Personal from
Joseph Tkach
"Some pastors in my region are discouraged," a district superintendent said. "They haven't been able to rally their churches to a vision of reaching out to the community. Some have general goals, but don't have a specific vision. Others are frustrated because the congregation isn't supporting the vision the pastor has."
Let me offer a few encouraging words for such pastors--and for members in their congregations.
It is good to have goals larger than what we can achieve. On an individual level, Christ calls each of us to perfection, or wholeness (Matt. 4:48; Eph. 4:13).
Even though we are unable to achieve complete wholeness in this life, we should still strive toward it--yet without discouragement, for we know we are clothed with the righteousness of Christ, and there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus (Rom. 8:1). Because of God's faithful grace, we are encouraged to go forward with confidence, knowing that Christ lives in us.
Jesus Christ sets before us a job far beyond our abilities: to bring the gospel to the entire world. Christian churches have been working at this for almost 2,000 years, and large segments of the world still have not been reached--and some areas once Christian are not Christian any more.
Still, we do not lose heart. We continue the work because Christ lives in us. It is his work, and he will bring it to completion. We do not need to worry about that.
If we were able to achieve all our goals, we would also be tempted to take the credit. We might claim to have the right method, the right formula for success, the right wisdom or even the right level of humility!
But because we fall short, we are reminded that the tasks set before us are, in fact, humanly impossible. The gospel is not humanly received. We cannot take credit for conversions or for individual growth in the gospel. We must rely on Christ.
I am encouraged that pastors want to reach out to their communities and to help their congregations become effective outposts for the kingdom of our Lord and Savior. This is in itself a sign of a church being transformed by Jesus Christ.
But with change, there is also inertia. We are usually slow to change, both individually and collectively.
Consider the first century church, the church with all the apostles, the experiences with Jesus, and the eyewitnesses of his resurrection.
These were the people Jesus told, "Go into all the world." Was there a mad rush for missionary work? Hardly.
The apostles stayed in Jerusalem for several years. A miraculous vision had to occur before Peter would even go into a gentile's house.
Even that small step had to be carefully explained to the critics in the Jerusalem church. A major conference had to be conducted to clarify just what the gospel is, that people are saved by faith, and that gentiles are to be accepted. The process took many years, and not everyone finally agreed.
In time, the apostles left Jerusalem and carried the gospel to other peoples. But the Jerusalem church itself remained rather conservative, a victim of inertia.
They were slow to change their view of the world and their view of how they were to serve God. They limited themselves, but God was not limited. He raised up others to share in the work.
Antioch became a center of missionary activity. Antioch became the church that sent Paul out. And the church grew.
Our goal is to be like Antioch, not like Jerusalem. If we do not change, we will end up like Jerusalem did, and God will raise up others to do the work. He has plenty to choose from. The good news is that we are changing. Though inertia affects us, it is being overcome! But it takes time.
Our frustration is--ironically--a symptom of progress! If we were mired in our inertia, we wouldn't care. We would be like a turtle that pulls its legs and head into its shell, protecting itself and not going anywhere.
Ten years ago, we had little interest in reaching out to our communities. We had just begun to talk about it. We certainly didn't think in terms of each congregation having its own vision for how to further the kingdom of God.
We had an underdeveloped concept of lay ministries, of bivocational pastors and of spiritual gifts. We have made a lot of progress. Though there is much yet to do, we do not need to become discouraged, for it is Christ who is at work within us.
Whenever there is a change, some are quicker to adapt than others. Eventually more people grasp the idea, but at first only a small number do. Significant progress has already been made. Christ is working in our fellowship, and he will complete the work he has begun. But it takes time, and people who are quick to adapt to change are not always gifted with patience!
I firmly believe that we need to continue to change, to be transformed under Christ's leadership. When I sound a note of patience, I do not want anyone to think it is an opportunity to dig in and resist change.
I want us to move forward, yes, but with some realism about how much work it takes for us to move forward. We need to run with patience the race set before us. We must never stop running, but we must run with patience.
Now let me further address the above-mentioned pastoral situation. Some pastors are discouraged because they have either not formulated or have not gathered support for an outward-reaching vision.
Paul Ford, a speaker at our February conference for regional directors and district superintendents, pointed out that only 30 percent of pastors are visionary by gift or style.
Some pastors get out front and shout for people to follow, while many others lead by coming alongside people, comforting, counseling and encouraging members to go forward together.
Both approaches are legitimate forms of pastoral leadership, but it is difficult for a person of one style to try to function according to the other style. We all function best when we spend most of our time operating in the way God has gifted us.
Let me return again to outward vision.
I believe in some cases, it is best that we not be too concerned about outward vision right now. God may not yet be giving all of us an outward vision because it may not yet be his time for new people to come into the congregation. We may have not yet matured into the nurturing fellowships that we still need to be. I say that not to condemn, but to diagnose the situation so that we can deal with it.
My dad used to talk about "upward, inward, and outward," and he placed them in that order for a reason. Our highest priority is to get our upward relationship back on track. We are to worship God with all our heart, mind, soul and strength, and we are to love him with all our depth of being.
When our relationship with God is strong and growing, we also find ourselves growing in the second priority--inward. We find ourselves growing in love for one another, in service toward one another and in caring for one another.
Small groups can play an important role in this process of nurturing one another. Some of us are dressing our wounds and trying to heal; others are ready to take on new challenges.
Our relationships with one another need to be built on the solid ground of faith in Christ--not on the mire of lockstep uniformity. We used to have strong bonds of fellowship within the church, but they were based on little more than doctrinal conformity.
There is certainly value in doctrinal unity. But our relationships must be based on more than that--they must be based on a loving relationship with Christ that leads us to love one another.
It is easier to change a doctrine than an attitude, and it is easier to change a belief than a habit. Now God is changing the cultural climate of the church. He is changing our attitudes toward Jesus. He is changing our attitudes about one another. And he is changing our attitudes about people around us.
This is not easy, but the process had already begun, even before we realized what was happening. We were making doctrinal changes to conform to biblical truths. But even more than that, God was initiating the doctrinal changes as an important step in transforming us to be more like his Son.
He calls us to a relationship with himself, not just with his book, and not just with a list of truths. And he calls us into relationship with one another through faith in him, not through an agreed upon set of common behaviors.
We are all in various stages of understanding that concept, and in various levels of applying it in our attitudes. Once we realize that our identity is in Christ, that our only significance is in him, then we will find that our attitude toward one another has changed too.
When our relationships with one another are strained, it is more difficult for us to display the love of Christ to new believers. If we can love only those who agree with us, how can we be a good incubator for people just beginning to come out of the world?
Christ leads his people to love one another even when we have different ideas, different practices and different ways of worshiping God.
I firmly believe that when the upward and inward are healthy, the outward will fall into place. We will have eyes to see the diverse gifts of our congregation and how those gifts can serve the church and the community--and we will have the desire to do so.
We thank God for the progress that he has already brought to our fellowship, and for the progress that continues to be made.
Just as we must have a patient eagerness for the return of the Lord, we must also have a patient eagerness for the completion of his work in our fellowship, as he transforms us to be closer to "the whole measure of the fullness of Christ" (Eph. 4:13). To him we give all praise and honor and glory.
Copyright © Worldwide Church of God, 1999