The One Thing All Pastors And Church Leaders Need
The following is a guest blog from this site’s friend and partner MAG Bookkeeping.
If your church needs bookkeeping or virtual assistance, there is no
one I recommend more. You can contact this wonderful organization by
clicking HERE. Now, onto The One Thing All Pastors And Church Leaders Need:
Sir Humphrey Monmouth was a wealthy merchant
in 16th-century London, who’d made his fortune selling cloth and
clothing to London’s elite – many of whom were members of the clergy.
Monmouth met, in 1524, a young theologian who was preaching at St.
Dunstan’s Church (now St. Dunstan in the West on
London’s Fleet Street) named William Tyndale. Tyndale was in need of a
place to stay – and someone to support him – while he started making
plans to start the work Tyndale believed God had laid on his heart. That
work was nothing less than producing the first vernacular (or “ordinary
language”) version of the Bible in English.
Monmouth invited Tyndale into his home, paid
all his expenses, and when Tyndale had to flee to continental Europe
later in the year because of the increasing pressure from church
officials to stop his translation, Monmouth gave him money to aid in his
travel. And Monmouth didn’t forget him. When Tyndale had finished his
first edition of a vernacular Bible while living in Germany in 1526,
copies were smuggled back into England hidden in bolts of cloth – many
of which were purchased by (you guessed it) Sir Humphrey Monmouth.
Tyndale eventually paid for his defiance of
church officials with his life. But before he died, he left behind
a translation of the Greek Scriptures that made up approximately 90
percent of the King James Bible (published in 1611). Tyndale introduced
into our language phrases like…
“Blessed are they that mourn for they shall be comforted” (Matthew 5:4)
“Our Father, which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name” (Matthew 6:9)
“In him we live, move and have our being” (Acts 17:28)
We’re not saying that Tyndale couldn’t have
completed his calling from God without Humphrey Monmouth, but there’s no
doubt that Monmouth’s service and support helped Tyndale along his way.
Monmouth’s relationship with Tyndale helped get the Word of God into
the hands of ordinary people in England long after Tyndale had left
Monmouth’s house.
Any pastor or church leader – anyone who’s
trying to fulfill God’s calling on his or her life and lead people in
expanding His kingdom – needs support. They need people around them to
provide service, encouragement and connections.They need a team to take
care of their administrative needs, someone to handle the details so
they can more effectively do the work they’re called to do. They need a
Humphrey Monmouth – someone who can provide support and encouragement,
who can handle the financial details of the ministry with the highest
levels of accuracy and integrity.
That’s who we want to be at MAG Bookkeeping.
We want to be your Humphrey Monmouth, the financial and procedural
support you need to help you more effectively carry out your ministry.
If you’d like to see how we can do that for your church, contact us today.
For more on William Tyndale’s life and work, check out these resources:
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