Tampering with Titus

Prof J.R. Clinton from Fuller Seminary writes, in his commentary on Titus that his writings provide: "this is a leadership commentary, not an exegetical commentary". I do like the freedom of that approach as long we do not use the text to be a matrix for our opinions. The text must always first be allowed to reflect God's original intention using all the good, sound, true exegetical guidelines. Once this is established, we can review the sacred text to see what it prophetically calls to our attention.

I read an article by a BBC journalist who was proposing that it would be good for the right if Donald Trump ran for the presidency here in the USA. I did wonder how much of his article was tongue in cheek. However, where he was accurate, was his concern that there was a deficiency of true competent leaders in the USA today - most clearly seen by those seeking to stand against Obama in the 2012 elections. The church cannot ignore this obvious weakness that is raging in this nation. If it true when we say: "like the church, so the nation", then it is deeply concerning that we are not catalyzing nearly enough prophetically accurate and apostolically intentional leaders from the loins of our communities. Too much of the church is too cautious, conservative and preoccupied with endless lists of qualifications that provide horizons of hurdles for passionate young stallions.

Paul was different. While Peter tended to travel with established apostles, Paul seems to be focussed on both the "old guys" as well as the next generation of mavericks who always hold the future of the church in their hands. This quote is worthy some conversation:

“Experimental groups seeking to engage the Christian faith in a postmodern context will often lack the resources, profile or success record of the Boomer congregations. By definition, they are new, untried, relatively disorganized and fearful of self-promotion. They reject the corporate model of their Boomer forebears and thus do not appear, according to existing paradigms, to be significant. But don’t be fooled. Somewhere in the genesis and genius of these groups, is hidden the future of Western Christianity. To dismiss them is to throw away the seeds of our survival.” Gerald Kelly[1]

I would like for us to wrap our hearts and arms around this TITUS text to see how we can best give ourselves to the leadership conversation.

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[1] Frost and Hirsch; The Shaping of things to come; pg x,