Here, if anyone is interested, or would find them helpful, are the questions I offered on Sunday ...

Questions to Ponder

1. When you think of the story/stories of Moses, what comes to mind? What mental picture do you have of him?  What do you think he was like as a person?
   
   
   
2. When Moses encountered God at the burning bush, he did everything he could think of to get out of accepting the call to return to Egypt, notably saying:
   
   
   1. ‘Who, me?’ (Exodus 3:11)
   2. ‘I’m no good at speaking’ (Exodus 4:8)
   3. ‘Can’t you send someone else?’ (Exodus 4: 13)

Do any of these ring true with your own experience when asked, invited, or told try something new or take on a new role?  What other reasons, excuses or get-outs  have you come up with in the past? Why was this?

3. After the Hebrew people had left Egypt they bean to place more and more demands on Moses, grumbling about water and food, reminiscing about how good life had been in Egypt, and expecting him to fix all their problems. How do you think that affected Moses?
   
   
   
4. Jethro gave Moses some wise advice – identify and appoint other people to attend to the day-to-day stuff so that you are free to do what God has called you to do and to be. How do you think that made Moses feel?  What do you think he looked for in the people he selected?  How might he have responded if they reacted as he had done in the past, and said ‘no thanks’?
   
   
   
5. It’s often said that in churches – indeed any organisation – that 90% of the work is done by 10% of the people. Clearly this isn’t healthy or sustainable.  It’s easy enough to see the ‘lessons’ to be learned from this Moses story about delegation and about succession planning, but not so easy to live them out.  Is there something that we could do, as individuals and/or as a church to share the load better and ensure the long-term health of (y)ourselves and (y)our church?