Team ministries often refer back to Exodus 18 to ground their management style in scripture. As a seminarian who is working on an MA in Leadership, I hear the Exodus 18 passage a lot. But what I’m hearing from my professors as the point of the story, is in fact, not what I see the point of the story being.
I often hear that the problem present for Moses is that he is acting alone and the burden is too great to carry. Jethro’s solution is that he delegate responsibility, thus forming a team model of ministry. This isn’t necessarily wrong in my eyes, but I think the text goes a lot deeper than some of my well-meaning professors allow.
In verse 14 Jethro asks Moses why he’s doing what he does. Moses is acting alone as judge while a multitude of people are just idly standing by him.
Moses’ reply in verse 15 is crucial. He says “The people come to me to inquire of God.” In other words, Moses is representing God before the people. If they want to know something about God, they go to Moses.
Jethro replies that what Moses is doing is not good because he is going to wear himself out and the people. But why? What makes the task too much to bear? The answer is found in Jethro’s council in verse 19.
“You should represent the people before God, and you should bring their cases before God.”
We often times look at our leaders as though they represent God for us. They aren’t supposed to have flaws. They are supposed to have it all together. They are supposed to have the answers.
The problem is that Moses is representing God before the people, when he’s supposed to be representing the people before God.
Moses is not the leader here. God is the leader. Moses is not God, and that makes the task of acting like it far too much to bear. Moses is not supposed to set on the judgement throne and take their inquiries, he’s supposed to bring their cases before God.
As we seek to do ministry in our current context, let us not forget that the head of the church is not our pastor, but Christ. So many of our pastors are burning out, quitting the ministry, and even committing suicide, because representing God before the people was never the goal. It’s always been about representing the people before God. We are the body of Christ. Jesus is the head. Don’t make your pastor Jesus. He wouldn’t make a very good one. Instead, as he does ministry for the sake of your local body, don’t stand idly by while he does all the work. Step up and take responsibility for your congregation.
Cognitive Panorama 