The word is very near to you. It is in your mouth and in your heart for you to observe.
âDeuteronomy 30:14
Congregations face hard decisions. They must discern the mission and vision of the church, pastoral staffing needs, ways to care for their building, and whether to continue historic ministries or to begin new onesâjust to name a few of the decisions they commonly make. In some cases, a congregation will reach a place where they must decide whether they will become a legacy church and close with dignity or take steps to revitalize their ministry for their future.
The challenge is to ask what God is inviting your congregation to be or do at any given timeâand to listen to what God is saying. The good news is that you probably are already doing this, at least in part:
- If your congregation has ever prayed for guidance while making an important choice, youâve done discernment.
- If your community has ever listened to a collective gut feeling and gone with that, youâve done discernment.
- Or if youâve waited patiently for the right time to take a next step, thatâs discernment.
- If your congregation has ever made a list of the pros and cons of various options and then used that list to help decide which path to pursue, youâve done discernment.
- All those times youâve imagined the kind of church God was calling you to become, you were participating in the spiritual practice of discernment.
Although you already know quite a bit about discernment, some of what you think you know may be wrong. In some cases, discernment has developed a bad reputation. Hereâs what it is not:
- A synonym for an authoritarian decision-making process. Perhaps a small group of people at church got their way by bullying but called it discernment. Itâs not a practice we do so we can hold our decision over others, saying, âGod told us to do this, so you had better butt out!â Humility and an openness to whatever God shows us in the process are essential.
- A stalling tactic. You may have heard of a group using discernment to delay making any decision at all and concluded that applying principles of discernment to your choices will just take too long.
- A process used only by clergy or those feeling called to professional ministry. Yes, the term discernment is used in religious circles to refer to any number of processes people go through to become ordained, join an order, or receive a commission to do a special kind of ministry. Some of those processes are discernment, and some are attempts at gatekeeping (which is important but not necessarily discernment).
In this chapter, we will give you a more detailed and complete picture of the Christian spiritual practice of discernment, one that combines wisdom from a number of sources.
What Is Discernment?
Discernment is the practice of noticing where Godâs spirit is alive in us, then sifting and sorting through all of what we noticeâthe information, feelings, insights, intuition, beliefs, and valuesâso that we can make a faithful choice. Itâs about paying attention to Godâs leading, but itâs not about âfinding Godâs perfect will so we will be super successful,â nor is it a special formula that inoculates against mistakes. You can use all the processes and prayer practices in this book and end up with a decision that doesnât work out the way you wanted. In our experience, though, congregations doing intentional discernment are far more likely to have a satisfactory outcome than those that fly by the seat of their pants. And even if your outcome seems less than favorable to you at the outset, donât despair. You may need to do more discernment, or maybe you just need to wait to see progress.
Of course, prayer is essential to discernment, but as mentioned earlier, discernment also includes other efforts:
- Paying attention to âfelt sensesâ in your body. What if you pray about a path and feel it is the right one, but deep in the pit of your stomach, something tells you to wait? The principles of Christian spiritual discernment advise you to pay attention to all the information you receive about a choice. That includes what you feel in the pit of your stomach. It could be the Spirit telling you more information is needed before you make that decision.
- Making a list of the pros and cons. Itâs helpful to put on paper the many advantages and disadvantages of an option under consideration. When you do this, be sure to consider the weight of each pro and con. Not all your discernment data is equally important.
- Waiting for clarity on an answer. Our culture is so fast paced that we sometimes make decisions without taking time to just be with the question.
- Using your imagination. Visualizing a possible outcome can be helpful to your process. In the Ignatian process discussed later in this chapter, weâll offer some practices that employ imagination.
While each of these practices is a piece of discernment, each can also lead us astray. That felt sense in your stomach could be heartburn or fear of the change that is being discussed. Your pros-and-cons list could be so long it leads you to frustration or the paralysis of analysis. Your imagination can run away on you. It is possible to become lost in a fantasy. Because we are human and capable of deceiving ourselves, we shouldnât rely on just one of these tools; rather, use them all for a balance of mind, body, and spirit in discernment.
The Why of Discernment
The ultimate goal of Christian spiritual discernment is to live in a way that draws us closer to God. Thatâs the most important why. However, there are many secondary goals as well. We enter discernment because we are constantly faced with options for service, all of which might seem good and even feel urgent. Churches can get caught in the grip of trying to do too much good instead of stopping and asking, âWhat is ours to do in the world?â (Hint: We are not called to salvation by exhaustion.)
Discernment asks, âWhere is God leading us in this particular situation?â Because going where God leads is the ultimate mission of a congregation. If the way forward in a situation is simple and everyone agrees to it, we donât need to do a lot of discernment. But thatâs rarely the case with congregations (or individuals).
Another reason we enter into discernment is to enhance congregational vitality. Congregations that focus on what God is calling them to do not only draw closer to God, but also demonstrate a clarity in their missional ideals and have greater potential for a healthy and vital life. And as Chad points out, congregational vitality is evident in churches of all sizes: There is a yoked parish in southern Indiana made up of two small membership churches in the middle of rural communities. Most churches their size are focused on the âwoe is usâ mentality, lamenting, âWe used to have hundreds of members, and now we are down to twenty-five people. What else can we do?â But these two small Indiana churches donât worry about size. They believe their work is to be the hands and feet of Christ building relationships and partnerships all over the world. They have a clear sense that their work is both local and global. When Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans, they put together several large trucks full of items needed in the Ninth Ward. They have done work in Kenya and Sri Lanka, just to name a few of the countries where they are connected.
Also, we discern to build community. When you keep an open mind about where God may be leading and begin to discern as a congregation, you cease to be simply a collection of individuals speaking from your experience. You become one body listening for direction from the Holy Spirit. And thatâs exciting. Itâs what nurtures and builds our faith.
Discernment is how we grow in faith. The more we use principles of discernment, the more we learn about ourselves and our congregation. Discernment can become how congregations live day to day and not something taken up only when itâs time to convene a search committee for a pastor. Itâs not just for deciding if itâs time for a capital campaign or whether we add a band to our music program. Itâs a way of life.
And finally, we discern together because, as Mary Benet McKinney puts it, âNo one can contain all the wisdom of God, for that would be to be God. However, the Spirit desires to share as much of the wisdom as the group can handle at any given time. To do this, different pieces of that wisdom will be given to different folks.â As McKinney sees it, group discernment requires the wisdom of all of us, from the sage to the dreamer, the young, the old, and even the one who always plays devilâs advocate.
History of Discernment
Of course, discernment comes from Christian tradition, but is it biblical? Nowhere in Scripture is there a neatly outlined process for discerning Godâs desire in any given situation. Instead, we have stories that illustrate various elements that make up spiritual discernment.
Mosesâs Call and Conversation with God (Exodus 3â4)
God hears the misery of the enslaved people and visits Moses, commanding him to lead the people out of slavery in Egypt. Moses resists God in many ways, and at each turn, God provides what Moses needsâeven when Moses begs God to send someone else to do the job. We may not always like what we hear at first when we listen to God, but like Moses, we can stay in conversation with God and trust God to supply what we need to be faithful.
Young Samuel Runs to God (1 Sam 3â4:1)
Samuel doesnât recognize Godâs voice but thinks he is hearing his mentor, Eli. When Eli tells him it is the Lord speaking, Samuel listens and begins his life as a prophet. There are times we need help hearing Godâs voice, and we need a caring and wise guide in discernment. Itâs one reason discernment is best done in community rather than alone.
Ruth Responds out of Deep Desire
and Love (Ruth 1)
In her grief and out of a deep sense of commitment and love, Ruth clings to her mother-in-law, Naomi, and follows her to a foreign land. This choice leads to a historic outcome. Ruth marries one of Naomiâs relatives, Boaz, and they have a child who becomes the grandfather of the future King David. Godâs call to us does not always involve a struggle. Sometimes, like Ruth, we need only look to our heartâs deepest desire.
Naaman Thinks Godâs Will Should Be Harder (2 Kgs 5:1â19)
The prophe...
