all due respect to those who make their living by giving advice to others, this is the time for us as pastors and leaders to step up and to lead by example – from the front lines, rather than from the rear. We are the ones called to lead forward, through these uncharted waters of COVID. As people become weary of the pandemic, and of all the restrictions placed upon our lives and our ministries, people need to be reminded of our hope in Christ and that God is ministering in both fresh and powerful ways.
While we can “minister” by preparing sermons and writing emails from the safety of our studies, the “troops” that we serve need us to lead from the front – to rescue the wounded, to encourage and to show the way. This is what has always separated the leader from the manager. It has always been the way – think of Abraham, Noah, Moses, Joshua, Rahab, Gideon, David, Paul, Peter. They are remembered, not for their policies and methods. They are remembered for their faith in the Living God, and their willingness to obey the call to servant-leadership in challenging circumstances. All of them led from the front lines, rather than the rear.
It has also been the way of our Lord. As Paul writes,
If you’ve gotten anything at all out of following Christ, if his love has made any difference in your life, if being in a community of the Spirit means anything to you, if you have a heart, if you care—then do me a favor: Agree with each other, love each other, be deep-spirited friends. Don’t push your way to the front; don’t sweet-talk your way to the top. Put yourself aside, and help others get ahead. Don’t be obsessed with getting your own advantage. Forget yourselves long enough to lend a helping hand.
5-8 Think of yourselves the way Christ Jesus thought of himself. He had equal status with God but didn’t think so much of himself that he had to cling to the advantages of that status no matter what. Not at all. When the time came, he set aside the privileges of deity and took on the status of a slave, became human! Having become human, he stayed human. It was an incredibly humbling process. He didn’t claim special privileges. Instead, he lived a selfless, obedient life and then died a selfless, obedient death—and the worst kind of death at that—a crucifixion.
9-11 Because of that obedience, God lifted him high and honored him far beyond anyone or anything, ever, so that all created beings in heaven and on earth—even those long ago dead and buried—will bow in worship before this Jesus Christ, and call out in praise that he is the Master of all, to the glorious honor of God the Father.
(Phil 2:1-11 – The Message)
As I have been reflecting on all this, I acknowledge how much we can tend to gravitate toward discussing and focusing on the methods of ministry, the strategies for ministry, the challenges of ministry and the restrictions on ministry, rather than on the One for whom and in whom we minister.
If we focus on what we are able to do, we do not need to rely upon God and we can remain somewhat in control (at least we think we can). Prayer can be symbolic and God’s blessing may be more of a comfort than an outpouring of His undeniable power.
When I think of a challenge, albeit a ministry challenge or a person with “challenges,” my thoughts can go toward “fixing” the situation or person, rather than praying for God to work through me, or even in spite of me.
In this season in which many of our programs have been put on hold, ministry to people is more important than ever. Perhaps this is one plus of the pandemic. Until COVID, churches have focused on running programs to minister to people. Perhaps, in this new paradigm, we are once again focusing on ministering to and discipling people through personal relationships and example. This is something that Karen and I are both enjoying and growing in. We really are all the local Body of Christ in our communities.
To this end, here is an encouraging read from Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s, “Life Together,”
Community_Bonhoeffer.pdf
I am excited at what God is doing in His Church. I am excited about what God is doing in your church, and also in and through you! As I write this post, I have been pausing to call several pastors as you come to mind, and I am thankful for each one.
Praying for you, and alongside in the trenches,
Rob
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Upcoming Dates:
LPD Annual Meeting – virtual…
Saturday, March 6, 2021 – 10AM – 12noon.
Registration info will be sent out soon, but please save the date!
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