Corporate Discernment for Congregations

1Now in the church at Antioch there were prophets and teachers: Barnabas, Simeon who was called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen a member of the court of Herod the ruler, and Saul. 2 While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, "Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them." 3 Then after fasting and praying they laid their hands on them and sent them off.

4 So, being sent out by the Holy Spirit, they went down to Seleucia; and from there they sailed to Cyprus.

Introduction

I want you to imagine that you have been an entrepreneur with amazing success in building the world’s largest corporation. In the course of your rapid growth, you have hired good people to work for you and empowered them to make decisions. They have eagerly taken this authority and for the most part have managed well, but recently have come to a point that they do not inform you or ask for your opinion. Yet they always expect you to approve their plans and bless their actions. You could, of course, help them with vision and strategy, but they do not ask your opinions. Being ignored makes you feel left out and excluded..

I wonder if that is how it is with God and the Church! A great enterprise (Kingdom of God) and millions of workers (Baptized believers), and too infrequently we ask – What is your will? Your plan? Your dream for our church?

Suppose God does want to be involved in the Church’s Vision, Plan, and Strategy for Mission! How do we open the Church for God’s engagement with us? It seems to me that the door is opened by asking, listening, and acting in his name. Stated simply and directly, this is what discernment is about – asking for guidance, listening for the Voice of God, and acting in his name.

Yet, it seems that God cares about all three of these things – freedom But to hear God, to discern God’s Voice we must listen very carefully because God speaks so softly. I believe that God is jealous for our freedom, dignity, and faith. God surely could come to us in such power and awesomeness that our freedom would be destroyed and human dignity would be dissolved, and the response would require no faith, dignity, and faith – so we must learn to discern the still small Voice.

Discernment in the New Testament

The New Testament is quite stingy in the use of the word “discern.” Only twice does it mention this word. Romans 12:2 “that you may discern the will of God.” And I Cor. 2:15 “he that is spiritual discerns all things.” And, the word discernment is used only two times: I Cor. 1:19 “And the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.” And I Cor. 12:10 where Paul speaks of the gift of discernment. But the infrequency of usage of the words discern and discernment does not mean the infrequency of the practice. The Acts of the Apostles is filled with stories of discernment in the Early Church.

First there are numerous stories of personal or individual discernment, like Peter’s discerning that Ananias and Sapphira were deceitful about their tithe (5), Philip the Evangelist discerning his call to go into the desert of Gaza to meet and baptize the Ethiopian Eunuch (8). Two other men shared a similar discernment when Cornelius had a vision of Peter and Peter had a vision of the sheet with unclean animals – both were being guided by the Lord (10). And, Paul had a vision of a man saying, “Come over into Macedonia and help us.”

Also, in the Book of Acts there are instances of Corporate Discernment, discernment in which the whole church was involved. Let me name four of those:

In Acts 1 the apostles were confronted with choosing a 12^th Apostle to be a witness with them of the resurrection. (asking, listening, acting)

In Acts 6 the Apostles were being overly burdened with administrative tasks and they discerned the need to ordain the first deacons.

In Acts 13 the Church at Antioch discerned the call of Paul and Barnabas to be the first missionaries sent to the Gentile World.

And, in Acts 15 the First Church Council took place at Jerusalem to discern what requirements should be made of Gentile Christians.

This act of discernment by the leadership of the Church in Jerusalem set the direction of the church for 2000 years. Peter and Paul and Barnabas had reported to the leadership of the church that the Spirit had been given to the Gentiles. After a time of deliberation, James who seemingly was head of the church in Jerusalem, received a Word of Wisdom, a discernment, that Gentile Christians should not be burdened with Jewish circumcision and the whole Jewish canon of laws. Rather, they should not mess around with idols; serve meals offensive to Jewish Christians (like blood, as Peterson says), and they should be morally upright in marriage. Consider the impact of this discernment on the history of Christianity.

Five men engaged in prayer at the Church in Antioch discerned that Paul and Barnabas were being called by the Spirit to engage in the first missionary journey of the Early Church. I would say that initiating a mission to the world would certainly be classed as a crucial discernment in the life of the Church.

Also, the ordination of Deacons has likewise proved to be critical in a division of labor in the life of the congregation. The Apostles or Teaching Elders cannot do all the administration of the Church; they need the help of discerning lay leadership. In piety, commitment, and talent Stephen, deacon and first martyr, had all the qualifications of the Apostles. There was a distinction in function but not in status or commitment.

I am not sure why the Acts included the story of the choice of a 12^th Apostle in the opening chapter. There were two men, Justus and Matthias, both of which could give witness to the resurrection of Jesus. They cast lots, rolled the dice, and chose Matthias. They must have gotten in wrong because Paul claimed to be the 12^th Apostle. So the lesson is that rolling dice is not the best way of discernment.

A Closer Look at the Antioch Church

The passage for our focus today describes a world-changing event at the Antioch Church – the discernment of a mission call for Barnabas and Saul. Antioch was a world-class city in the first century. It was a center of Roman government in Palestine. They had a coliseum, the games, the center of commercial activity, and a heavy Gentile population. It was an ideal spot for a church that intended to be influential in the Empire.

We are not given a full report in this text, but something like a headline, memo, or a snapshot of the discernment of these leaders. The report states that there were certain prophets, teachers, and evangelists was names were Barnabas, Simeon, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen, and Saul (Paul). Doubtless they had talked about expanding the faith to other cities in the Empire. Then one day while they were worshipping the Lord, an amazing thing occurred. The Spirit, the living presence of Jesus Christ, spoke, “Separate Barnabas and Saul for the ministry to which I have called them.” This may have been spoken through the mouth of one of those men or it may have been an idea that several or all had simultaneously. Anyway they got the Spirit’s message that Paul Barnabas should be the ones to take the faith to the Empire.

In response to the Spirit’s call, the other three laid their hands upon Barnabas and Saul (Paul) and sent them out as missionaries from the Antioch Church. Three things seem to be aspects of this discernment. In a spirit of expectancy they worshiped God with prayer and fasting, they listened for God to speak, and they obeyed God by sending forth two missionaries.

I believe this account of the Early Church’s discernment that is highly instructive for a church seeking to discern in a long term vision of what it is to be and do: asking, listening, and acting (obeying). We can learn from the experience of the Early Church and from other congregations that have involved themselves in this discernment process.

Discernment at Shallowford

First, let me tell you about a student of mine who was thrust into discernment about selling the property and moving the church. The church sat on a prime piece of property near a new shopping center. A developer approached the church about purchasing the property. This minister told his session about it, asked them to keep it quiet and to pray daily while they waited for the final offer. The offer was for $1 million dollars. They calculated what it would cost to move the church. They set aside a day for a retreat to pray about the offer and after much prayer decided not to take it.

I asked the minister what he learned from the experience. He replied, “I learned that a session has a hard time keeping a secret. I learned that you don’t speak about an offer until you know how much it is. I learned that it takes time to absorb major changes in a congregation. I also learned that we focused more on the money than on “What is God calling us to be?” This question pushed the church to engage in a 14-month discernment process to discover their mission.

This student’s experience along with the Antioch Church can be instructive to us: the church came to a new place where discernment was need; they made the issue a matter of serious prayer; they got sidetracked from the real issue; and, they remind us of the crucial question – “What is God calling us to be and to do?”

Consider the times that Shallowford has been cast into a situation of discernment! Was not discernment important when . . .

• Shallowford was a New Church Development under Kirk Nesbitt?

• Tom Are was called to lead us to new plateaus?

• We built a sanctuary?

• We were led in a mission to Ghana?

• Short-term missions to Mexico began?

• We Issued Gray Norsworthy a call?

• We had a successful capital campaign to expand and remodel the church?

And now we are faced with a Long Term Vision for our life and ministry together for the next 5 or 10 years. Perhaps the urgency of this task falls somewhat short of the selection of the first deacons, the launching of the missionary movement, and the discernment about the Gentiles, but for us at this time, discerning our future is an urgent matter. We need the keenest insight, the greatest wisdom, the sharpest sensitivity to the Spirit of God, and the unity of our community to respond to this challenge. We need to ask, listen, and obey!

The issue before us is simple: “What is God calling us to be and do in the next five years of our life together?” To answer this question we need to discern – ask, listen, and obey.

As we engage in this adventure with God, I believe there are five Myths about Discernment

• Discernment is an illusion because God does not intervene in history

• Discernment is unnecessary because God will do whatever God chooses to do

• Discernment requires no effort on our part, it drops down like manna from the sky

• Discernment comes to the leader and therefore does not require anything of the congregation

• Discernment means that the mission will always be successful

(Reflect on each of these points from the Church at Antioch’s point of view.)

These are all myths; none of these statements about discernment is true.

Here is what will help us in our discernment of mission for the next 5 or 10 years.

1. True discernment begins with a sincere desire to do what God calls us to do? Without this desire discernment becomes an exercise in futility or worse, a farce!

2. True discernment requires gathering data, thoughtful reflection, naming possibilities, critical judgment, discussion of the pros and cons, and evaluating with a prayerful eye on priorities.

3. True discernment looks for signs of God’s presence (the footprints of providence) in people, events, coincidences, and open and closed doors.

4. True discernment tests the conviction of God’s Spirit in the group. Is the congregation deeply persuaded by God’s Spirit of the direction to take?

5. True discernment can be completed only when God’s people are willing to take the risk and act in response to God’s call. Fellow in the Bellevue Church said to me, “Knowing what God wants is not so difficult for me. It’s doing it!”

Yesterday Edie Clark handed me a letter from Kathy written to her whole congregation requesting their prayers for discernment on an important matter. Cynthia Thompson and her committee could very well have written it. Kathy writes, “What do we mean that we are seeking to discern God’s will? First and foremost, it means that we are praying for God’s guidance and it means that we are acting in reliance upon God’s promise that God will guide us. Now this would be much easier if God’s directions came to us on a neon-yellow index card, but discernment is not that clear. Discernment means stepping out in faith and it means trusting God to be involved in the whole process, even guiding us when we do not recognize God’s presence. Finally, discernment is trusting God to use us and to further Kingdom purposes.”

On Wednesday when the Bible Study Group at the Church was discussing the text for today, one person asked, “How do I know when to get out of the boat?”

I said, “When Jesus speaks and calls you to get out of the boat.”

She then asked, “How do I hear the voice of Jesus?”

I said, “You must get the clutter out of your life. Get rid of the static that makes it hard to hear anything but the noise of your own life rumbling.”

Maybe that is good advice for a church like Shallowford seeking the will of God. Get still. Get quiet. And listen. Then obey what he says!