strategic thinking?
creative visioning?
imaginative dreaming?
long-range planning?
Yes to that but mostly to do the work of Discernment. What is discernment? Particularly in relationship to the previously listed categories?
In the early church, the Council of Jerusalem convened to make a pretty important decision about the continuation of the church, mindful of Jew and Gentile divisions. At the conclusion of their meeting, they communicated their decision this way, "It seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us ..."(Acts 15:28)
Discernment does not eschew strategy, creativity, imagination, dreams or planning. That is what we bring to the table. That's the "it seems good to us" piece.
But Discernment recognizes that "it seems good to us" is not the only criteria of merit. Discernment asks us to listen to one another carefully. Discernment asks us to recognize that the Holy Spirit has a track record of asking God's people to do things that defy all of our best reasoning. Discernment makes room for the possibility that God may be asking us to do the very thing that makes the most sense to our human minds AND the possibility that God is asking us to stretch, to move, to change and be changed. Discernment comes, as much as humanly possible, with open hands.
"Decision making has its limits. We make decisions.
Discernment is given. The Spirit of God, which operates at the deepest levels of the human psyche and within the mysteries of the faith community, brings to the surface gifts of wisdom and guidance which we can only discover and name."
- Danny Morris & Chuck Olsen
As we look ahead to the next 18 months of ministry at The CRC of Washington DC, we want to know what big picture ideas & goals should guide us forward.
Would you pray for us?
No comments:
Post a Comment