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Why discernment?

by Rev. Dr. Jim Antal, Minister and President

December 2008/January 2009

As we discern our local church budgets, to what extent are we obligated by our covenant with God and with one another to financially support the wider church?

This question provided the focus for the discernment process led by the Rev. Martin Copenhaver, senior pastor of Wellesley Congregational Church, at the Annual Meeting.

Members of the Annual Meeting Planning Committee plan to send a follow-up letter to delegates urging them to bring this process and topic back to their congregations during the coming year, according to Associate Conference Minister Susan Dickerman. The committee explains that this discernment process might happen during the context of annual budget discussions, at a congregational meeting or at a meeting of the finance or missions committee.

As congregations designate their gifts to the Massachusetts Conference through Our Church’s Wider Mission Basic Support, the committee members hope that they will pray about this designation.

Resources are available to help with this process:

•Visit www.macucc.org/2008AM/downloads.htm in order to:

Listen or read the presentations on discernment by Martin Copenhaver and Jim Antal
Download a copy of "A Guideline for Communal Discernment," which discusses what discernment is, why churches engage in it, why it is helpful and how it may be introduced into a congregation.

•Contact Cindy Bolton at boltonc@macucc.org or at 508-875-5233 to order a DVD video of Martin Copenhaver’s presentation or a printed copy of the "Guideline for Communal Discernment."

The Annual Meeting Planning Committee is also asking for feedback on how this process works in individual congregations. Delegates will be asked to send a brief narrative of their churches’ experiences to the Annual Meeting Planning Committee in care of Registrar Jane Clarke, MACUCC, 1 Badger Road, Framingham, MA 01702 or clarkej@macucc.org.

I recently caught up with a friend who leads a prominent Jewish organization. When he asked how I was doing, I told him I was working on what I’d be saying at our Annual Meeting, and that we’d be discussing discernment as an alternative to Robert’s Rules in how our congregations approach decision making.

Now I certainly did not expect what happened next. This very bright guy began to smile, and you could almost see all the lights going on in his mind, and he leaned forward and said, “Really... now that’s fascinating! Why discernment?”

I gave him a very condensed version of what we’ve been talking about in the Conference. It went something like this: Robert’s Rules honors the conscience of individuals and protects personal points of view. These rules seek to maintain order by assuring that it is safe to express divergent views. And when it comes time for a decision, every participant counts equally. It’s also true that, because this approach locates conscience in the individual, a likely outcome is that after a decisive vote, there are winners and losers.

I’m sure I’m not the only one who knows people who remain angry about a decision on which they were outvoted decades ago. They can’t let it go because they feel their church (of all places) violated their conscience.

Then I told my friend that as Christians, we believe that “where two or three are gathered,” there’s something else going on. We believe that the Holy Spirit is present in our midst. Not only that, but when two or three (or two hundred or even six hundred) are gathered to make an important decision, figuring out the direction God is calling is critical.

What really got his attention is when I said that God is not only present in the conscience of each individual. God is present in the gathered community. God is present in the “in-between-ness” of how we listen to one another and how we share our diverse views; how we honor one another, and take time to hear each person out. If all you do is add up how God is speaking to each individual through his or her conscience, you have failed to account for God’s full presence. God’s compelling call within and to the community is far more than the sum of all the whispers of God’s voice in each person’s conscience.

Robert’s Rules takes over a quarter of a million words to outline the conditions under which order can be maintained so that individual conscience can be safely protected, fairly expressed and accurately tallied.

In contrast, the book of Acts uses just under 24,000 words – one tenth as many – to illustrate how the early church calls upon the presence of the Holy Spirit to guide it through the most divisive challenges the church has ever faced. The Book of Acts – as well as the rest of the New Testament – can be read as a testimony to how a community of faith orders its life so that the Holy Spirit will guide its way forward. And as Martin has reminded (or perhaps taught) us – this was also the approach taken by our 17th century forebears in the faith.

Something special happens when a faith community begins to call upon the power of the Holy Spirit. As it does so, the community begins to deepen its understanding of what it means to be a community, and as it strengthens its identity as a community, the Holy Spirit is present in a more full and compelling fashion.