Make it Transformational: A Blog for Champion Discipleship

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.