March Pastor’s Ponderings
04 Mar 2010 Leave a Comment
From the PEW Forum. Frankly, I could not have said it better. – Tracie
3 QUESTIONS FOR THE CHURCH
Michael Himes, a theology professor who advises students at Boston College, suggests that, when we are facing vocational questions, we should ask ourselves three questions:
- What gives us joy?
- What are we good at?
- Do other people need us to do it?
While Himes conceived of these questions primarily in terms of individual discernment, they can just as easily be asked by a local church. Many churches struggle with questions of mission, ministry, and identity. Who are we? Who is God calling us to become? What is God calling us to do? What if a church began asking itself these same three questions?
What gives us joy?
Every church engages in multiple activities. Some clearly bring joy, whether they require great effort or are relatively easy. Others do not bring joy, and some of these require great effort. Joy is much more than feeling good or happy or content with ourselves. It is the sense of peace, calm, and strength that ultimately comes from God’s presence in our lives and our aligning our activity with God’s purpose for us. Some activities call forth joy and others do not. Even activities that are painful to do can produce joy in the end. If something consistently does not call forth joy, we need to honestly and seriously reflect on whether it is something God is calling us to do. What if the members of a local church began asking this question about the various things they do as a church? Would they have the wisdom and courage to let go of some things that did not bring or call forth joy? Would they have the courage to try some new things that may or may not be joyful?
What are we good at?
People have multiple and sometimes conflicting expectations of a church. It is impossible to meet everyone’s expectations. Can a local church focus on its strengths and nurture them? Can a local church let go of unrealistic expectations that aren’t really from God? A church does not have to limit itself to what it is already doing. It may very discover it is good at a lot of things that it hasn’t tried yet. The only way to find out is to try them. But a church also needs to be willing to graciously let go of unrealistic expectations and of things that it may have done in the past but is no longer able to do now.
Do other people need us to do it?
What does God need the church to do, not only for its members but also for the world? The church today has become too focused on itself. As important as our community life is, it can’t become our only or even our primary focus. From the day of Pentecost, the church has been called to open its doors and to live God’s good news in the world. We need to claim this calling anew.
Himes stresses that vocational discernment for individuals does not take place in a vacuum. We need other people to discern with us, especially about the second and third questions. The same is true of our local churches. Churches need other churches to discern with them who they are and who God is calling them to become. This was the basis of our early associations and conferences. How can churches help each other to claim their joy, assess their strengths, and do God’s work in the world?
It’s hard to ask these questions and can be even harder answer them honestly. But not asking them at all can, in the end, be even worse. If we don’t ask them, we may experience joy less and less often. We may lose the ability to distinguish our strengths from our weaknesses. We may become useless to others and even to ourselves.
Jesus didn’t avoid the hard questions. Neither should we.
- Pastor Tracie
