Don't Let Failures in Church Leadership Impact your Faith

Failure in church leadership can impact the faith of others. Leadership roles come with the presumption that these leaders have figured out their own spiritual walk and can now assist others with theirs. Unfortunately, that leads others to place unmerited faith in the actions of another human being rather than God.

A father once sought Jesus out to heal his son. Unfortunately for him and his son, Jesus was not available, but his disciples were. The disciples confidently, and maybe pridefully, attempted to heal the boy but were unsuccessful. This caused a bit of a commotion, but more importantly, it fueled doubt in the father so much so by the time Jesus was available the father doubted whether Jesus could heal his son. His doubt was evident when he asked Jesus to heal the boy prefacing the request with “…if You can do anything, take pity on us and help us!”” -Mark 9:22 NASB2020. “If you can?” Jesus said taken aback by the father’s word. “All things are possible for the one who believes.” Mark 9:23 NASB2020

It is obvious that when the father first sought out Jesus he fully believed Jesus could and would heal his son. I am sure he was confident that the disciples could heal him as well because they have healed others in the past, but when the disciples failed the father must have realized that his son’s issue was not like the other issues that he had heard of Jesus and his disciples addressing in the past and just maybe this condition was something Jesus and the disciples just couldn’t handle.

When we have issues our humanity desires a tangible solution so we seek assistance from other people, as we should. When it works out, we give God the glory, when it doesn’t, we tend not to simply give God the blame but we sometimes doubt God’s ability. Like the father we view the inability of God’s closest followers to function as expected as an indictment on God. Jesus’s response is to refocus the father. Humanity is fallible, but with faith, you don’t need to rely on other human beings. “All things are possible for the one who believes.” Mark 9:23 NASB2020.

The father understood in that moment where his reliance had been falsely placed and attempted to refocus. “Immediately the boy’s father cried out and said, “I do believe; help my unbelief!”” Mark 9:24 NASB2020. Likewise, we need to remind ourselves that the solutions to our issues are not human-based. Church leaders are merely God's instruments and are prone to their own human weakness. We must learn to wait upon God. “Yet those who wait for the Lord Will gain new strength; They will mount up with wings like eagles, They will run and not get tired, They will walk and not become weary.”

Isaiah 40:31 NASB2020

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