“God is not fixated on outcomes,” I told him in a sudden burst of inspiration.
He was sharing with me about some issues/disagreements he has with others in his church and I said that he cannot run away from the fact that none of us are indispensable and none of us are irrelevant when it comes to the body of Christ, the church. Paul places a high premium on unity and being of the same mind in the spirit of love and humility.
As he was telling me that he will take the time to speak to the others over the matters that are important to him it suddenly occurred to me that what is important is the spirit of love and humility, the spirit of standing together as one as we battle our common enemy. Whether we move the church in this direction or that direction, do things in this way or that way— structure the church in CGs, emphasise the devotional life of members, strengthen the pulpit ministry or make evangelism the core ministry of the church—what matters most is that the church is united behind the mission it sets out to do.
Paul writes in Philippians 1: “Whatever happens, conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ. Then, whether I come and see you or only hear about you in my absence, I will know that you stand firm in the one Spirit, striving together as one for the faith of the gospel without being frightened in any way by those who oppose you. This is a sign to them that they will be destroyed, but that you will be saved—and that by God.”
It would be wrong, I think, to read “striving together for the faith of the gospel” as meaning evangelism. It is about the outworking of the Gospel, which of course does not exclude evangelism. “Without being frightened in any way by those who oppose you” would mean that we are not to be dictated by outside forces but instead our work springs from deep within us, where God is.
This is not to say that we should just toss a coin to decide on the direction, character, concerns and ministries of our church. We should listen to the Spirit within, to one another, to the Word that is being preached from the pulpit, to the prayers that are being uttered and also to the circumstances that God places us in. We do so to recognise, to hear and to obey the voice of God and surely when we do so we strengthen the bonds of unity.
When we are fixated on our thoughts and ideas, our conclusions as to what is best, what is most effective, what needs to be done and what God wants us to do, then we are not focused on each other and the church as a body and Jesus as our Lord and King.
God’s hands are not tied whether we decided to do things in one way and not another. Outcomes are not important (unless of course they are clearly sinful). There are many ways to obey and glorify God. But when we quarrel and have to “agree to disagree” or even “move out and set up a separate church” because we think God’s work can only thrive in our way, or God only speaks to us, or we are the only ones listening to God, we do not conduct ourselves worthy of the Gospel and bring shame to our Lord.
When we exercise our leadership fixated on outcomes we miss what is really important to God.