GO Into the GAP
Once the endless meetings, insulting slurs, character attacks, hurt feelings, and procedural difficulties involved in leaving one ecclesial community and entering another are over, the remaining congregation members are often fatigued. Yet they are often galvanized by the process’ inevitable conflicts and are more committed as disciples of Jesus Christ than ever. They hope that the Lord will reward their faithfulness by swelling their ranks, securing their sometimes-tenuous finances, and allow them to return once again to whatever is identified as the golden age of the congregation’s life.
The Lord, in His mercy, rarely does this, at least in any easily recognizable, straightforward way. The process of reaffiliating for the local congregation is always, to a larger or smaller degree, a traumatic one. Before a congregation is ready to properly disciple a significant number of people, there is usually work the Lord needs to do within us first. There is a gap between what we were and what we will need to be for the mission the Lord has planned for us. I want to encourage anyone facing this to GO intentionally into that GAP:
Go deep with God: Lutherans confess that the Spirit uses God’s Word and Sacraments to create and sustain saving faith in the hearts of people and thereby constitutes the Church. As Luther avers, it is only in this way that we are “called, gathered, enlightened and sanctified.” Don’t do generic Bible studies but do some focused on God’s promises and power related to healing, mission, and yes, even vengeance upon those who persecute His people (having one’s character assassinated by people you love is a real, though mild, form of white martyrdom). Let the Lord’s Word be a branch thrown into the oft unspoken tension, pain, and ennui of the bitter waters of church hurt and make them sweet.
Open your heart to the new thing the Lord wants to do: Paul’s ministry changed radically after he was called by Jesus. Your congregation has been called by Jesus too, and it is not likely that He has called it to do basically what it has done in the past, just with purer doctrine. This is not because local traditions are bad or change is good, but because if Jesus has called you into a new denominational affiliation, it is for the purpose of mission, and the mission field is always in flux. Indeed, learning that the mission field lies at our doorstep rather than in other countries is a radical thing for many long-established congregations. Please note that what I am issuing here is not a call to radical change, but rather to radical openness to God’s leading.
Get to know your mission field: Don’t assume you know your community’s spiritual needs. Remember, when you ASSUME, you make an ASS out of U and ME. As a Gen X’er I typically assume that Christianity’s chief rival is atheism. For those under 40, it is paganism. Does your congregation’s ministry take this into account? What are the socio-economic pressures with which your visitors are dealing? What are the most common family dynamics and dysfunctions? Learn what people will need in your context to become good Christian disciples apart from orthodox doctrinal commitments.
Align yourself with what God is already doing: Ministry changed for me and my congregation when we stopped having a plan to reach people and started recognizing what the Lord was already doing with those He was gathering, then putting our time, talent, and treasures behind that. “Unless the Lord builds the house, the laborer works in vain.”
Patiently wait for God, then move decisively: Don’t let anxiety about the future push your congregation to waste energy on mission to which the Lord is not calling you. The Church’s only mission is the Great Commission, but your congregation is not the Church. Your congregation is a church, and God is not calling you to do everything. Instead of trying to reach some group or create some ministry that leadership thinks is essential to the congregation’s long term survival, trust the Lord with your future. It may be that the ministry everyone thinks critical must have the foundation the Lord wishes to provide now.
GO into the GAP without fear, for it is not the valley of the shadow of death, but rather God’s way of teaching you trust on the way to the green fields and still waters for which He has claimed you.
