No there is something I am good at: Getting in the way of the Holy Spirit. Do you ever wonder how much all our efforts for the kingdom get in God’s way? In the Church Unique which I talked about last week there is a really interesting section that suggests that Long Range Planning and Strategic Planning Reports can really hamper a churches ability to be the church.
The reason behind this is that when we try too hard to predict the future and we develop a long range vision we often insulate ourselves from the work of the Holy Spirit and struggle to adapt to shifting circumstances. There is a lot of truth in this thought. When we become too focused on one end or possibility to our dreams we can miss out on far better and even the best outcome to those dreams.
This is where the Holy Spirit comes in. If we are not attuned to the Spirit, always intentionally listening to God’s voice, then we tend to do a lot of things that just get in God’s way. I keep thinking of a church I attended a long time ago, a really good church with great people, and how it has become the kind of church story that makes you wince. The great staff is gone with no new leadership developed. The vision left the building along time ago. Many choices were made over a ten year period that just never panned out into any future for the church.
I think this church went about trying to do everything right and still got it terribly wrong. This saddens me because I know I am highly suceptible to the same thing. I think a shift in analogy might help us as we seek to follow instead of hinder the Spirit.
We often think of our spiritual life and the lives of our churches like mountain climbing. We set of on a journey, pack our supplies, and make our way slowly but surely to the summit. But I think our journey is more akin to getting on a sail boat. We set off, heading the direction that makes the most sense, but as the waves change, the storms blow in and the wind guides us we often end up somewhere very different than we thought when we set out, but if it is the Spirit that has sent us there it is guaranteed to be a better destination than we set out for.
March 4, 2009 at 9:19 pm
There is no question that there is truth in the idea that long-range planning can get in the way of the Holy Spirit. I have seen it happen. I am sure I have caused it.
But shouldn’t we expect our long-range planning sessions to be Spirit-filled?
To make the argument from a different perspective: should we prepare sermons, or give them off the cuff? Of course we should prepare. But we should be sensitive when the Spirit leads us to make a change, or even scrap the talk.
But usually, even with this sensitivity, we give the talk we prepare because it was the one the Spirit led us to in preparation. I would guess that the same must be true in long-range planning. If the Spirit filled the process of the plan, I would suspect there would be specific and obvious reasons for a change.
And that those changes would be rare.
March 13, 2009 at 6:03 am
Are you happy with what you have ?.
Do you only want a little truth concerning God ? What kind of love is it when one has a little or no interest at all in finding out about the character of their partner ? One just doesn’t care who they are ! It is in issues as this that we can have a measure to test the extent of our love for God. Is He any interest to You. Enough to open a book and learn. You must learn the immortal truth of life.
GO AND LEARN YOU OWE IT TO YOUR SOUL AND EVERONE ELSE
http://godssecret.wordpress.com/2008/12/17/are-you-already-dead-or-can-you-grow/
March 5, 2009 at 8:12 am
We should never assume that where we are is where the Spirit was leadiing us. We are constantly on the journey and so we must continually be looking for where we are headed next. Any long-range plan should plan on changing course at any point along the way. Write the plans in pencil or on a whiteboard or a google docs or in the sand.
March 13, 2009 at 6:05 am
CONCERNING THE SPIRIT OF HOLINESS
Are you happy with what you have ?.
Do you only want a little truth concerning God ? What kind of love is it when one has a little or no interest at all in finding out about the character of their partner ? One just doesn’t care who they are ! It is in issues as this that we can have a measure to test the extent of our love for God. Is He any interest to You. Enough to open a book and learn. You must learn the immortal truth of life.
GO AND LEARN YOU OWE IT TO YOUR SOUL AND EVERONE ELSE
http://godssecret.wordpress.com/2008/12/17/are-you-already-dead-or-can-you-grow/
March 5, 2009 at 8:49 am
Dave,
I hope and pray that our long range planning sessions are filled with the Spirit and I am sure that in many cases they are. The point in the book was that often the vision and plans that come out of those sessions become almost dogmatic and leave little room for changing landscape and a new leading of the Spirit. I think long range and strategic planning have many positives for us as church leaders, but we can replace continual listening to the Spirit with a sense of having already listened to the Spirit.
March 5, 2009 at 8:51 am
Shay,
I think that you are right in asserting that any long range plan should plan on being able to change course, or at least examine if it needs to change course along the way. Don’t ever let the process that brought the planning to fruition die. Keep that process going, keep listening, keep dreaming, keep seeking to understand the context of the church and its people. If we do those things certainly we will be more open to the Spirit at work among us.