ABOUT MY FATHER'S BUSINESS...

"...wist ye not that I must be about my Father's business?" (Luke 2:49)

That phrase, from the old King James Bible would TODAY have been translated
something like, "Did you not know that I must be about my Father's business?" 
It comes from the account of Jesus at age 12 teaching the wise men at the
temple, BUT being missing from the caravan of pilgrims from Nazareth who had come
to Jerusalem for a holiday and now were heading home.  That's a whole story in
itself, but the line about being "about my Father's business" is poignant.

The tension between "ministry" and "business" has always been a difficult one
for me to try to sort out.  Years ago, Dave Milley, the Senior Pastor of
Christian Life Center in Walpole hated when anyone referred to a ministry position
as a "job".  He would say, with obvious frustration in his voice, "It's NOT a
job, it's a MINISTRY!".  I think I knew what he meant.  But I had to fill out
a W-4 form when I went to work there.  I received a W-2 each year.  I had to
file taxes (contrary to what many people think, minister's DO pay taxes on
their income) each year; and I had to account for funeral and wedding honoraria
on form Schedule C.  For that matter, if churches and para-church organizations
are not legally set up as 501-c3 organizations, they are in for a lot of
problems.

When I became pastor of my own church (well, as we'll see in a minute, "my
own church" is a loaded phrase) I soon learned that about 50% of what I would be
dealing with was BUSINESS...essentially running a small business.  People are
often shocked when I tell them that half of what I do has nothing directly to
do with God or the Bible or anything like that.  It's negotiating a contact
with a copier leasing company, investigating upgrading telephone service,
making sure the plumbing in the building is up to code (no joke, up until a little
over a year ago, it wasn't), and all that kind of stuff.  This week, I opened
a letter to the church from the I.R.S. which stated the church did not pay
payroll taxes for me for one quarter of 2002.  The church DID but this
necessitated a lot of time consuming "digging" for me and for my wife who is the
church's Treasurer.

On Thursday morning I attended a meeting of the Central Massachusetts Section
of the Assemblies of God. The country is divided into Districts (this is
Southern New England) and the District is divided into 9 Sections.  Framingham is
in the same Section with Worcester and most of central Massachusetts.  Less
than a year ago, Bob Wise, who had pastored in Brockton for 33 years became our
new District Superintendent (like a "bishop").  Bob is a wonderful guy and a
great District Superintendent.  But his philosophy is different from what I've
been used to with many in the hierarchy.  Back when I was a brand new
minister, Gerald Wilson, the (then) District Secretary/Treasurer used to ask new
ministers, "Are you a COMPANY man?"  The late Rev. Wilson bought into the
philosophy that the Assemblies of God is a corporation and the ministers are in lower
level management.  I don't mean to knock Rev. Wilson.  He was a World War 2
combat veteran and a very hard working minister and administrator.  He projected
and presented that corporate philosophy as did many in our hierarchy.  Now,
Pastor Wise (and that's what he wants to be called, not "Superintendent" which
is fine with me) is moving in a very different direction.  Bob Wise emphasis is
ministry with the church as an organism.  He very much wants to move us away
(as much as possible) from the world's corporate model.

Pastor Bob Wise dislikes guys saying things like "my church", "my youth
pastor", etc.  He wants us to think of ourselves as STEWARDS of the church's we
pastor, but NOT owners.  That's done with good reason.  Some Assemblies of God
pastors through the years have SO thought of the church they pastor as "theirs"
that they've pulled churches out of the Assemblies of God and made them their
own little kingdoms.  I'm ashamed to say that at some point (since I am the
President of the legal non-profit corporation "First Assembly of God of
Framingham" which owns the church property at 32 South Street and the parsonage
property at 40 Harrison Street) I kind of began to think of it as "my" church...as
"my" small business.  For me it's going to be harder to re-focus that in my
mind and get into truly Biblical thinking about it than it's been to try to lose
my Boston accent.  (For those of you who know me, I no longer talk just like
Eddie Andleman, but there's still plenty of Boston accent bleeding through when
I speak!)

So, I had a lot to think about on Thursday morning. 
The difficult part is, just when you get feeling all spiritual and mystical
and God-centered, some threatening letter from the I.R.S. or some demanding
letter from the Town arrives in the mail....

"Lord, help me, Jesus..." to get this stuff straight and in proper order!