Span of Control

Ever wonder why we used to have zones, bible talks, and discipling partners, in addition to the other higher structure within our church? Some say it wasn't biblical. Some say that it is only the person's direct relationship with God that counts. Some say it was too structured. Many of you know that I have a long military background....after college, I entered the Army and remained there for 21 years. After retirement, I continued to work for the military, and still do today. So I have been ingrained with discipline and structure for many, many years. Even my grade school (1st through 8th grades, for me) and four years of high school were very structured. We sat in rows, at desks, and didn't speak until we had permission. For some of you, that may have been the same. But for me, it has been that way all my life. We didn't even have 'modern math' as that lacked structure. 2 and 2 was 4, no matter how you diced it.

When I joined the then Atlanta Church of Christ in 1996, one of its appealing facets was its structure; its discipline. Structure and discipline is not often easy...I saw many people leave the military because they could not live within such a demanding, toe-the-line type of society. I have seen many people leave our church for the identical reason. I have also, unfortunately, seen the rapid downfall of structure and discipline in the church since Henry wrote and published his letter. And with that, I have witnessed a trend toward pacifying preaching. On occasion, we return to a hint of fire and brimstone, but generally, we hear things about changing our hearts, extending our love, and showing more compassion. Don't get me wrong, those important messages need to be heard, by both new, and old, Christians. (I hate to use the word Disciple to describe us, as I see less and less of the qualities and actions of disciples in all of us). But in addition to those kinder, softer messages, we need to hear the 'requirements' and other commands of Jesus. As a matter of a fact, as Jesus says that the greatest command is to love others, he explains how to do that in his teachings. Those things include evangelism, not being judgmental, praying, understanding and applying the principles of the bible, plus others. If you read the Beatitudes, you will hear His warnings about living structured and disciplined lives. But our preachers have strayed some from that. Our church now has 'family groups', because it sounds so much more politically correct, and loving, than zones and bible talks. We don't have 'assigned' discipling partners because that is too structured.....now I might tend to go along with that, but because we don't have assigned discipling partners, only a very limited amount of discipling one another occurs. There is no accountability to anyone, except God. And I think we all know that we cannot do this 'walk with God' thing, without a little help from other Christians.

I was reading parts of Exodus this morning, and when I re-read chapter 18, I saw how structure may have been first introduced as far as some church functions are concerned. This story is about Jethro (no, not Jeb's nephew on The Beverly Hillbillies, but the father-in-law of Moses) who returned to Moses with Moses' wife Zipporah and her two sons. Jethro saw how one day that Moses set up shop by sitting in one place and served as judge for all the peoples who came to him from morning to evening. When he saw that, he told Moses flat out, "What you are doing is not good.". He then gave Moses some advice (in the ASV, the term used was 'counsel'). He told him to set up a structure of judges as representatives of God, and appoint officials in a structure of 'thousands, hundreds, fifties, and tens'. If you look at that 'pyramid' of supervisors, you might note that it changed from tens (that is for every thousand, you had 100), to twos (for every 100 you had fifty), to fives (every fifty you had ten) and back to ten. I can't explain why the jump down to 2 and 5, and then back to 10, but I do know something about 'span of control'. In our Army, the general rule is one supervisor (commander) for every 5 leaders, until you get to the lowest level leader, and it turns to 7. Seven people in one's span of control.

Now, span of control is not meant to be construed as actual control, but more of supervision. Only God can control, the rest of us can supervise. In a supervisory role, we take on a trait of Jethro...he gave advice. He counseled. In the military structure, there is not what one might consider to be a lot of love, at least in the sense we may discuss it between Christians. However, there is a form of love, in the bonds of friendship and trust a soldier, marine, airman or seaman might experience. Jethro showed love for his daughter's husband by counseling. Military supervisors demonstrate concern and a form of love for his 'subordinate's by providing guidance, leadership, counseling and at times, rebuking.

I suggest everyone read Exodus 18, note how a structure is important, and see how the structure, both in our church, and our own lives, can be improved. Moses' structure was improved by counseling, to which he promptly responded. Our structure can also be improved by the establishment of a better span of control within our church organization. I suggest we reorganize into smaller groups, 5 to 10 in each, and above that, a set of counselors who oversee about 7 to 10. And I also suggest we go one step further, and set up discipling groups, 4-5 people in each group. (that would be about 2 groups of active discipling-each-other-people within each lowest level group.

Many of you may feel we have too much structure now....I don't. Since Henry, we have been allowed to kinda wander in our own little desert, and try to seek help when we think we need it most. Unfortunately, we need that help a lot more than we ever seek it. We need daily interaction, spiritual interaction, with other spiritual people. We need to follow the examples of the 1st century Christians, and meet daily.....that doesn't mean we meet with everyone everyday, but that we meet with SOMEONE, everyday....even if it is only via telephone.