Should I be reading that book too?
Our congregation’s year of discernment is actually several conversations going on simultaneously. First, there is the general conversation that involves all the members and friends of our church. It began with the appreciative inquiry interviews over the past month and a half. It will continue with the first working lunch tomorrow after worship. A smaller special interest group will begin working on the priority identified in tomorrow’s conversation.
After progress has been made on the first priority, we will revisit our interviews in order to identify what comes next based on the people, talents and resources that God has given to us at that particular moment. The idea is that step-by-step we will learn how to do things differently as a church. The intention is that by focusing on the gifts and talents that we have been given we will be better able to discern whom God is calling us to be.
In addition to this general conversation, there is a more detailed conversation going on among the elected leadership of the congregation. Over the next year the elders and board members are reading Rev. Paul Nixon’s book I Refuse to Lead a Dying Church. At each of their meetings over the next year our church’s leaders are going to look at a chapter of the book and discuss what we can best apply to our particular context here in Dexter, Missouri.
The author believes that God has a plan for every church. No matter how small or how big, we are called to do something unique for the Kingdom of God. He boldly proclaims the reason that some churches succeed and some fail is based on the choices they make. In essence, we can chose to live, or we can chose to die. Sometimes this choice is made consciously, most times it is made by default. My prayer is that over the next year our church’s elected leadership will consciously learn to choose the life that God intends for us.
These two conversations: the general church-wide discussions; and the internal elected leadership discussion; will overlap. You might find yourself involved in both. This is good. The reality is that discernment never really comes to an end. It is a process that requires openness, honesty, flexibility, and a whole lot of prayer. Both the general and leadership conversations are starting with the basic premise that God is doing great things in our midst. We have been blessed in more ways than we will ever know. The key is to chose to respond to those blessings in a way that is faithful and effective for the world in which we currently find ourselves. Some things will change. Some things may get set aside for a little while. Some things will become even better. No matter what happens, if we take the process seriously, it will be an exciting adventure.
