Make it Transformational: A Blog for Champion Discipleship

Greetings! For my next several posts I've asked various ministry leaders to blog about their experience connected with Mission Increase Foundation (MIF). I talk about MIF all the time so I thought you might be interested to hear the perspective of others. One note... It is important that you understand that these posts are not about the specific work of MIF, but are about the specific work of God through MIF. Big difference in my mind because it's always about Him! We're just glad to be along for the ride!

This post is from Kay Allen, Executive Director of 1st Way Ministries.  Take it away, Kay...!

"Our team from 1st Way Ministries – our Board President, Vice President and Development Chair – recently attended the Strategic Planning workshop offered by Mission Increase Foundation.  We were impressed with the turnout (80 in this particular workshop and 140+ in four Strategic Planning workshops during the month) and wished we had arrived earlier so we could have networked with other leaders.  Next time!

"What a workshop! 

"We learned a great deal about strategic planning but one concept hit us hard... We came to believe that our most urgent need was to implement the fasting and prayer model that Jonathan outlined to gain clarity of God's vision for our ministry.

"And we weren’t the only ones.
 
"A colleague of mine, Tonya Gruzynski, Executive Director of the HOPE Ultrasound Mobile Unit which serves women in need throughout Phoenix, also decided to implement the fasting and prayer model with her team.
 
"And following the workshop I had a meeting with the President of the Arizona Right to Life and, after I shared all that we learned from the workshop, she loved the fasting and prayer model so much that her team is now in the middle of fasting and praying to gain God's vision for their new Board.
 
"The workshop covered a lot of material and it was all helpful.  But realizing that having God’s vision as the main keyhole through which we look for all of our ministry activities was a brilliant and timely idea for me, our organization, and so many others.
 
"Thanks to Mission Increase, and to Jonathan and his team, who have helped us greatly to “begin again” and, this time, we feel as though we’re on the Righteous Path! 

"What a great organization!  I love what Mission Increase is doing and it’s exactly what we need now!"

A new fan,
Kay Allen
1st way Ministries

I’ve been noodling on some thoughts shared in this blog posting from Dan Busby, President of the Evangelical Council For Financial Accountability (ECFA).  Given that his topic of discernment is also a key element of the May strategic planning workshop offered by Mission Increase Foundation , I found Busby’s insights on spiritual discernment to be timely.

Among other authors, Busby quotes Ruth Haley Barton, author of Strengthening the Soul of Your Leadership, who writes:

‘Discernment presents unique challenges in contemporary Western culture, because it requires us to move beyond our reliance on cognition and intellectual hard work to a place of deep listening and response to the Spirit of God within us and among us.’

He also quotes R.C. Sproul, author of The Lost Art of Discernment, who writes:

‘Discernment involves thinking in a specifically Christian way about each issue. At the same time, our hearts have to be engaged in devotion to Christ. Then, and only then, will we find ourselves in tune with the mind of God and be able to make good judgments and appraisals, because to the believer is promised the presence of the Holy Spirit.’

Do you find yourself wondering – as I do – about moving ‘beyond our reliance on cognition and intellectual hard work’ and ‘thinking in a specifically Christian way about each issue,’ when it comes to discernment??   As Busby points out, we as leaders of Christ-centered organizations have so many decisions to make in our ever-changing environments and yet we often fail to consider spiritual discernment as we make ministry decisions, large and small.

This is why I’m particularly excited about MIF’s approach to strategic planning, including how to discern God’s vision for your ministry.  Did you catch that?  God birthed our ministries and therefore we should look to Him to understand His plan for our ministry – and to regularly affirm that we are on the right path to achieving that plan. 

·    Imagine asking your strategic planning group members to kick off the planning process with a two week ‘challenge’ to pray, fast, and reflect in writing on God’s plans for your ministry? 

·     Imagine that this ‘challenge’, with a six person team, would yield 21 hours of prayer (15 minutes daily for two weeks), 12 days of fasting (one day per week for two weeks), and 12 pages of written reflection (one page per person per week).  How do you think such spiritual discernment might impact the strategic planning process?

‘Wow, this is radical!’ said one workshop attendee, in wide-eyed amazement, as she considered this approach.  Her fellow attendees were nodding their heads in agreement.  ‘But this is the approach of countless people in the Bible who carried out God’s plans,’ she said in her next breath.  The room grew quiet as we paused to consider this statement.

As Busby concludes, he reminds us that the Bible calls ministry leaders to regularly pursue discernment.   Are you practicing spiritual discernment in your ministry decision-making?  What about your co-leaders?  If not, there’s still time to attend a Mission Increase strategic planning workshop this month to learn more.