A Vision For Laurier
Steve Simala Grant, March 9/10, 2002
Thoughts on Call:
We’ve been calling this weekend “Candidating Weekend.” I knew very soon after the search committee asked to present my name to you for your prayers and discernment, that part of what I needed to do was present some vision for where I believe God is leading us as a congregation. I’m in a unique position to do this, since I know our church and have been a part of it, and so I’m excited about the opportunity to share this with you today. This makes the conversation about me as potential senior pastor a conversation about my calling and ability, but also about our direction as a church – and that is something I think is helpful and valuable.
But before getting into vision, I want to share for a few moments my perspective on possibly becoming Laurier’s senior pastor, because a lot has changed for me in the past 8 months. If you’re new and don’t know the background, I worked here in youth and Christian Ed for more than 10yrs, then resigned to finish my M.Div. degree and be a stay at home dad.
Last Sunday morning I had a few moments to chat with Freda Kemp, talking about my name being presented for consideration. She made a fascinating comment to me, completely true: “you weren’t ready 8 months ago.” She told me she knew after that first Sunday I preached in July that it should be me, but she knew I wasn’t ready. So she prayed for me, twice a day, that God would bring me to a greater place of readiness. And I believe He has. Do I feel ready?? Nope! Honestly, I feel more than a little inadequate. Like my skills aren’t finely honed, my experience is lacking, my personal depth isn’t enough. And that has been the major source of my prayer around this issue – I have said repeatedly: “Lord, if you call me, you have to equip me. I know I can’t do it without you, and I don’t even want to try.”
So what has changed for me? Lots of things. One of the biggest is that being the interim pastor gave me the confidence that I could preach on a weekly basis – something that had always been extremely intimidating. That confidence also grew through the completion of my education. Being the interim pastor rekindled my love for ministry, for serving God’s people. And it also rekindled my love for you, for this church. I never stopped caring, in the 9 or so months when I wasn’t on staff, and it was a good time for me personally and for us as a family, but I was less involved with people and with the ministry here. Over the last 8 months I’ve realized how much I do love this church and you the people here, and that I’d love to be your pastor. I needed to learn those things before I’d be ready to hear God’s call.
A second thing that has changed is our family dynamics. Joanne and I had decided that if we started a family, one of us would stay home to raise our family. We always expected it would be me. I’ve been home for almost a year – and as much as I’ve valued it and enjoyed it and loved it, it has also been very very difficult. There have been a couple of times when I’ve gotten pretty depressed. There have been times of feeling trapped, feeling sad, feeling alone. At the same time, Joanne was feeling a greater desire to be home more, to spend more time with Thomas. So we’ve wanted to make some changes that would allow me to be in ministry more and Joanne to be home more, without completely sacrificing her career. Sunday night I’ll get into this a little more and explain how Joanne and I see the details of this working out.
The final thing that has changed is that I’ve felt God calling me to this position. The roots of the call go back to when Dave first resigned, and we started talking about him being Moses. I kept hearing pastors and leaders and Dave talking about making way for Joshua – about a good transition to a new leader. I had just finished a course on the first five books of the Bible where we had talked a bit about Joshua, how he had been a faithful servant of Moses for a long time, learning from him, standing beside him, leading with him. And even then I thought that best fit me, but I thought “no way; that’s just a coincidence…”
Personally, I have always had a stronger “outer” sense of calling rather than “inner” – what I mean by that is that God has always called me most strongly through His people rather than through some inner sense to just me. Throughout the interim period, a number of you had encouraged me, some very persistently, to throw my hat into the rim, and so Joanne and I started to consider that possibility. And then one Sunday morning, as I preached, Joanne felt it was right, and she felt that I should be in this role or a similar one to it. I can’t under-state how significant that was to our decision process, Joanne feeling God’s call in that way. I had enough inner sense of call to approach the search committee and ask them to consider it, pray about it – and I was clear that I only wanted God’s will for Laurier and for my family. Isabelle has shared that the search committee does feel that God is calling me to this role, and so brought my name before you. So now the final step is for our whole congregation to pray and seek God’s guidance, and once that is done, to vote about whether or not to extend a call to me.
So a lot has changed – I’ve come to see that I can serve God in this way, our family desires have changed a bit, and I’ve felt God calling me. There is lots more that could be said, lots of questions I’m sure I haven’t answered, and that is why we are taking more time Sunday night for questions and answers. But I do feel God calling, I’m excited about the possibilities, and I’d love the privilege of serving as your pastor.
Vision
“The wind blows wherever it pleases…” (Jn. 3:8)
One Saturday in early January, I was in my office in prayer for the service (as is my usual habit). As I approached the Lord, I felt in my spirit a rushing wind; like something being released that had been holding back. I immediately connected this to Jn 3:8, and felt that this was the Holy Spirit wanting to pour God’s grace out upon us. Wanting to blow through and around and among us. At the time I felt it was just for the services that weekend, but later came to see it in a broader light – as something for the life of our church at this point in time. That Saturday was the day I had met with the Search Committee and answered their questions, a process that brought me for the first time to really realize that my desire is to serve God and you as pastor here. Larry Schmidt articulated the question, but it was God’s voice: “If God left you free to choose, promising to work out all the details, would you accept the call to be Laurier’s senior pastor?” My answer was yes. And so that brings me to a point of believing strongly that God desires to pour His Spirit out on us as a congregation, to allow us to experience Him in greater depth and power and intimacy. And, most importantly, through that to impact our world and establish His Kingdom to a greater degree in our lives, the lives of our friends and co-workers, and in our community.
I’ve spent the last two weeks doing lots of reading, mostly of the Scriptures but a little elsewhere too. I’ve spent time in prayer. I’ve had numerous conversations with people in our congregation. And all of this has been in an effort to discern God’s direction for our congregation. Where are we heading? What are we going to focus on? What does God want to do in and through us? And God has given me some answers to these questions.
Mission and Vision
I need to differentiate between “mission” and “vision.” The mission of the church hasn’t changed in 2000 yrs – Jesus instituted it in Matt. 28:18-20:
18Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in[1] the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."
The vision changes according to time, culture, and numerous other factors. Vision is how we see our church accomplishing mission. It must stay true to the mission, and must seek to make it relevant to today. As I read and discussed and prayed, God has revealed to me three word-pictures for what I believe He desires us to be as a church.
A Hospital:
“it is not the healthy who need a doctor…” (Luke 5:31)
Jesus defined His ministry as coming for “the sick.” (Luke 5:31-32). I believe He is calling our church to be a hospital:
- a place where sick people are made whole
- a place where hurting people find compassion and relief
- a place where wounds are bandaged
- a place where broken hearts are healed
Being in the hospital has a way of bringing the rest of life into perspective. It focuses us on what is important in life. It helps us redefine our priorities – it interrupts the daily toil and gives us pause to sit back and find what is important, what is significant, what really matters.
I don’t like hospitals. We’ve spent more time there with my son’s illnesses than we ever want to. But as unpleasant as it is, we know we are in the right place. And this was our experience – it was heart-wrenching and nerve-racking – but it made us look at life differently. It made us realize again that the love is the only thing that really matters.
Now I’m NOT saying I want church to be unpleasant. But I also don’t want it to be comfortable. It hurts to get a needle. It is inconvenient to have your 16 month-old woken every four hours to have his vital signs checked, and it is a pain in the neck to sleep with oxygen tubes in your nose. But it is the way to healing.
Hospitals are messy – they are full of sick people, after all. They are scary – we literally place our very lives in the hands of caregivers and TRUST them to do what is best for us. They are risky – sometimes there are side effects, sometimes we have to amputate or risk a variety of complications in order to pursue health. And, they are costly – check out our provincial budget and see how many dollars and what proportion of the whole budget is put into health care. Those things will be true for us as a church as we pursue this vision – it will get messy. We will have to trust. We will have to take risks, personally and corporately. And we will have to count the cost.
Being a hospital is primarily about reaching the lost. It’s a vision of evangelism. I stepped back in this visioning process and asked the question: what matters most to God? What is number 1 on God’s agenda?? It’s clear in Matt. 28:19 – “Go and make disciples,” a process which begins targeted at those who don’t yet know Jesus as Savior and Lord and sees them through to Christian maturity. It is most clear to me in Luke 15. There Jesus, the master teacher, tells three stories back to back to back to make the same point: God cares most about finding the lost. Story 1 – the lost sheep. 2 – the lost coin. 3 – the lost son(s). Studying that chapter, in context with the rest of the Bible, leads me to the conclusion that God cares most about finding the lost. After all, that is the whole reason God sent His Son.
My friends, the harsh truth of the Bible is that everyone who dies without knowing Jesus spends eternity in hell. I know we have problems on earth, illnesses here, difficulties in this life. But they are nothing compared to eternity. God cares most about our eternity. And He has given us the task of going. He has called us His “ambassadors” (2 Cor 5:20). He has given us the incredible privilege of sharing the Great News of healing of the soul and reconciliation to God. And if the church is not first of all about being a hospital to the sick, if we don’t care most about finding the lost, then we are not in line with God’s first priority.
You know what the exciting part is? We have the cure. We have the answer. We have the power. And it works. Think of your own life, your own experience. Where would you be without the gracious hand of our God bringing you life and wholeness? That is what we have to share with those around us! We have the answer, we have the key, we have the cure for the eternal ailment of the soul.
I believe that God is calling us to be a hospital.
A Greenhouse:
“…God made it grow.” (1 Cor. 3:6b)
The second word-picture God gave me was of a greenhouse. The mission of the church is first to go, which I relate to the picture of a hospital, and second to “make disciples, baptizing and teaching…”. A greenhouse is a place of growth, a place of root-development, a place of safety and protection, where plants can get a head start and can grow strong before being transplanted into the real world.
A good greenhouse controls the environment to maximize growth and strength. There is a constant struggle to maintain balance – water, light, fertilizer. In a greenhouse, the gardener carefully, lovingly tends the young plants – wanting them to grow and be strong. I believe this is the second thing that God is calling us to be: a greenhouse.
This is a vision of discipleship. Of Biblical discipleship. It is a vision of teaching, nurturing, caring, protecting, loving those God brings through our doors. For me it is focused on those youngest in their faith, on those who come to the hospital and find health – they need to be grown, taught, led to freedom, tenderly cared for while their roots get established.
Biblical discipleship is costly. Jesus set the standard: “Then Jesus said to his disciples, "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. 25For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it.” (Matt. 16:24-25). Paul said the same thing in Phil. 2:4: “Each of you should look not only to his own interests but also to the interests of others;” a passage which continues to instruct us to have the same attitude Jesus did – an attitude of complete self-sacrifice.
Biblical discipleship is a vision of fruitfulness. God’s expectation for us is that our lives will produce fruit – “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.” He expects us to minister in the giftedness He has provided so that His Kingdom is grown and established. Fruitfulness requires pruning, also a costly and painful process.
I’ve had a couple of conversations this week with people agreeing with the primary importance of evangelism but cautioning us that we need to have a way of consolidation, a process of protracted healing, for those God brings to our fellowship. We need a safe place for them to grow, heal, and become strong. That is what I envision for us as a greenhouse.
Let me tell you a story about my tomato plant. About seven years ago Joanne planted a tomato plant in our living room. Now the full intention was to put it out on the balcony as soon as the weather was warm enough, but unfortunately that never happened. You see, before it got warm enough outside, the plant had grown too tall and spindly. The roots were shallow, there was no strength in the stalk. As a matter of fact, by the time we cut it down at the end of the summer, I measured the stalk at over 12 feet long – literally it reached the ceiling and started growing back down.
I tell you that story because we made a few mistakes with that plant that I think we also make in the church. First we didn’t do any pruning. We just let it grow grow grow! And second, we lost sight of the goal of transplanting that tomato back into the real world. I believe we need to be a starter-greenhouse: a place of teaching and nurturing and caring that never loses sight of the purpose of growth – to have a greater impact in our world. Far too often the people of God have lost sight of God’s purpose for the entire world through them, and have become exclusively focused on themselves and their needs. We need to be a safe place, for growth and rest and healing – yet one that never loses sight of God’s desire to impact our world through His people.
You know what excites me about Laurier is that there is a heart to grow. Most of you earnestly desire to go to deeper places with our Lord, to know Him more passionately and more obediently. That is a wonderful characteristic of our church, one that I am excited about. I believe, very strongly, that the next step of growth for us is crucial – it is growth through ministry to others. You want to really learn something? Teach it to someone else. You want to be challenged to grow to trust God more? Take a risk of reaching out to someone who doesn’t know Him yet. Want to be challenged in your thinking? Talk to someone who has familiarity with the claims of Jesus but who rejects them. Want to see God work and move in greater power in your life? Take a risk and ask to pray with someone. Want to see growth – in yourself and others? Grab a spade and get to work in the greenhouse.
The next step of growth for us, the challenge before us, is to become others-centered – just as Christ was and commanded us to be also. That is when we will all start to grow; and that is what excites me.
I believe God is calling us to be a greenhouse.
A Festival
“let us keep the Festival…” (1 Cor. 5:8)
One of the repeated images Jesus used to describe the Kingdom of God was that of a feast – usually a wedding feast. One could argue a very convincing case that the entire religion of the OT is centered around the festivals. Tony Campolo has captured this image in his book entitled “The Kingdom of God is a Party.” This is the final word-picture that I believe describes where God wants us to be as a church.
This is a vision of worship. It’s a vision of joy, of exuberance, of celebration. It is a vision of us capturing the truth of who God is and what He has done for us, of us being changed by that to such a degree that we cannot help but respond. It’s a vision of us involved, active, participatory.
Now don’t conclude from the picture that this is all hype, all bustle and noise. Not at all. As you get to know me better, you’ll see that isn’t how I celebrate. I’m not the flamboyant, jump-up-and-down, run around giddy kind of person. I’m quick to laugh, but no one has ever described me as “the life of the party.” I celebrate with a smile, with a deep inner sense of peace and satisfaction, and a sharing of that in intimate conversation. For me the climax of the celebration comes not in all the raised glasses, the shouts of victory, the bustle of the parade. It comes in the moments just after that, looking the friend who has just succeeded in the eyes and saying, “I knew you could do it. I believe in you.” The celebration reaches its peak in those moments of intimacy, where words or hugs or smiles or a simple touch on the hand communicates a depth of love and of care.
The summer before last I did a wedding ceremony for a couple of friends. Through the counseling and knowing them previously I had come to care for them both quite a bit. Immediately after the exchange of vows, I made the pronouncement: “I now pronounce you husband and wife.” And as I said those words, I started to celebrate: I actually paused, and a big smile came across my face – and it was noticeable because the congregation had a chuckle! But I couldn’t help it – I just wanted to celebrate with these two people and the joy I had for them just leaked out!
The point of the celebration is that it has to be real. It has to be meaningful. It has to connect with us, has to stir our hearts, has to enrich our lives. And I believe that almost never happens when we focus on ourselves. When we are the center of attention. And especially as we come to worship, if our focus is on us and our needs we miss the point. Can you imagine going to someone’s wedding and expecting to be the center of attention? Of course not! That would be ludicrous! The focus is on the bride and groom, the celebration is about them! That to me is the vision of the church as festival.
A part of the festival includes a sending out. And this brings us full circle. We gather, we focus on God, and then we send each other out to minister. We rejoice together at what God has done in healing souls and bringing wholeness in the hospital. We celebrate the growing that is happening in the greenhouse. And then, as part of the festival, we send each other out to be reproducing disciples. To scatter seed, to water, and to harvest.
Counting the Cost:
“suppose one of you wanted to build a tower…” (Lk. 14:28)
God instructs us to consider the cost before jumping into something. Following this vision will mean change. It will mean giving up. It will mean being willing to risk. It will mean changing our focus individually away from our needs and onto the needs of others.
I realized something this week: if we keep our eyes fixed on the goal, on the prize, on the end result, the cost becomes insignificant. Think about it – if we are focused on Jesus and what He gave up, anything we might give up pales in comparison. If we are focused on the wedding feast, we will jump at the opportunity to invite others. Think about a modern wedding – thousands upon thousands of dollars spent – on a single dress, a single meal, a single day’s celebration. But apart from a few sarcastic comments from the father of the bride about needing a second mortgage, does anyone begrudge the cost? Not at all – the cost is worth it.
LHBC is…
I know I’ve covered a lot of ground, and I haven’t even taken the time to get specific about how I see God leading us in these directions in practical terms. That will come. Let me just say this and then make my closing point. For each of these word-pictures I also felt God’s leading to a phrase. Now of course they overlap, but in terms of emphasis:
Empowered by the Spirit. (hospital)
Focusing on Christ. (greenhouse)
Glorifying the Father. (festival)
Love
“but the greatest of these is love.” (1 Cor. 13:13)
In preparation for today I re-read the New Testament. Lots of things jumped out at me for our church, but none more than this: God has called us to love. To love our world by being a hospital. To love each other by tending the greenhouse. To love Him by worshiping at the festival.
I want to close with two passages of Scripture that stuck out most.
And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ--to the glory and praise of God.
- Phil. 1:9-11
If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose.
- Phil. 2:1-2
