THE GOAL AND CHARACTER OF CHRISTIAN DECISIONMAKING

There is a scene in Lewis Carroll's classic book Alice in Wonderland in which Alice is lost, not an unusual thing for Alice. When she reaches a fork in the road there is a large tree and sitting in the tree is a smiling Cheshire cat. Alice starts talking to the cat and finally asks which fork in the road she should take. The cat answers, "Well, that very much depends on where you want to go." To which Alice replies, "I don't really care where I go." The cat then says, "Then it doesn't very much matter which road you take."

The destination shapes the journey. Without a clear end in sight then every journey becomes a random collection of steps and turns. With a clear purpose there is meaning to our activities, and the things that we do make sense. So it is with church meetings. When people meet with a clear understanding about the goal of Christian decision-making, and the character that should be demonstrated as they go about it, then they know what steps they need to take. If churches don't care about what they are doing and how they do it, then any way of doing business — any path — is as good as another.

Many congregations have lost sight of their purpose and so have settled for ways of doing business that are at odds with the purpose of Christian decision-making. Sadly, the way many church members behave is also at variance with what should be expected of Christians when they meet. If people are concerned about the goal and character of Christian decisionmaking, they will take one path. If they do not care about these things, then they can take any path they like.

What do you think is the purpose of church meetings?

What behavior is appropriate for people in church meetings?

When I first began my ordained ministry, I was in a parish served by two ministers. We took turns leading the bimonthly meeting of the parish council. When I was chairing the meeting we always finished the meeting early. At that time, I thought a fast meeting was a good meeting! Let's just get the business done! My colleague, however, was very different. Bill loved to let people talk things through, often in a roundabout way. He let them talk about why they thought this or thought that. One night as I sat at the back of the room the clock raced toward 10:00 p.m., with much of the agenda still before us. My colleague let a person ramble on and on without, it seemed to me, ever getting to the point. When the speech ended I thought to myself, "If Bill lets anyone tell one more story I am going to scream!" He did.

I thought the real purpose of a meeting (church or otherwise) was simple. Follow an agenda and finish quickly. Meeting agendas were like grocery shopping lists: just tick off items as completed, and get out of there as fast as you can. My understanding of the purpose of a meeting was to help the church make good decisions and to run efficiently. My leadership style in the meetings reflected that view. We would get to the "facts"; keep focused on the issue before us; and as soon as it was clear where the majority was ready to go, we would vote and move on. That kind of efficient meeting was the only one that I had ever experienced. For me it was the benchmark of a good meeting.

Every meeting of the parish council began with prayer and reflections on scripture. The room was full of faithful servants of Christ giving their best for the service of God and the church. On occasions, we were self-consciously aware of the gifts of scripture and prayer as we navigated some of the more difficult decisions. Sadly, though, I do not think that we were profoundly aware of the theological understanding of what we were doing on all those long Wednesday evenings, nor the impact they would have on the community.

If we had seriously thought about it, and tried to put into theological terms; what we were trying to accomplish was to understand what Jesus wanted from his people gathered in that place. This was not simply a meeting that we were engaged in; it was part of God's unfolding drama of salvation. Our parish council meeting was caught up in the divine purposes of God. If only we would listen carefully then we would hear Christ guiding us in the ways of faithfulness. Awesome!

The Christian community makes an audacious claim. The church asserts that it is possible to know the will of God. Every Sunday in pulpits, grass clearings, in homes and meeting halls, preachers testify the world over to what God has done in Jesus Christ and the implications of that activity for the people gathered. Unless the church can lay claim to the possibility of knowing the will of God, then it has nothing significant or relevant to say to believers and nonbelievers alike.

When Christians meet to make decisions, they are living out of the same profound confidence: God will lead us. Our church meetings have a destination. The endpoint of a church meeting is to understand the will of God for this community, at this time and in this place. The ultimate goal is more than just taking care of business. With the destination (discernment) in mind, it is abundantly clear that the path that one takes makes a huge difference to whether that goal will be reached. The meeting practices of the church serve or hinder the objective of discerning the will of God. Without the objective of seeking to be obedient to Jesus Christ, the sovereign head of the church, our meetings are meaningless. Without seeking to be attentive and responsive to the leading of the Holy Spirit, our meetings are a waste of time.

The first premise of the Christian life is that God can be known and that God's will for us can be revealed. God's work in Jesus makes it possible to have unity with God and to be obedient. All the barriers that prevent this relationship and capacity to faithfully follow God's way have been overcome. Through the work of the Holy Spirit, people are sustained in relationship with Christ, invited to serve God and empowered to do so.

If the first premise is that God can be known and followed, then the corollary is that there are means through which it is possible for God to mediate God's will to humanity. Theologians, starting with the Apostle Paul, along with mystics, bishops, scholars, numerous theological schools, and human experience, have addressed themselves to the question of how God is revealed to us. The purpose of this book is more modestly...