Jubilee Defined (latest)

There has been so much hype about jubilee lately and it is important that we get the right understanding of the name as it is in the scriptures. This especially as we have mixed the political and the church descriptions, none of which is scripturally accurate.

The jubilee is more related to the Sabbath than anything else. In fact it could simply be defined as the Sabbath of the Sabbath years.

To understand the Jubilee it is important to understand the Sabbath year. This is because in scriptures we do not see God judging Israel for not keeping the Jubilee, yet we see him condemning them for not giving their land its Sabbath.

Moreover also I gave them my sabbaths, to be a sign between me and them, that they might know that I am the LORD that sanctify them. (Ezekiel 20:12)

 And thou shalt number seven sabbaths of years unto thee, seven times seven years; and the space of the seven sabbaths of years shall be unto thee forty and nine years. Then shalt thou cause the trumpet of the jubilee to sound on the tenth day of the seventh month, in the Day of Atonement shall ye make the trumpet sound throughout all your land. And ye shall hallow the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof: it shall be a jubilee unto you; and ye shall return every man unto his possession, and ye shall return every man unto his family. A jubilee shall that fiftieth year be unto you: ye shall not sow, neither reap that which groweth of itself in it, nor gather the grapes in it of thy vine undressed. For it is the jubilee; it shall be holy unto you: ye shall eat the increase thereof out of the field. In the year of this jubilee ye shall return every man unto his possession (Leviticus 25: 8 - 13)

The seventy year captivity was a release for the land to enjoy the Sabbaths Israel had denied it.

And I will scatter you among the heathen, and will draw out a sword after you: and your land shall be desolate, and your cities waste. Then shall the land enjoy her sabbaths, as long as it lieth desolate, and ye be in your enemies' land; even then shall the land rest, and enjoy her sabbaths. As long as it lieth desolate it shall rest; because it did not rest in your sabbaths, when ye dwelt upon it. (Leviticus 26: 33 - 35)

The main purpose of the jubilee was equalization. That also was the main purpose of the Sabbath year. It was a display of trust in God in that one simply released himself into God’s keeping by simply giving land rest for a whole year, releasing any Hebrew slave generously and forgiving any debts owed you. I must trust God adequately to do all that when I am not expecting anything from my land for at least two years. No wonder it was difficult for Israel to do!

God knew that people are different in their understanding of business and the driving force for success in business is exploitation. Capitalism may have been defined recently but it was in existence since men started interacting. Exploitation was thus in existence even then as people sought to take advantage of others to enrich themselves.

We will also realize that there were irresponsible, wasteful and lazy people even then who were not averse to wasting their inheritance at the expense of their posterity.

The combination of the shrewd capitalist and the irresponsible steward is the reason God brought about the Sabbath year and the jubilee. It was to protect the vulnerable who is the victim of the clash or partnership between the shrewd business type and foolish stewards. It was God’s solution to the exploitation of generations by opening up of options.

It gave room for someone to learn from his folly. If one wasted his property like the prodigal son, he could count on hiring himself out to deal with his debt for at most six years.

And if thy brother, an Hebrew man, or an Hebrew woman, be sold unto thee, and serve thee six years; then in the seventh year thou shalt let him go free from thee. And when thou sendest him out free from thee, thou shalt not let him go away empty: Thou shalt furnish him liberally out of thy flock, and out of thy floor, and out of thy winepress: of that wherewith the LORD thy God hath blessed thee thou shalt give unto him. And thou shalt remember that thou wast a bondman in the land of Egypt, and the LORD thy God redeemed thee: therefore I command thee this thing to day. (Deuteronomy 15: 12 - 15)

The purpose of the same was to demonstrate God’s love and care. The Sabbath was therefore one way of demonstrating God’s care over His people. Wealth was deemed secondary to nurturing God’s nature over our brothers. Even the returns from loaning of money became secondary to having God’s nature.

But thou shalt open thine hand wide unto him, and shalt surely lend him sufficient for his need, in that which he wanteth. Beware that there be not a thought in thy wicked heart, saying, The seventh year, the year of release, is at hand; and thine eye be evil against thy poor brother, and thou givest him nought; and he cry unto the LORD against thee, and it be sin unto thee. Thou shalt surely give him, and thine heart shall not be grieved when thou givest unto him: because that for this thing the LORD thy God shall bless thee in all thy works, and in all that thou puttest thine hand unto. (Deuteronomy 15: 8 - 10)

Thus beyond the aspect of disconnecting from the hassle of pursuing wealth the purpose of the Sabbath year was bringing some balance in society and raising the faith level of the people of faith by diverting their attention from the world to God and His values.

The jubilee was the pinnacle of the Sabbath year. It was the Sabbath of the Sabbath years. It was immediately after the seventh Sabbath year.

And ye shall hallow the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof: it shall be a jubilee unto you; and ye shall return every man unto his possession, and ye shall return every man unto his family. (Leviticus 25:10)

The Sabbath year dealt mainly with debts, lending and slavery. The jubilee dealt with the land.

The land shall not be sold for ever: for the land is mine; for ye are strangers and sojourners with me. (Leviticus 25:23)

This was the purpose of the jubilee. It was acknowledgement of the fact that God owns the land and that was the reason the land reverted to the original allottee.

Therefore the thrust of the jubilee was the equalization of all by making land God’s property as a confession.

This took care of the generation of the people who had sold their lands for whatever reason. There were irresponsible parents who had sold out their posterity and left them destitute because of their greed or folly and had no way or willingness of redeeming the lands.

This was the reason God brought about the jubilee. This took care of the next generation as they would then have another chance at starting afresh. Even the wasteful parents might have learnt their lesson and may be wiser at handling the land issue after the jubilee.

Speaking of the jubilee as anything other than that may actually be a twisting of the scriptures. It may be the diversion of the word to more selfish purposes.

Jubilee has more to do with historical reparations than ‘blessings’. It is more about giving than receiving. It is more of a responsibility than access to a promise. It should involve more soul searching than celebration.

What is the jubilee to you? Is it just hype and excitement and expectation of ‘great things’ or is it guided by God’s word? Is my understanding of jubilee interested with the disadvantaged in society and my part in making a positive difference in their life or is it just an open mouthed expectation of a new chapter of even greater worship of mammon?

You see to the rich land owners, jubilee meant the surrender the lands he had acquired on a willing buyer willing seller basis simply because that is what God had ordered. It meant his reducing land ownership substantially as the only land he could own was what had been passed on by his ancestors. This came after he had released the slaves he had bought with his own money, and with very generous gifts, also because that is what God had ordered. Then he had left his land without cultivation for the past year, because God had said so. This meant that his land was providing free food for the widows, orphans, refugees and poor as that was one purpose of the Sabbath year. He had also forgiven all debts all his debtors owed him, because God said so.

Then he gets to the second year without cultivating the land, even the little that he originally owned before his business acumen and agricultural prowess elevated him to the state he had attained before the jubilee.

And no wonder that keeping the Sabbath year and jubilee brought a blessing to Israel. It simply transformed the society and redeemed relationships. It built the faith of the whole community as the relationships were enriched through that open and unselfish sharing of the resources they had.

It was the jubilee that dealt mammon a death blow since mammon exists to elevate self interest. It is such self interest that makes one to look at others as avenues for his self gratification and realization.

It did not devalue hard work and innovation. It did not create a welfare state. It was not communism though I am sure many communists would like to think so. It did not devalue private ownership of property. It did not promote laziness.

On the contrary it made hard work very valuable. What it did is bring balance in the same by dealing with the extremes of the same. It did what every politician and political party always promises to do but is unsuccessful in doing, reducing the gap between the rich and poor.

Even better than is the fact that it gives even the poor a new lease of life to attempt to also become wealthy. It therefore opened opportunities for all. Any society that pursued God’s law became a land of opportunity for all, and especially through the jubilee.

Compare that with USA, the famed land of opportunity. There is great inequality and people are groaning through lack of opportunity especially as their industries are being exported to lands where labor is cheap, leaving them to struggle with joblessness. People are losing their property since they can’t service loans because the banks and mortgage companies are in it for the kill. This makes the rich become richer as the poor are sinking deeper into hopelessness.

Kenya is no different. Having been in most parts of this country I have come to realize that in places where you will find the most prosperous communities you will without fail find the most desperate poverty indicators. As I have mentioned in my books the slums are the centre of the most affluent estates in our towns, meaning that it is the slums that provide cheap labor for the rich without any sense of guilt. The places with the largest parcels of land are the places with the most squatters to provide cheap labor for the farms.

Jubilee means equitableness, not equality. It means we seek to elevate someone deep in the dumps so that they can at least attain some sense of self value, and this not by giving them handouts. It is offering them opportunities.

How do you feel when you spend more money taking a friend to lunch than you pay your cook or watchman for a month? How do you feel spending more money on the upkeep of your dog than you pay its handler? How do you feel spending more on fuelling your car than you pay its driver?

Do those employees also eat and have a life? Do they have families and educate their children? Are you created differently from them? Is the God you worship different from the one they worship? Do you have more faith than them?

I think contextualizing the jubilee today would mean trying to narrow the gap between the rich and poor, and I repeat not by giving handouts. Let us try to offer them opportunities to improve their lot.

Is he a watchman because his parents could not afford to educate him? Make a difference by helping him educate his children. Did the house girl drop out of school because her parents could not afford to take her to high school? Then take her to a college where her qualifications could fit and give her a few hours off each day for the same.

Do you have land that you bought from drunken fathers? Sell a few acres affordably to the children of those fathers so that they can also get a chance to start their lives with a piece of land.

Do you have a well paying job yet you have a neighbor who is struggling to put food on the table for his children because he is jobless? Give him small jobs that you pay generously to make him at least feed his family. Empower the widows and orphans that you know. Invest in making a positive difference in the society even as you are using them to make your millions.  That is what Apostle James teaches in his book.

I think that is the essence of jubilee. We access the blessing of the season by operating by the spirit of the season. Just mentioning the season yet operating contrary to its spirit will very easily attract the judgment that comes from defying God’s order.

But if ye will not do so, behold, ye have sinned against the LORD: and be sure your sin will find you out. (Numbers 32:23)

Keeping the spirit of the Sabbath year and the jubilee are not optional just like obedience is not optional. There are consequences whichever you choose. The one thing you can be sure is that whatever you choose will determine on what side God will be in respect to you position. Obedience brings Him to your corner whilst disobedience makes Him your opponent. And it does not really matter whether you are a Christian or not. The only thing you can be sure of is that judgment will begin in the house of faith and that because we have the truth of God and choose to take another route.

I am sure you want some examples.

Our area was a hotbed of the Mau Mau uprising. My father was among those in the forest fighting the colonialists for land (we were later told they were fighting for independence). When that independence came, the colonialist handed the reins of power to their bootlickers so that the queen’s interests are protected in the independence season. This gave the demarcation of the land to the colonialist’s henchmen and home guards who were sworn enemies to the freedom fighters and their families. Since families had been moved from their lands to reserves and camps during the struggle, it was very easy to punish the Mau Mau since there was nobody living on their land.

The Mau Mau thus lost their lands. I was shown the man who swore to make sure that my father got no land, and that is what happened to most freedom fighters.

Without land, the freedom fighters lost everything as they could not educate their children or even farm. It was an uphill struggle from then on.

Fast forward to the same people giving their inheritance to their children. I have observed over the years God reversing the situation in one generation (think jubilee). God has done the equalization Himself, many times even judging the oppressor. Most of the land has reverted to the original owners and the ones who fought for it through their children. How? It is interesting that these old men would share their land (and they really gave themselves huge chunks) to their children and the children would sell most (some even all) of the land, and to the children of the disfranchised. Many children of the freedom fighters would barely have any education but God would bless their hand in farming (many through getting land in the forest to farm as they tend the trees) and business however small it started.

There are people who knew the value of land before their brothers, many times because they were the ones who received some education at the expense of their siblings. These grabbed family land and assets at the expense of their brothers. Some disinherited their brothers’ widows. That land has been taken from them or their children.

There are people who mistreated or despised others and God reversed the situation.

I will also highlight some humor on God’s side. When He sends Judah in exile for among other things denying the land its Sabbaths, what do we find?

And he carried away all Jerusalem, and all the princes, and all the mighty men of valour, even ten thousand captives, and all the craftsmen and smiths: none remained, save the poorest sort of the people of the land (2 Kings 24:14)

But the captain of the guard left of the poor of the land to be vinedressers and husbandmen (2 Kings 25: 12)

God reverses the tide so that the people who were the probable cause of that poverty have to leave all that land they had exploited in the hands of the exploited, and that free of charge.

I can give you case after case of real people and situations I have seen over my not so few years. Suffice it when I say that respecting the spirit of the jubilee has rewards just as ignoring it has judgment. Like I have mentioned that the main reason for the Jewish exile was precisely that (2 Chronicles 36: 21; Jeremiah 25: 8 - 11)

David exhibits the jubilee spirit when he flees. Though the main army was against him, we know that he had enough friends to raise an army at short notice. Even the crown prince Jonathan could easily have joined him had he as much as hinted as we know he could even visit him in exile! Many in Israel knew that he was the king Samuel had anointed after Saul rebelled against Him. Even Saul confessed as much. Yet what do we see?

And every one that was in distress, and every one that was in debt, and every one that was discontented, gathered themselves unto him; and he became a captain over them: and there were with him about four hundred men. (1Samuel 22: 2)

David chose (or was probably followed by) the lowest in society. He gave them hope and a chance to reverse their situation. When you look at the mighty men he had, you will even see refugees. His jubilee spirit released hopeless people into great usefulness and faith in God. Such people became sold out to his cause that they became an army like no other. I believe that is among the things the jubilee was supposed to accomplish. Compare that with Saul in 1 Samuel 22: 7, 8?

This I believe is what we should be talking about as we make all the noise about jubilee this or the other because I believe this is what God is ultimately interested in.

Jacob’s Three Firstborns

 Now the sons of Reuben the firstborn of Israel, (for he was the firstborn; but, forasmuch as he defiled his father's bed, his birthright was given unto the sons of Joseph the son of Israel: and the genealogy is not to be reckoned after the birthright. For Judah prevailed above his brethren, and of him came the chief ruler; but the birthright was Joseph’s) (1Chronicles 5: 1, 2)

Jacob had twelve sons by his two wives and two concubines. We know that he actually paid bride price for only one of them, Rachel. The others were consequential provisions from the love of his life. Leah was the reward of his sly father in law who switched brides at the last moment. The other two came about through the wrestling of the two sisters for dominance especially as it concerned Rachel’s barrenness.

Reuben was the actual firstborn, as Jacob said, ‘the beginning of his strength’ (Genesis 49: 3). But we know he abused that right and therefore forfeited it for the pleasure of a moment. That position was not negotiable and could never be taken away. Only you can forfeit the right to your position as Reuben did. Another person who did the same was Esau.

Joseph was the son of Jacob’s choice, his favorite. He was the son Jacob worked fourteen years for. He was the son his father favored above all the others. Were it not for Laban’s trickery, he would have been the first born anyway. But we also see another side to his person. From his dreams and demeanor we see him as the one who connected to the spiritual heritage of his father. We also know that his brothers did not feel unfairly treated at the time he was given the birthright (double portion) that rightly belonged to the firstborn because they owed him their lives. Joseph was therefore the continuation of Abraham’s spiritual heritage. He was connected to the covenants in a way no other son was. Remember he is the one who asked for an oath from the Israelites to ensure that his remains are buried at ‘home’ yet he knew it was centuries away.

But it does not stop there. Judah was not the second born so that he profits from Reuben’s folly. He was not even the third born. He is in the second half of Leah’s sons. We therefore would not expect him anywhere near leadership.

Yet what do we find? Judah was able to break through all limitations to emerge on top. Why? One trait I find in him is the fact that he took responsibility for his actions. He was not only crafty and strategic in his thinking; he was not scared to take full responsibility for his actions. We see that when he is dealing with Tamar (Genesis 38). We also see the same when he is dealing with Joseph in Egypt.

You see the difference between him and Reuben when they are getting rid of Joseph. Reuben is looking at stealing Joseph back to his father probably to try to undo the damage he had done to his name, at the expense of his brothers. Judah thinks for the whole family as he thinks of dealing with this upstart, and he takes the day.

Jacob refuses to listen to Reuben, yet yields to Judah’s plea. You see the same even when in Joseph’s presence.

Judah takes the leadership spirit from his father, and not by looking for favors. He accessed it by taking responsibility especially when it concerned others. We see him speaking for his family when in a tight situation. We see him taking responsibility for the errors of others. We see him carrying the weight of his brothers when he was nowhere near a first born. No wonder Jacob deposited the scepter in him.

Many will say that his name also contributed to that and I will not dispute with that. Yet we do not see much of the name praise unless with David. In fact even when David organized the temple worship we do not see any Jew (Judah’s seed) there. In fact apart from David, all the singers were Levites.

What we clearly see is that Judah stood out in terms of responsibility, which is what good leadership is all about.

What do we learn from this? To benefit from Josephs blessing, we must seek to establish a spiritual connection. We must grow our spiritual sensibility to elevate our spiritual expectation. This will give us spiritual elevation to access a spiritual inheritance.

But we must not appear to be too heavenly minded to be of any worldly value. Of course we cannot be heavenly minded and be irrelevant in this earth. But suffice it when I say that spirituality is of immense profit if it is yoked to Judah’s sense of responsibility. We must make our spiritual potency count here and now.

Joseph, though he was also a leader, had some entitlement and favor from his father. He therefore did not get submission from his brothers willingly. They may have thought they were duty bound to submit. Judah however made it easy for his brothers to submit as he neither fought nor demanded for it. He just took responsibility in such a way that the brothers and father accepted it.

What kind of leader are you. Are you a Reuben who takes advantage of his position? Are you a Joseph who is so connected to the spiritual that he can see really far? Or are you like Judah whose leadership seems to flow as you provide solutions without fearing to muddy your boots in the process?

May we seek clarification from God as to what kind of leaders we are and how we can be the kind of leaders He has purposed for

Church Splits

We are having an explosion of churches, some with very strange names. We should expect that to be a sign than a revival is happening but that is not the reality. No new people are joining the church of Christ. We are just having a shifting of members from a church to the other. The sad fact is that even evangelism is not aimed at the unreached, but at members of ‘inferior’ churches. Why do I say this? I have participated in some thrusts and am also involved with leaders from many churches in my ministry even at the strategy level. Even the evangelistic message itself  is alien to people who have never been in church.

With all the outreach we are being asked to support and are receiving ‘flowery’ reports about, is it a surprise that Kenya is not over-evangelized? Is it not a surprise that the moral situation is not improving after all the ‘decisions of salvation’ we continue to receive after such thrusts? Why is it that we still have unreached people groups in Kenya yet we enjoy the pleasure of having probably the greatest concentration of evangelists and evangelistic efforts anywhere? Why does Nairobi have some totally unreached communities yet it hosts 95% of all the foreign missionaries in Africa according to some report findings?

One reason I will pose is the unstable situation in the church. I will talk about the Kenyan situation because it is the one I know best about as I have been part of it since childhood. I have also been a minister in the same since Christ called me close to thirty years ago.

But I will address one aspect in the same as I believe it will address many other problems in the church. This is the proliferation of churches; many of them being break out groups of other churches. Some are clones of televangelists and popular preachers’ churches. I will not touch of some that even practice witchcraft and other abominations to gain giving members and even satellite supporters.

What causes church splits?

1.      Immaturity – this can be caused by the leader who split the church or whose church was split. Many churches have a closed method of raising leaders. They expect you to be raised only to a certain level, which level should not reach the leader or even dream to challenge him. Growing will thus be limited to only what the boss can accommodate. When a leader being thus grown exhibits greater potential than expected, the boss will be under severe threat. He might simply kick the guy aside. On the other side the guy being raised might resent the ceiling being imposed over his ambition and simply break out of it.

2.      Worldliness – many ministers do not really know to differentiate the spiritual and the worldly. It is similar to what God said to the priests in Ezekiel 22: 26. There is therefore no clear distinction between what God expects of them and what the world expects. With such a value system, it becomes difficult to know the difference between self interest and God’s purpose. With such a value system, one will submit to a leader as long as it serves his interest. He will not stay a day longer once he sees greener pastures. That might be grabbing members of the congregation who also think like you do and will have no problem following you. Others will even eject the leader so that they will take over the ‘empire’

3.      Greed – this might be easily confused with ambition. But this person looks for his interests when taking spiritual positions. He will therefore not be averse to scheming to grab from anyone who holds any position or potential to fill his ‘stomach’

4.      Envy – this has a very destructive spirit. In my book ‘Envy, the Destroyer’s Blank Cheque’, I examined envy from many angles. One is that envy is actually witchcraft as it activates the demonic to destroy someone who holds what you cannot have. This person will use even demonic avenues to destroy. This might involve but is not limited to strife and the push for church splits to destroy what has potential to decimate the devil’s agenda on earth.

5.      Lack of Discipleship/ Mentoring – I think this is the main reason for most splits. The church leadership looks for leaders without thinking to raise them. It can be compared to a fertile couple adopting grown children for fear of childbirth and the initial investment in a ‘helpless’ babe. Yet that is what Jesus commanded in Matthew 28: 18 – 20. We will be always in control of our children however high they fly because we made the vital connection from carrying them in the womb, going through the challenges of a pregnancy and its complications, the traumatic childbirth and the season the child is wholly dependent on the parents. A shortcut to leadership development therefore will not be able to produce leaders with an attachment to your structure as they were poached elsewhere. Discipleship will get a person to understand their position in Christ and how it relates to their whole Christian life. Mentoring will show how it is done by allowing him to watch a flesh and blood type doing it. It will expose him to leadership by handing him responsibility after another consistent to his level of growth. It will also allow him to see himself growing beyond his mentor and structure. It will therefore ingrain in him the fact that he will most likely minister in a structure other than the one he has grown in.

6.      Fear – this comes from lacking the vital connection with the King of kings through discipleship and a vibrant devotional life. I will therefore be looking to kill any threats to my leadership. This protective leadership style will of course dichotomize all my contacts simply to those either for or against me. Loyalty becomes premium as I can never be sure who to trust. I will therefore protect myself with people who can kill for me or have no capacity to pose any threat. I will fight anybody who attempts to raise his head, however little that attempt is. No one is safe around me because, well, you can never be sure. Like Herod of old, I will kill even my own children and wife should they exhibit something close to ambition.

7.      Spiritual Success – some people exhibit a great degree of spiritual ‘success’ very quickly. Giving such a leadership position might hand you an explosive in your hands. This will happen especially if you will overlook discipleship/ mentoring. Someone like that will simply feel too big for the structure and of course seek to start his. This is the novice Paul talked when he wrote Timothy and Titus.

8.      Personality Cults – some people build churches in their name, or it evolves in that direction. Though it might be called church, it actually is someone’s kingdom, his or his family’s property. Any spiritual person in that structure will not only be a threat, he will actually be the enemy. Though they may have brought him for his usefulness to their structure, his spirituality becomes a liability once his usefulness has ‘expired’. He has thus to be ejected at all costs. The sad part is that the congregation does not know that what they think is Christ’s church is actually family or personal property. Such will not feel guilty if they ruined such a person’s reputation through slander, something I have seen a number of times.

9.      Unbridled Ambition – this is also tied to lack of discipleship. Such a person develops ambition that has no basis in scripture. That coupled with some success can lead him to imagine that he must start his own church because others are not ‘spiritual’ enough to serve in or even fellowship with. Of course you will agree that this will very easily lead to cultism. You will find that many of them do not know or even value scripture.

10.  Syncretism – many people have mixed Christianity and their traditions/ culture. Sadly, much of what we in Africa call Christian is European culture. We are therefore reproducing what was brought to us. You will therefore see a church being run on cultural lines and structures. Its leadership is therefore not spiritual in the least, unless that spirituality is demonic. A person in that structure who receives a revelation of what the Bible says will find it extremely difficult to blend with the rest due to that revelation. They will also be resented by the same. That is what happened to Luther, Wesley, Booth and many others. Again I will say lack of discipleship is the main culprit.

11.  Worldly Value Systems – the church is a spiritual organism. It therefore has spiritual values to be pursued. But many times some of the leaders are chosen not for their spirituality but their connections, charisma, ingenuity or wealth, which are all worldly values. Such a person has no spiritual compass and may not even think he needs it. Again conflict is inevitable when a spiritual person is in that structure.

12.  Pride – this does not need much explanation. But suffice it when I say it is when human nature is given full rein in an individual or structure. Pride hates competition or control other than one’s control of others. Even God’s control is resented, though carefully concealed sometimes. I will hasten to add that sometimes the greatest indicator of pride is the display of humility especially to confront ‘pride’ in others. Of course the Bible talks about false humility.

What are we supposed to do with this information? Is this an issue Christ expects us to deal with? Does our spirituality let us fly past church splits? Or is it that we are too spiritual to even dwell on such purely worldly issues?

Are church splits a concern to the saints? Are they a prayer item in prayer meetings? Are they a burden to church leaders? Do we lose sleep over them?

This is just to challenge each of us to look at church splits the way God looks at them. It is to guide us to think of a strategy to reverse that poisonous trend. This is because as we know ‘he who lives by the sword will die by the sword’, meaning a beneficially of church splits will eventually lose from the same. The pain we cause by breaking apart congregations is the same we will experience when our congregation will be split by people we have mentored. God is not mocked as the scriptures teach.

Yet I feel the best we can do is to start discipleship and mentoring in such a way that we are not only excited to see people growing under us but that we will be excited to even hand over our positions willingly to them.

Lastly we need to be prayerfully careful before handing over positions of leadership. Let us follow scripture as we look for our leaders. Just because someone is on fire is no guarantee that he will make a good leader. Leaders are grown. Zeal may be good to guide you to the person to disciple more intensely; otherwise you may release the novice Paul talked about. Plus a number of people with excess zeal do not have teachable spirits or malleable hearts.

If Jesus took three years to disciple the twelve and his was a 24/7 kind of discipleship, what makes you think that you can raise leaders from picking them wherever and entrust them with the ministry Christ has entrusted to you?