Words of Wisdom from Others on the Journey

Every now and then I run across something someone else has written that I want to share. Having been a pastor and having occupied myself a good part of the time (and I’m giving honest confession here!) calming the waters and trying to keep people happy or comfortable, I found the following word from Dr. Bill Wilson, president of the Center for Congregational Health in Winston-Salem North Carolina, to be appropriate. Here is what he wrote.
"Don't you want to be part of a church that challenges you to be more than you are? To do so will require some amount of pain and inconvenience. If not, where in the biblical text do you find yourself? If your church simply exists to make you happy, is it actually the church of Jesus Christ?

A far more rewarding model for leadership and church membership is to "speak the truth in love" to one another. Compassionate confrontation is how Jesus operated with those He loved. He never saw His role as one of making His followers comfortable, but of helping them become the persons God intended them to be. To think that we can do that significant work without challenging one another or pushing each other out of our comfort zones is at best naïve.

God's people, the church, will only be able to flesh out the kingdom agenda (thy kingdom come here on earth as it is in heaven) when we accept the fact that our task necessitates each of us agreeing we are not all that God intends us to be. What if discomfort is a prerequisite to finding genuine meaning and purpose?

When we understand that truth and join with other believers to discover the joy of costly discipleship and followship, then clergy and laity alike will find the harmony we seek in the midst of meeting challenges – and the discomfort they bring.”
Did you find those words challenging? When we compare ourselves, not to others, but to the biblical standard, we come up lacking. When I reflect on so much of my experience as a church leader, I recall a much greater weight given to “avoiding a discomforting situation” than “doing the right thing.” What challenge is your church facing? Are you avoiding them because addressing them would be uncomfortable? Are they the “elephant in the room?” I pray for God’s Holy Spirit to convict us to do the right thing, even when it may be uncomfortable. I also pray for spiritual growth that comes when we are obedient in spite of the temporal costs. I pray for our people to “discover the joy of costly discipleship.”