The Catalyst Church Leadership Creed

This may turn out to be the wackiest association I've ever come up with – but for some reason it works well in my mind (that statement should be warning enough!). For the last several months, in conjunction with the name-change for our local ministry from Colfax Assembly of God to Catalyst Church, I've been attempting to formulate a motto or creed for the numerous leaders within Catalyst Church. Not an easy task, I assure you. We have a great collection of leaders – with more added each month – that run the gamut from Executive Leaders (our official Board of Directors and spouses), Pastoral Staff, Ministry Directors over various areas, Task-Force leaders, and on and on. Some are elected by the congregation; some are appointed by me; some are paid; most are volunteers; all are gifted and called to the task of leading this congregation of Christ-followers known as Catalyst Church. Therefore, coming up with a single statement to serve as a rallying cry for all of them has been no easy task. That's when I landed on the concept of a shibboleth.  A shibboleth is a word or phrase used as a proving-ground of affinity, similar to a password but without the secrecy.

Now hang-on, this is where my association gets a bit odd: shibboleth is Hebrew for ear of corn and its roots as a "password" hale back to a story in the Old Testament book of Judges, chapter 12. As the story goes, the Israeli half-tribe of Ephraim has refused to aid their neighbor the Gileadites (another Israeli tribe) as they were being marauded by the Ammonites (decidedly NOT Israeli). Gilead was given favor by God and prevailed over the Ammonites. The tribal leader of Ephraim, incensed that he missed out on an opportunity for glory and spoil, turned it into a spitting match between cousins. Ironically, war broke out between the two tribes (who cares at this point who was in the right or wrong, to be honest). Gilead was again prevailing, which caused many of the Ephraimite fugitives to flee across the Jordan River. Here's the drama: the crossing points were used by all the tribes of Israel and foreign traders alike – so distinguishing who was from the tribe of Ephraim proved nearly impossible. The Gileadites came up with the solution of a password – not in the form of a secret word at all, but rather a particular word that Ephraimites could not pronounce due to their tribal dialect. That word – you guessed it – was shibboleth. Ear of corn. It seems the Ephraimites could not pronounce the sh sound at all, they pronounced it with a hard s instead – thus sealing their fate at the river's edge.

So, how on earth could I possibly think that particular story would serve as an inspiration for our Catalyst Church leaders? Are they to start using a password amongst themselves and kill everyone else?  Probably not the best plan.  Like most words in our language shibboleth has evolved into a different meaning and usage over the centuries. It now refers more to a statement that differentiates a role between members of a community. An identifying slogan, if you will. Similar to the Boy Scout motto, "Be Prepared," which serves to both define and identify their task. Think of it as an oath given to declare one's solidarity with a cause.
And thus, after many months of wrangling, test-marketing, cutting-and-pasting, crumpling up and tossing out, starting over, etc….I've landed upon this statement as the Catalyst Church Leadership Creed:
    "As many people on the mission with Jesus as humanly possible."
 
Stay tuned for my next posting as I shuck the husks off this particular ear of corn so we can all see the kernels (I know, that was a terrible allusion, but I'm leaving it).