HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 2011-03-31, Page 12PAGE 12. THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, MARCH 31, 2011. By Rev. Tom MurrayBelgrave United Church
I’m the pastor of a faith
community that, like many of the
churches that dot our landscape
these days, are desperately in need of
transition. Am I the right leader to
guide them through this transition,
even if I don’t have a clear vision for
the church?
This is a very important and
relevant question for more pastors
than you might think. After all, not
many pastors will confess they don’t
have a clear vision for their church.
And the reality is that many of us
don’t! That’s why I believe the final
answer to this question is “yes,” you
can lead a church through transition,
but only if, you have in your heart a
sense of what God’s vision is for
your faith community. But it will
take both work and resolve. Of the
latter, in my native Scotland, “great
doggedness!”
I have only been here in Belgrave
two short years. Therefore, I speak
from a previous pastoral experience.
When first called to this other church
as pastor, it didn’t take the gift of
discernment to know that the church
wasn’t working well. It was in the
present, for sure, but unaware of a
future that awaited them. I didn’t
have a clear vision then in my first
months or years, but I did have a
clear sense of God’s vision for his
people. I trusted God to help us and
reveal what that vision would be as
we worked together.
While I had no clarity on what that
would look like in that particular
setting, it took four years from my
arrival to land on the clearly
expressed vision God had designed
for our church. However, the vision
finally flowed out of and matched
the passion that God had long been
developing, not only in me, but in the
very people of God who made up
that faith community.
Let me illustrate this reality from a
historical perspective: “John
Wycliffe had a vision of a Bible in
the common English tongue. But
dogmatists anchored to the past
killed him for it. John Huss dreamed
a dream of a responsible Christian
life guided by the scriptures.
Traditionalists burned him at the
stake. Martin Luther was awakened
to a new reality of God’s grace – an
awakening not shared by
contemporaries profiting from the
status quo. Consequently, he was
hunted for years for revealing an
exciting and preferable future. Akingdom was coming and the powers
of the past could not prevail against
it.”
Let me share the two sides of
“vision” as I understand them.
The first side is found in deeply
feeling it. The right leader must feel,
be driven by, and own the burden for
the church to be what God has called
it to be. If you have that burden for
the church’s future, you can and
should also get help from others in
shaping, sharing, and engaging a
clear vision.
This is the second side of vision:
clearly seeing it and sharing it with
others.
In the past, when I’ve listened to
great leaders speak about how vision
comes easy for all “real” leaders,
I’ve smiled on the outside while
inside I churned with self-doubt. The
reason is simple: Having a clear
vision isn’t as easy or natural as they
made it sound. The truth is that being
in the church I’m in today, with all
that God has done, makes me look
like a far better visionary leader than
I really am. No one has perfect
clarity of vision.
As long as you look to God for
wisdom and continually seek the
help of others, you will ultimately be
able to see and share the vision
clearly and effectively. This is not
the hour for the church to lose her
collective nerve…but in certain
ways, that’s what it feels like. This is
not a time for us to back up and
shrink away from who we are as the
bride of Christ. In fact, it’s just the
opposite.
It is time for the church to
recognize that we have been invited
into the mission of God. We need torevisit Paul’s statement in Romans
1:1 “Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus,
called to be an apostle and set apart
for the gospel of God.” There is an
air of supreme confidence in this
passage. I believe we’ve lost a little
bit of that confidence, and we need
to rediscover it.
We can find that in the Scriptures
by reading about men and women
who understood their calling in the
midst of a different set of dark times.
It’s popular sport to bash the church
for what it is and isn’t.
Look at how church is providing a
support system all across the country
by using small groups. When people
are in small groups that stem from
local churches, those groups meet
people’s real everyday needs.
That is being the church; that is
missional. It’s kind, and it leads to
the church being outward-focused;
in the hands and feet and heart of
God, the true people of God today.
Wherever we find ourselves, we
find ourselves on a divine
assignment. It’s not just by chance
we ended up in a place. The church
is the only institution that serves
people who “aren’t there yet.” The
church honours people who have not
arrived. If you’ve lost that premise
and that direction, then you need to
turn back to being a people for
people who aren’t there yet. Be
followers of God, and Jesus in our
particular context for people who
aren’t following.
If you take that perspective, then
you take on a different approach to
ministry. We get involved in people’s
lives because the whole community;
town, village and rural landscape is
our parish. You and I have beenplaced in a certain faith-community,
for those who aren’t there yet. That
makes us much more collectively
part of the community than as an
outpost trying to pluck people out.
We need to encourage our people
to be involved and volunteer for
things that go on in the community.
We need to encourage our people
to get involved in the community,
otherwise, I don’t know if they’ll
truly have a heart for the people
around them. While at the same
encouraging our church to transition
in a way that maximizes our ability
to serve by reaching out, while at the
same time minimizing the time we
spend exhausting our confidence and
God-given gifts to serve.
God’s blessing be upon us all as
we continue to discern God’s vision
for our future and as a consequence
reach-in and reach-out to meet theworld God has blessed us with. From the Minister’s StudyLeading through transition can be tough
THE CATHOLIC PARISHES OF NORTH HURON AND NORTH PERTH
CORDIALLY INVITE YOU TO ATTEND HOLY MASS.
OUR SUNDAY LITURGIES ARE AS FOLLOWS:
Brussels:
St. Ambrose
Saturday
6:00 p.m.
17 Flora Street
Wingham:
Sacred Heart
Sunday
9:00 a.m.
220 Carling Terrace
Listowel:
St. Joseph
Sunday
11:00 a.m.
1025 Wallace Avenue N.
Youre Invited
to come worship
with us
Sunday, April 3
Brussels Public School
at 10:30 a.m. and 6:30 p.m.
6:30 pm - DVD series on the Book of
Revelation by James MacDonald
Sunday School for children
4 to 11 years of age (mornings only)
Childcare provided for infants and toddlers
Coffee & cookies after the morning service
For additional details please contact:
Steve Klumpenhower 519.887.8651 Rick Packer 519.527.0173
Chris McMichael 519.482.1644
BRUSSELS - ETHEL PASTORAL CHARGE
UNITED CHURCH OF CANADA
Sandra Cable, Worship Leader
Church Office 519-887-6259 E-mail - beunitedchurch@gmail.com
Sunday, April 3
Ethel United Church
Worship Service and Sunday School - 9:30 a.m.
Brussels United Church
Worship Service and Sunday School - 11:00 a.m.
Celebrating our Christian Faith together in worship
MELVILLE
PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH
BRUSSELS
Rev. Elwin Garland
SUNDAY, APRIL 3
Wheelchair accessible ~ Nursery care available
519-887-2664
10:00 am - Sunday Morning Worship
- Sunday School
getlivingwater.org
Pastor: Ernest Dow ~ 519-523-4848
Living Water
Christian Fellowship
10:30 a.m. ~ Worship & Sunday School
at Blyth Public School,
corner of King & Mill
Tuesdays 7:30 pm - Wingham Small Group
1st & 3rd Wednesdays 7:30 pm - Women’s Ministry
Fridays 7:00 pm - Youth Group
April 3: Romans 3:19ff
“How can God
be Just
AND
Forgive Sinners?”
Evangelical Missionary Church
Saturday 6:30 pm:
Family Fun Board Games Night
Worship Service & Sunday School at 11 a.m.
CORNER OF DINSLEY & MILL STREETS
MINISTER
Rev. Gary Clark, BA, M. Div.
All Welcome
MUSIC DIRECTOR
Floyd Herman, BA, M. Ed.OFFICE: 519-523-4224
April 3rd ~ Sound as a Dollar
April 10th ~ A Penny Saved...
Please join us for worship
Hwy. 4, Blyth
519-523-4743
www.blythcrc.ca
SUNDAYS
Morning Service 10:00 am
Evening Service 7:30 pm
BLYTH CHRISTIAN
REFORMED CHURCH
Pastor Gary Klumpenhower 519-523-9233
THE ANGLICAN CHURCH OF CANADA
Welcomes you to come and worship with us
Trinity, Blyth
9:15 a.m.
Church Office: 519-357-4883
St. John's, Brussels
11:15 a.m.
519-887-6862
Sunday, April 3
Rev. Perry Chuipka
www.nabcom.ca/church
119 John’s Ave., Auburn
519-526-1131
www.huronchapel.org
9:30 a.m.
Sunday School
10:30 a.m.
Teen Challenge GTA
Teen Challenge Women will be
sharing their testimonies.
Invite a friend to join you
and come be inspired!
ADULT & YOUTH
MYSTERY DINNER
Friday, April 1st
at 6:30 pm
at Huron Chapel EMC
Come out for a very
mysterious dinner and a
great time of fellowship!
Sign up at the church
or call 519-526-1131