Recently, a friend offered to drive me to an appointment because I did not have access to my car. She did it out of joy (we hadn't seen each other in a while and we got to catch up) and she did it out of concern (she knew I was stranded).
It would have been awkward if, ten minutes into the drive, her car had sputtered and coasted to a halt out of gas. There is no way my friend would have come to get me without enough gas in the tank; at the very least, she would have picked me up and headed to the gas station and given me the chance to help fuel the car.
I am struck that sometimes churches engage in mission without enough gas in the tank (without even checking the gauge!), without tapping God's deep and refreshing spiritual well. Church members may have passion for mission, but also needed is a clear focus on God's guidance, an open prayer life, and a humility that comes from collaboration with fellow believers. Reading Unbinding the Gospel: Real Life Evangelism by Martha Grace Reese (Chalice Press, 2008) reminded me just how important spiritual preparation is before putting a new mission in gear.
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I agree with these sentiments. Jesus told us we should "sit down and count the cost" before making a commitment. But he also sent the disciples out in mission without a purse, making them rely on faith and help from others along the way. It strikes me that Presbyterians have often been very cautious in approaching mission ventures, in contrast to some denominations that are very "faith based." Yet people can feel manipulated if someone lands on our doorstep and expects us to make up for their limited foresight and preparation. We definitely need to "fill up our tanks" spiritually for the journey ahead. And I think it's safe to say we talk ourselves out of a number of mission ventures because we fear they might require too much of us and others!
ReplyDeleteDear Anonymous:
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comment. I agree that we Presbyterians miss the boat on a lot of mission opportunities, though perhaps it's too harsh to say we're just not as "faith-based" as other denominations.
My argument is that often times we humans think it's up to us, our budgets, our energy, our vision, our will, our faith, to do mission. But that misses the point of mission if we agree that it's God's mission. We tap our cracked cisterns when in fact what we need to do is draw from the Fountain of Living Water (Jer. 2:13)
Great analogy with the fuel in the tank. I am amazed at how many pastors don't take their study leave because for me that time away in reflection and study refuels me. I am so glad that you are getting a chance to reflect and read (and hopefully refuel)
ReplyDeleteWe at Westminster have some experience of "running out of fuel" while on a mission and there are a couple of observations that I see which are important.
ReplyDeleteThe first observation is that of "Donde manda capitán, no gobierna marinero" in that perhaps too much of the commitment to the mission came from a strong leader who consequently moved on.
The second observation is that there were changes in the church membership after the commitment was made.
One reason that I like the Presbyterian structure is that there is input from the congregation and also the need to answer to the greater church.
It seems to me that when a congregation fails there is a corresponding failure of the church. At the same time I would say that when the church fails the congregations fail as well.
I would also ask "What is failure?" The vine grows many shoots. Some produce well. Not all could! Perhaps we should be more concerned with a vine that fails to produce shoots than one which has some shoots "fail"?