Count the Levites by their families and clans. Count every male a month old or more. – Numbers 3:15

Today’s Scripture Reading (July 27, 2012): Numbers 3

There is an unspoken argument going on inside of the walls of the church. It is an unspoken argument because it is basically just one that we are having with ourselves. There is no one that is actually standing on the other side of the fight - just us. We are the ones occupying both positions. It is a battle largely between what it is that we say and what it is that we do. And the battleground is over our children.

On one side of the battle stand our words. We say that our kids are not the church of the future, that they are, in fact, the church of today. The meaning behind the words that we speak is that our children are the current church. What that means is that we are prepared to program for our kids – but more than that, it also means that we are prepared to train our kids to lead the church. We are ready to move them into positions of responsibility. And at an early age, to design church as they think it should be.

But that is not always what our behavior says. Our behavior says that we want to have things done our way. I have had conversations with retired adults that were not sure that the next generation was mature enough yet to take over their leadership roles in the church. It was not that they did not want them to take over, but that the desire to give leadership away was not enough to overrule the fear that the next generation would do things differently. And so the battle that we have with ourselves continues.

As Israel moved toward nationhood, they also had a plan for leadership. Hidden inside of the census instructions were the seeds of that plan. For every tribe the instruction was to count the male members over the age of twenty-five. The idea was that by that time they would be ready to learn their duty and be prepared to move into a position of leadership by the time they hit thirty. And the only exception was the tribe of Levi. For the Levites, the ones responsible for ministry inside of the tabernacle (the church) they started counting the men at the age of one month. Entrance into ministry was to be immediate.

We begin the training process for ministry immediately. Even according to Mosaic Law, our children are the church of today. It has always been that way.

   

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Numbers 4