Let me tell you what usually happens in church land around this time of year (Oct -Nov). The ministry team begins to look to the year ahead and feels a certain kind of pressure to have some word or direction for the coming year.
They might spend some time off-site in prayerful reflection, they might even consult a number of key leaders within their church to get their input. Then something is written up and distributed to the congregation that keeps people busy for the next 12 months or so.
There’s a problem here.
Congregational input and the opportunity to imagine at what might be has been short circuited.
I know this problem all too well because I’ve made this mistake a bunch of times. Feeling the pressure to have some kind of plan or strategy to make disciples of Jesus that feels fresh and inspiring and to do that in short period of time.
If I’m rolling out this idea 3 months out from the end of the year I think more often than not I will make one of two mistakes.
First, I’ll rely on what I know and have experienced before. It could be something that has kind of worked and seemed to go relatively ok so I stick with it for a little while longer.
Or, being stuck for ideas I’m tempted to look at what’s worked in other places. A simple copy and paste procedure.
Not even the most naturally intuitive leader is going to realistically have time to listen to, and work with the people they are called to shepherd and together come up with something that people will actually buy into.
More often than not I suspect people’s interest might be piqued for a while before their eyes glass over and they yawn at yet another vision statement being rolled out with some variation on what it means to glorify God, or make disciples together.
This is a problem because so much more could be done. Short circuiting a formation period prevents genuine congregational buy-in and gives no time to think creatively and imaginatively about what could happen.
At St Paul’s our period of discernment is about not doing this. But instead giving space for a congregational conversation and time to imagine what could be.
Its all about one church family coming together to discern from the Lord, in submission to the scriptures and in prayerful obedience what we hope St Paul’s will look like in 2025.
Practically this will involve us reflecting on 4 questions:
Who are we?
Where are we?
How do we need to behave?
What do we hope to look like in 2025?
The next post will look at why this first question is the most important one we’ll consider.