ABRAM, LOT, & GROWING COMMUNITY

The patriarchs rolled deep.  Throughout his travels, Abraham (Abram) he was accompanied by servants and extended family.  He and his nephew Lot grew their household entourages from dozens to hundreds, maybe even thousands.  When you read about what Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, or another patriarch did, remember that most of the time, they didn’t do it alone.  Each patriarch built a COMMUNITY.  Whatever you call it --- community, crew, entourage, circle, squad, congregation --- it’s not always easy.

Here are 6 lessons in community leadership from the drama of Genesis 13.

1.      Watch out for 2^nd hand drama. Abram and Lot didn’t have problems until Abram’s friends and Lot’s friends had problems. 

And there was strife between the herdsmen of Abram’s livestock and the herdsmen of Lot’s livestock. (Genesis 13: 7)

So that’s not just a middle school phenomenon or a peculiarity of poor communities.  No matter your age or spiritual status, you gotta watch for the I-can’t-be-your-friend-cause-my-friend-doesn’t-like-your-friend drama.

2.      Look past feelings and see the facts. The strife was aggravated by second-hand drama but the underlying problem was real.  There were insufficient resources for Abram’s and Lot’s combined community.

Now the land was not able to support them, that they might dwell together, for their possessions were so great that they could not dwell together. Genesis 13: 6)

3.      [AG1] Compartmentalize relationships. Preserve Community.  Conflict in one area, like a business relationship, doesn’t mean you have to complete end all  relationship within the community. 
After the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in 2010, BP and Haliburton sued each other over who was responsible for the disaster in the Gulf of Mexico.  The case wasn’t settled until 2015.   In July of 2013 BP and Haliburton were working together on oil exploration projects ---- while they were suing each other.

Community is bigger than any one beef.  The leaders of community must have relationships that are bigger than any one conflict.

So Abram said to Lot, “Please let there be no strife between you and me, and between my herdsmen and your herdsmen; for we are brethren (Genesis 13:8)

4.      Kill your need to WIN every engagement.  As the senior leader, Abram could have forced Lot into an inferior choice of lands.  He didn’t.

Is not the whole land before you? Please separate from me. If you take the left, then I will go to the right; or, if you go to the right, then I will go to the left.”  (Genesis 13:9)

Lot chose the richest, most fertile area for himself.  So what?  Somebody had to take that good job.  Somebody was going to pick up that contact.  Somebody was going to get that extraordinarily talented church musician.   Why not your friend? The community (the Kingdom) can be blessed by them as well as by you. 

Pray, “Lord whatever you’re doing in this season, do it.  Even if it’s without me.”

5.      Leave room for God.  If you don’t hoard the blessings in your community, you leave space for God to bless you beyond what’s available in your community.    

Lot had his hands full with all of the opportunities in the region around Sodom and Gomorrah.  With Lot gone Abram had more space, but he knew their situation was constrained. 

And the Lord said to Abram, AFTER Lot had separated from him: “Lift your eyes now and look from the place where you are—northward, southward, eastward, and westward; for all the land which you see I give to you and your descendants forever. (Genesis 13: 14-15)

Let your people branch out.  Don’t hold them back.  Don’t let the current boundaries of your control be the limit of your people’s ideas and actions.  Don’t let the boundaries of your control be the limit of YOUR ideas and actions.   Leave room for God to redirect your vision farther out beyond your right now.

6.      Follow God further.  Arise, walk in the land through its length and its width, for I give it to you.” Then Abram moved his tent . . . (Genesis 13:17, 18)

Communities die from unique combinations of multiple factors, but a common element is the an obsession with “the good ole days.” 

If we can just keep this one factory and not diversify our economy. 

As long as we have this specific racial/ethnic make-up and no one else.
Don’t ask those questions, or more to the point:  Don’t answer those questions.

Just dress, dance, talk, communicate, celebrate, compete, organize, etc.  the way we always have.

In other words, communities die because despite all the revelations God sends them (and He always sends signs) they refuse to move from where they are.  Abram moved his tent.

Then Abram moved his tent, and went and dwelt by the terebinth trees of Mamre, which are in Hebron, and built an altar THERE to the Lord. (Genesis 13: 18)

God isn’t confined to your present so if you are grounded in the Word when your community moves forward, they  aren’t leaving God behind;  they’re going to where God is waiting to bless them.

---Anderson T. Graves II   is a writer, community organizer and consultant for education, ministry, and rural leadership development.

Rev. Anderson T. Graves II is pastor of Miles Chapel CME Church in Fairfield, Alabama;  executive director of the Substance Abuse Youth Networking Organization (SAYNO);  and director of rural leadership development for the National Institute for Human Development (NIHD).

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