How do church leaders make tough decisions?
Nehemiah realized that he needed to make some tough decisions after reading the Law of Moses. He made 3 tough decisions which others did not dare to do for fear of offending people.
(1) Remove corruption - misuse of privileges
Kick out Tobiah, the Ammonite who is staying in the court of God. Tobiah is related to the priest of the temple of God. The priest basically misuses his priestly privileges by allowing a foreigner to stay in the temple court. By doing a right thing, Nehemiah sets himself against the priest. (A priest is a very high official appointment).
(2) Obey God’s law - Institute the Sabbath
Keeping the Sabbath is a very important law for the Jews. To obey this, he stopped traders from selling during Sabbath. Surely, many people will be offended. Also, lifestyles have to be adjusted.
(3) Discipline sin - Remove Inter-religious marriages
Separated marriages of different religions and sent the spouses and children homes. Oh! The pain of family separation is unbearable.
Theses 3 decisions and actions surely created a lot of enemies for Nehemiah. After each action, Nehemiah prayed. “Remember me, O my God …”
Do our church people dare to make difficult but right decisions also, especially if it involve the church session – pastors, elders, etc. When pastors abuse privileges or misuse church funds, what should we do? When church members faced disciplinary actions, should we just stay quiet?
The church is supposed to be a friendly place, so the amicable approach is better. Nobody wants to stir up trouble. So we stay quiet.
Some of the tough decisions I can think of for you to grapple with:
(1) Church funds – overspending for church upgrading and excessive renovations
(2) Disciplinary actions – when a church member sins, how should the church committee deal with it, even though some members already know about it?
Do you stand up and act, like Nehemiah??
My next Bible Reading – the Book of Esther…
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