Vested Interest
There are people in our congregations, denominations and streams who have a vested interest in keeping the status quo. Their job and career could be in jeopardy if there was a change in thinking. Their church service might change and destroy their habitualised worship of God. Someone else might take their power position. Fear manifests itself in different ways. Jesus tackled vested interests as he met them. The Pharisees are an obvious example, but less obvious might be the thinking of the disciples. James and John who wanted to sit on Jesus’ right and left. Simon Peter who wanted to stop Jesus going to Jerusalem to suffer. All these vested interests had fear as a root. Those of us who have church leadership responsibility need to face the vested interests in our situations and encourage congregational members to ask God who to invite to take a closer look at Christ and his church.
