The Greatest Advice: From Strategy to Discernment

I remember it like yesterday. Having just finished seminary, my wife and I had three options from which to decide what we would do next. We prayed, we considered, we asked people close to us… and we decided on this wonderful church planting opportunity - move into a new neighbourhood and take over an empty church building. The invitation was to gather a group of people who were following Jesus and focus on neighbourhood transformation.

I had no idea what to do. But I had a very wise mentor.

My brain raced ahead to the many things I thought ‘would work.’ These strategies were not bad, but they would have been my own and not from the Lord. I asked my mentor, John Zimmerman, what to do and the answer he gave has forever changed not only my life but I would suggest the lives of hundreds of others - if not more.

“Just walk the neighbourhood,” he said. “After you have moved in, begin to just walk the neighbourhood for at least 3 months and meet people. Sit in coffee shops, or in the local community centre, and ask what it is that God is doing. Do not rush things. Do not worry that you are not working - this is your work. See what it is that God is doing there. He will give you a plan for what He wants to see happen there.”

Perhaps the language has changed since then, but the advice was as solid as ever.

I took the advice, and did exactly what he had prescribed. We moved in, and I walked, and I talked and I got a sense deep within my gut of what God wanted to see happen in that place. We saw many people not only “come to church,” but be introduced to Jesus. We were convinced that God was leading us into the things He was doing in that neighbourhood.

Since those days, I have been part of, and led several church planting organizations. I have been privileged to work with many churches, who diligently have come up with their vision, mission and value statements. But so many have missed that wonderful advice I received which I now would articulate as “dwelling, discerning and exploring.”

Far too many times, churches settle for a strategy for being successful. Of course, we emphasize prayer within that strategy, but it seems as if we rely on our own agency instead of trusting in God’s. I remember being part of a team of wonderful men and women who wrote the Church Planting Guidebook for Church Planting Canada. We were doing our best at the time. We wanted to see many churches planted, and wanted to be a help to the many men and women who through their love for Jesus were stepping out in faith to plant churches. We put them through assessments and then taught them to come up with their own mission, vision and values which would shape their churches for years to come. But I would do it differently today.

I would first give the advice that John gave me. Dwell. Without immersing yourself in scripture and in the neighbourhood, how can we create space to pay attention to what God is doing? This should be the norm for every Christ follower.

Then after dwelling, we need to discern. But discerning takes work as well.

We need to learn to listen to people's stories. Often, when we think we are listening, we are actually thinking of our own situation or how we will respond, creating an argument to refute what they are saying, or listen to solve their problem. Instead, we need to simply listen. Listen to the story that they are telling us. Be present. Be focused. Be attentive. For it is only when we seek to hear their story that we may well begin to hear the voice of the Spirit telling us what the Spirit is doing in their lives.

This is discernment. Hearing the voice of the Spirit as to how the Spirit is at work in the life of the other or in that place. This is so different than beginning with a strategy (usually to start a new worship service). If we are paying attention, we will likely hear the Spirit's voice inviting us on a journey with plans and even a strategy, but discernment must come first.

A final word. After discernment, we come to the final step of exploring. We come back to community and share what we have discerned with others. Then together we step out in faith, recognizing that we will not always have heard correctly. Often we will be surprised by how God begins to work through us, but on occasion, we will have to circle back and discern again. But this is where the grace of God is at work, patiently walking with us as we seek to follow Him into His ways of redeeming all things.