"friends that stick closer than a brother"

[clein]

The church I’m at was started about 6 years ago. We’ve grown considerably since then and have about 12 people on our program staff. Most were hired from within and grew into their ministries. Most have been part of the church for at least three years. It’s a tight family. That’s a very good thing.

But about 5 months ago we hired a new staff member to take a key leadership spot. We hired her from outside the church and brought her in with high expectations. And then we got back to our work. She floundered for several months. As she put it she wasn’t herself. And the tension grew.

Things finally came to a head and I resolved to take some action to correct it. I took a week to pray about it. During that week God convicted me about my responsibility for the problem.

You see, we were “friends that stick closer than a brother.� We were a band of brothers (and sisters since most are female). We had lived through some really challenging times and we were most comfortable with one another. Without knowing it we had excluded this new staff member. We’d just assumed that she’d find somewhere to fit – but mostly with someone else.

I came back from that week and apologized in front of my staff. I admitted that we had not made room for her, that we had made her feel like a stepchild in the family. We had kept her from the “team spirit� that the rest of us had. It was a turning point for us. In fact it sort of became a bonding experience that we all had lived through. She became one of us. She’s family now.