The mystical, mysterious practice of discovering what God is doing next in a particular people at a particular time has been one of the most joyful, difficult, and thrilling moments.
Standing outside of a current situation, looking at all the pieces of a particular part of an organization and asking the questions, “What is God doing? What should happen next? Where do we need to position all these pieces so that we can take the next step of faithfulness?” is unlike anything else. The process starts out full of hope and anticipation, feels muddy and messy and slow in the middle, and then just when you think it might never happen, the end result comes into view. And it’s more beautiful and just right than you could have ever imagined. It may not be what you’ve imagined, but you have been part of partnering with God to co-create His vision. That’s what makes it just right.
I have two favorite approaches to the process.
1 – The, “Why did you say yes? ” Question
After you gather the right people in the room, I ask the question, “How did you end up here in this room today? Why did you say yes to being part of this process?”
The answers might be surprising but can do the work of setting the tone for the group. It increases the group’s commitment to the process and to each other right from the start. When others begin to hear the “why” of those in the circle, when they can resonate and connect with some of what they are hearing, it begins to remove barriers, reminds us that we are all on the same team, and begins to build the relational web that will be needed to bear the weight of the process.
2 – Introduce the Prayer of Indifference. And then actually pray it each time you gather.
It’s been hugely important to acknowledge that as individuals we each walk into the room carrying our own hopes and dreams and baggage around the particular topic. Perhaps we have already decided that the best course of action and are very glad someone finally became wise enough to ask us. Or we have come ready to share the myriad of ways that this ministry has hurt us in the past and come ready to finally have our say. Perhaps we have been part of another organization that has done things the “correct” way and we want to see those changes instituted. Whatever it is, we all come through the door carrying our own “stuff” – Our own feelings, expectations, hopes, and dreams.
Ruth Haley Barton’s book Pursuing God’s Will Together: A Discernment Practice deeply impacted my approach and it’s from her that I have borrowed the Prayer of Indifference. As she says,
“The prayer of indifference expresses the fact that we have come to a place where we want God’s will—nothing more, nothing less, nothing else. It means we want God’s will more than our own personal comfort or safety, more than ego-gratification or wanting to look good in the eyes of others, more than our own pleasure or preference, more than whatever it is we think we want. It is a state of wide openness to God in which we are free from undue attachments and have the capacity to relinquish whatever might keep us from choosing for God and for love in the world. It is a prayer in which we abandon ourselves to God.”
Ruth Haley Barton
Barton goes on to describe Mary’s prayer in Luke 1:38 as a Prayer of Indifference. When the angel came to tell Mary that she would become the mother to the savior of the world, Mary responds, “Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be done to me according to your word.” Likewise, Jesus sets aside his own wants, fears, and desires when he prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane the ultimate prayer of indifference, “Not my will but yours be done”.
When your group can earnestly and honestly, before God, pray this prayer together, the work of discerning what God is doing is that much more beautiful.
It certainly isn’t easy. However, it is worth it.
Each time I’ve been a part of this process, I am reminded that God has even more invested in our ministry than we do. That His ways are not our ways and that He really can do anything – far more than we could ever imagine or guess or request in our wildest dreams.
Katie Evans 