Do you have an anchor?

I hope that the immediate answer is that “yes, Jesus is my anchor.”. However,  I’m thinking of something slightly different here.

Most good football teams have a player whose position is “anchor midfield” or sometimes “holding midfield.”

Their job is to sit in front of the defence, protecting the back four. They anticipate danger,  break up the opponent’s attack, stay  on the opponent’s most difficult player and with a quick touch of the ball and pass, set up their own attack.

Their best game is when they don’t get noticed much and when they don’t make the headlines the next day. They may not even spend much time on th ball.  However,  they are crucial to a win.

There’s a place for this kind of role on church teams.  Some charismatic churches will talk in terms of an anchor on a Sunday.  They are the ones looking out for the flow of the meeting, watching where things might be going a little off piste, making sure it’s no worse than that.  This is important if you have an open element to worship whether charismatic with prophecy etc or even if it’s simply open prayer and testimony.

If people need to feel welcome and safe in church, then the anchor’s focus is on making sure that everyone is (spiritually) safe.

This has wider implications though.  The whole of church life benefits from being anchored.  So actually, we need people playing that role throughout the week, watching our for where the enemy might get in, spotting opportunities for evangelism and discipleship. 

This is less about a job title for one person and more about perspective and hindsight. Indeed, whilst some elders  may have more of a focus on this it’s really part of the responsibility on all elders to provide and protect.