Definitions Matter!

Life’s Lessons Were Really Taught in Grade School

Church would be much more effective and fun if we applied childhood disciplines! What are those? It is apparent very few students encounter the subject of spelling. But I recall writing those spelling lesson words over and over. Then we had to define them.
A grade or two later, we started learning basic math equations. Guess what? Tests would require us to define the equation. We had to know:

What it is

What does it do

When and how is it used

Definitions matter to YOU and your Church!

Definitions matter everywhere. What we believe about something will determine how we treat it, value it, and incorporate it (or exclude it) into our lives. The following examples give you an idea of the importance of good definitions:

A husband

A wife

Stewardship

Children

Purpose for living

The Church

A Pastor

God has definitions for all these things. We run into problems when we:

Don’t know His definitions

We don’t like His definitions and try to redefine things to suit ourselves

I was recently with some parents in the Dominican Republic. They are well aware that God defines children as His gift to parents. That definition requires recognition of our responsibility for stewardship. Parents must then define two things for their children:

Life and its Source

Living life according to His definitions of purpose

Yes! He has defined purpose for us if we are willing to study up on it. And we must avoid defining Biblical study as something only our pastor has to do.
We also worked with pastors in defining the Church. We studied:

What it is and what it is not

Purpose as defined in God’s Word

What is the Church meant to accomplish?

How is it lead?

When, why, and how its mission and growth is Divinely guaranteed

Church and Chance

God is too far into the details of life to allow random chance to impact what is His. You are His. I am His. When I got home, I was catching up on email and a friend had sent me a delightful article. Chance? No. So let me ask you, How do you define pastor?
Churches and church members must be able to accurately define two things:

Church

Pastor

Many of our struggles and frustrations would be over if we could do those two things. To that end, please click the link below for a very well-written, humorous article on how to define a pastor. I suspect you may find you have a little study to do on the subject! If you do it, your life, and your pastor’s life, will improve.