Kubernesissentials
In the ancient world, boats had a captain and a helmsman. The captain set the course and decided where the boat was going, and it was the helmsman’s job to make sure they got there. So when Paul referred to the spiritual gift of kubernesis (1 Cor 12:28) – steering, being a helmsman, managing, administrating, governing – it wasn’t a typo, or a confusion of categories. He was making the fairly obvious point that in the church, you don’t just need people who know where they’re going; you also need people who know how to get you there. Deacons. Administrators. Organisers and planners. Those sorts of people.
More colourfully, here’s Doug Wilson:
Mission cannot be accomplished without visionary leadership. Mission cannot be accomplished without a supply corps, and working supply lines. Without the supply guys, the visionary is Napoleon marching on Moscow. Without the visionary, the administrator is an undersecretary for Garbonzo bean subsidies in eastern Washington, involved in a desperate turf war with the Chickpea guy for northern Alabama.
And nobody wants that.
Comments
By Andrew Downes on 14/10/2011 at 17:13
How do we grow in this gift?