Elevate

Develop an Active Imagination

/ thinkingoutsidethetextbox / Leave a comment

I remember watching two preschoolers, a brother and sister, playing next to me as I was watching a floor hockey game in college. I was fascinated at their imagination. They had no toys, no digital devices, just the bleachers and their imagination. They played for a long time, together imagining all that was happening around them.

Too many of us have lost our ability to imagine. We are so caught up in the moment and in what is right in front of us that we no longer know how to use our imagination. There could be a number of reasons for that. Maybe our imagination was stifled as a child when a parent or teacher told us to quit daydreaming. Daydreaming is the fertile ground imagination grows in! Some of us had an active imagination until someone made fun of our ideas. For whatever reason, we have stopped imagining.

Have you ever wondered why some people are so good at coming up with ideas? It’s because they have an active imagination. They are not afraid to dream up something new. And they are not afraid to try out their ideas. We don’t know how many ideas these people imagined that went nowhere, before they found the ones that were great.

We can develop an active imagination. For instance, give yourself freedom to daydream. Find some time when you have no other distractions and no requirements of yourself and just imagine things. Find your time you can claim as your own. Dream. Make up a story in your mind. It could be that you have a problem at work. Whatever your work is, whether dealing with people or machines, if there is a problem, your imagination can help you solve it. So start imagining all kinds of possibilities.

In your daydreaming, don’t put up fences. Don’t start evaluating and discarding an idea too quickly. Sometimes good ideas need time to work their way to a solution. Some of us are quick to say: “That won’t work.” We even think that way in our daydreaming and discard ideas before they are fully developed. Remove that fence. Remove any fence that puts limitations on your imagining. Don’t discard an idea too soon because it takes more money than you have, or more volunteers than your organization has, or whatever it is that tempts you to short-circuit your dreaming.

Imagination is enhanced by other ideas. Sometimes as you read and watch and listen, ideas come to you through other people or situations around you.  A while back my one of my daughters gave me a book on trees. I would not have chosen to read a book like that, but it was amazing to read the insights of someone who had spent years working with trees and understanding them. There were points in the book that got me thinking about how to work with small groups and how people interact.

Another book I recently read outside of my normal reading selections was Atomic Habits, by James Clear. While the book was about habits, it sparked all kinds of ideas that made me want to apply the teaching to the process of discipleship. As we read and learn from others, we add fertilizer to the fertile ground of our imagination.

Someone once said that we should “beg, borrow, and steal” as we look for good ideas. There have been many times that my good ideas came out of ideas that others had worked on. I was able to build on and adapt those ideas to programs I was working on or ministries I was running.

I have been part of churches that planned wonderful Easter Celebrations complete with a breakfast, fun and games, a worship service, and an Easter Egg hunt. One of the aspects of the morning that went over really well was to bring in a professional photographer to take family photos. Many people dress up for Easter so it was a great time to offer people a free family photo. I don’t know where I got the idea, but I know it came from someone else’s ideas and I was able to adapt it to my setting.

One author who wrote about planning creative worship services suggested always having some children’s toys at hand. The idea was, if you have fun thing near you, in your environment and in your hand, your creativity will be enhanced. So, surround yourself with weird and wonderful objects, collect fun sayings and give yourself an environment that will be conducive to good imagining.

I don’t know if you have found this to be true, but some people think they imagine and think creatively better by being in a certain place, or a certain chair, or taking time to daydream at a certain time of day. If you want to be intentional about improving your creativity and your imagination, this might be an idea to try. Find a comfortable spot and see if the creativity ideas start flowing. It may take a bit of trial and error to find the right spot, but sometimes the habit of that certain spot or certain time can help unlock creative ideas.

Then, at a certain point, you have to look to putting your ideas into action. When you have ideas, start writing them down. Writing down ideas requires you to express the idea in a concrete way. The imagination has to become reality at some point. Writing it down helps you put that idea together.

If the written idea still seems like a good one, try it out. Share it with someone. You might want to make sure you share it with someone you trust, or someone who won’t shut you down too quickly. If you can verbalize it in a way that makes sense to the person listening, you are heading in the direction of your ideas becoming reality.

When you think you are ready, try out your idea. See if it solves the problem you were working on. If it does, great! Your imagination helped you. If it does not work, then keep looking for another idea.

Continue to cultivate an active imagination. Just think of how many good ideas you will have if you allow yourself to stop and daydream!

Keep looking up,

Andy Wiebe

Book Reviews: Andy’s 2022 Reading Experience

/ thinkingoutsidethetextbox / Leave a comment

I will be sharing a brief review of every book I read this year. Hope you enjoy and hope it encourages you to keep reading.

THE CHURCH REVITALIZATION CHECKLIST – by Sam Rainer

The Church Revitalization Checklist: A Hopeful and Practical Guide for Leading Your Congregation to a Brighter Tomorrow is for pastors and church leaders who recognize that their church needs some renewing. Sam writes from the position of pastor and coach to pastors who are attempting to lead their churches to a brighter tomorrow.

The first line of the book is: “If God can save any person, he can save any church.” I have a sad memory of the first church I served as a youth pastor. That church no longer exists. Fortunately the building is still being used for ministry, but that church died. Many other churches are on the verge of dying unless someone can bring them new life. Sam has written a very practical book that helps walk you through the revitalization process. Pastors, I believe many of you could benefit greatly from having this resource at your side as you lead your church to a better future.

The Tortoise Change Leader

/ thinkingoutsidethetextbox / Leave a comment

Many of us know the children’s story “The Tortoise and the Hare.” The two are having a race, and everyone knows the hare will win. After all, a hare is much faster than a turtle. The hare decides to take it easy and even rest for a while, but the tortoise keeps going, slow and steady. Who wins? The tortoise. The point is that sometimes the race goes to the slow and steady one.

If you are called to be a leader of change, you will need to learn the skill of slow and steady change. It is a rare situation in which a change leader can come in and make large scale changes to an organization quickly. Those who do attempt so often get their attempt cut short as they are removed from their leadership role.

Church leaders who attempt change also need to learn this concept of slow and steady change. I have realized my own shortcomings in this in a few situations I have been in. I tend to get impatient and want to change too much at once.

A good change leader understands how to lead slowly and steadily toward a desired goal. Here are ten actions to take to be a tortoise-like Change Leader. They may need to be worked on in a slightly different order than listed, depending on your situation. As you work through these actions, they will help you to feel you have some movement while keeping you to a slow and steady pace.

1. Evaluate Early: When you take on the role of change leader, evaluate early in your role. Evaluate the organization and team you are responsible for. Evaluate how they are doing in accomplishing stated purposes and goals, and whether those are even the appropriate goals and purposes to have. Leaders who wait to evaluate until they have been in the role for a while tend to become blind to things that need to be changed. It is amazing how quickly we get comfortable with how things are and then lose our ability to see critically. You will see things more clearly if you evaluate early, even though the change may be a while in coming.

Ask people to speak into your evaluation. As a pastor, you may want to do a congregational assessment so you can learn what the present reality is. In one church I got into trouble because I assumed too much. I was used to doing things a certain way and didn’t even consider that the church may have done things differently than I was used to. I ended up making more changes early without even knowing it, because of course, I was new to the church and had no idea how they did things in the past. Assessment may help prevent you from attempting to implement unnecessary and potentially harmful changes.

2. Pray First: Pray about the changes you believe need to be made. If you are trying to change things in a church, you want to make sure you are on track with what God has planned and that can only happen if you are listening carefully. Invite your leadership and other prayer warriors to join you in praying for wisdom and clear direction from God.

3. Love Deeply: Make your first priority to love the people experiencing the changes you will implement. Do anything and everything you can to show them you want to get to know them. Show them you want to get to know their history. Ask questions about who they are and what they care about. Celebrate together when things go well.

Loving people deeply can contribute to change being accepted because they have accepted you.  Show them that you want to put them first, but you want the best for them and that is why you are making changes.

4. Share Goals Carefully: Work with the leadership to get a sense of where changes should be made and even some of what the changes would look like. Have a goal in mind but don’t share it with too many people at first. If people hear about all you want to change at the beginning, they may be overwhelmed and not give you opportunity to change anything. This isn’t about deceiving people but about having time to build on small wins before sharing some of the bigger changes to come.

5. Build a Team: Work especially closely with those who want changes and will champion them for you. Help them introduce the changes so they don’t just come from the leader but from a larger team. Make sure you are all on the same page, having worked through the process of evaluating and planning for change together.

6. Begin Small: Start with a few small changes. Ask your team to help you figure out a few small things that could be changed. Invite them into the process of thinking through how that change would look. You might begin some of the changes by suggesting: “Let’s try this for a short period of time.” People are more willing to accept change if they know there is an end to it, or that it is not set in stone.

7. Evaluate Changes Honestly: Once you have changed something, evaluate it honestly. Evaluate how it went and decide if it should stay, and stay as is, or stay with some changes. Don’t assume it went well just because it was your idea. Invite the appropriate people into the evaluation so you can honestly determine if the change is good or not.

8. Communicate Clearly: Be very clear with all those affected. Inform them of what is being changed and why, as well as how the change will help improve things. If it is a change that will be noticed by all those in your organization then invite the whole organization into the evaluation. If it is only a certain department, then invite that department into the process. Once the evaluation process is complete, clearly communicate if it will stay, why, and what adjustments may be made.

9. Build on Wins: After a few smaller wins you will be able to make slightly larger changes. You can slowly build momentum on the changes that go well. If there is a change that is not adapted, don’t see it as a failure but as a means of developing credibility with your team as well as with those hesitant to make changes. If they realize you want the best and are not just forcing changes through, they may be quicker to accept the next “trial change”.

10. Develop Patience and Perseverance: Don’t give up if a few changes are not accepted. Be patient and persevere for the long term. The longer you are part of a church, the more likely you will be able to increase the rate of change. This will be because people get to know you and trust you. It will also be because over time there will be more people who started attending the church after you came, so they chose the church aware of who you are and how you lead and the changes you are making.

It is not easy to be a change leader. You will face opposition. Hopefully, if you move at a slow steady pace, you will face less of it and begin to build on your wins. Hang in there for the long haul. And trust God to give you wisdom and guide you as you look to Him.

Keep looking up,

Andy Wiebe

Pastors Are Staying Longer

/ thinkingoutsidethetextbox / Leave a comment

Pastors seem to be staying at one church for a longer time than in the past. I have seen a few pastors who resigned recently after 13 or 15 years at the same church. How did they do it?

Let me share a few of my observations. Some, or all, or none, of the following may be at play in longer pastoral stays.

1. The Strong Leader

Leadership has been one of the main issues pastors have been told they need to work on to have a great ministry. There are many books and seminars and podcasts dedicated to pastoral leadership. Well, some pastors are great leaders. The congregation loves the pastor because they see how the pastor always leads with a strong vision and clear direction. The congregation see the results of new people, maybe their own children, coming to Christ and being baptized under the leadership of these pastors. The leadership board enjoys having a leader who guides them as a board.

This type of pastor appeals to a congregation that loves to do the work of the Kingdom. They flourish because the leader equips them and inspires them to move toward one direction together. This pastor understands the congregation and builds ministries on the gifts and skills and passions of those present.

The strong leader addresses issues as soon as they arise and deals with them swiftly. If there are relationships that are struggling, he will do his best to fix them immediately. If there are ministries that are having issues he steps in to resolve them as efficiently as possible.

This pastor will most likely be a “projects person.” He is great at setting up the right ministries so that the care for people is done in the ministries and programs of the church rather than through his own relationships with everyone.

2. The Strong Shepherd

Pastors do not need to have abundant leadership skills to stay long term in one church. I’ve seen some who remain at a church for years because they love people. They care for those in the congregation. They are at the hospital bed of everyone who ends up in the hospital. They might even remember everyone’s birthday and call them or take the out for coffee to celebrate. I remember a pastor with this gifting who remembered everybody’s name from the first time they attended as new-comers.

This pastor may not start new ministries but is faithful to continue to maintain the ministries that are already going. This pastor may not have strong preaching abilities, but the congregation senses his love for them whenever he preaches.

This pastor will generally be a “people person.” His ministry is all about loving and caring for people.

3. Be a Strong Adapter

I am presently doing transition ministry in one church that just said goodbye to a pastor who was there for about 13 years. As we have gone through the transition process, I have heard comments from people that the previous pastor was not the same at the end as he was at the beginning of his ministry. He changed and adapted, and it was a good thing.

Adapting happens for a few reasons.

a. The pastor grows up: If you are a new pastor just out of Bible College, you are likely young, and probably inexperienced. Some young pastors may have been very involved in their church growing up, or grew up in a pastor’s family and so have some experience of how church works. Others come to this role with little church experience at all.

If you are a young pastor, you may be able to have a long ministry at one church if you keep on growing. Keep on taking courses. Attend seminars. Read books. You might want to focus in on a certain aspect of the pastoral role that excites you, but keep learning. Find an older pastor nearby who will mentor you and whom you can bounce ideas off of. Make use of denominational leaders and coaches to help you. Be willing to listen to your leadership team. They have probably been in that church longer than you.

b. The church grows: If you are part of a church that is growing, the dynamics of church ministry will shift over time. When you have 60 people, you will know everyone. When you have 120 people, you may have to work much harder to get to know the newer people. You may need to add more small groups and add more leaders, so your role in equipping leaders may expand. If you grow to the point of hiring staff, you will again have to adapt as you are now leading a team, even if it is just two of you. You are now handing off some responsibilities to another pastor and trusting them to lead their areas well.

If you are in a growing church, make sure you keep learning. Go to seminars, take courses, and read lots. Look for someone who has experience pastoring a church that is growing and ask them to help you adapt well. Learn to increase your leadership team. Work closely with new staff. You may need to establish another level of leadership to look after different departments in the church.

If it is your goal to be a pastor who stays a long time in one church, then be the best you that you can be. If you are gifted as a leader, lead well. If your primary gifts are in the area of shepherding, then shepherd your congregation well. When you are in a church that is growing, figure out how to adapt where you can and gather a team around you to compliment and balance out your own gifts and skills. Usually both the pastor and the church benefit from a pastor staying for a longer period.

Keep looking up,

Andy Wiebe

The Natural Hamartiologist

/ thinkingoutsidethetextbox / Leave a comment

The hunter reaches back with quiet well-practiced motion to locate an arrow in his quiver. He selects one and brings it forward as his other hand raises his bow. He nocks his arrow on the bow and pulls back the full reach of his arm. His eyes look down the arrow and focus in on the deer in the open field ahead of him. As soon as he feels his aim is true, he pauses his breath, and lets the arrow fly. If the hunter is well practiced, and maybe a bit lucky, the arrow will pierce his prey and provide him with his supper.

There is a word used in the New Testament that describes an arrow missing its mark. The word “hamartano,” is translated as “sin.” So the word for “sin” comes from a word “regularly used in ancient times of an archer missing the target.” (Strong’s Concordance) We all regularly “miss the mark”. We sin. I heard one person recently say, “we regularly hurt the ones we love.” Often we miss the mark with the people we care about the most.

Hamartiology is the study of how we miss the mark. Romans 3:23 says, “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”

I am adapting the word to suit my own purposes here: the Natural Hamartiologist is the one who naturally misses the mark. The one who regularly and often misses the mark is a Natural Hamartiologist. I would suggest that this is really a description of all humans.

Our Creator God created us to have someone to have a relationship with. He created us with free will, hoping we would choose to love and serve and honor Him. The book of Genesis is the first book of the Bible. Only 3 chapters in you will find the first people – Adam and Eve – choosing to disobey and miss God’s mark for them. From then on all humans have this tendency to miss the mark – not all the time – but regularly. Some of us have no interest in pleasing God, so missing the mark in measuring up to His standards is not relevant. For the rest of us, those who have surrendered our lives to God, we desire to hit the mark more often than not.

God chose to send His Son Jesus Christ to die on the cross in our place, taking our death penalty that missing the mark requires of us. When Jesus rose from the dead, He was victorious over death, over the devil, and over sin. He never missed the mark when it came to obeying God. He gives us his Spirit to remind us when we do miss the mark. And every time the Spirit reminds us, we can go back to Jesus, ask him to forgive us, and he does. God sees us as the forgiven ones, because he sees us through Jesus who never missed the mark.

As Christians with our faith in Jesus and his death and resurrection for us, we can be forgiven. We can have a relationship with God, as He desired in the first place, as people who are not seen as Hamartiologists but as “dikaios” – Righteous Ones.

We fall short of God’s ideal very often, but we also have One who by his death and resurrection has paid for our sin and made us righteous before God.

Are you a practicing Hamartiologist or are you an aspiring Dikaios? What we think of ourselves as influences how we live our life. If we think we are ones who regularly miss the mark, then we are not surprised when we do. If we view ourselves as ones who are righteous, then we focus more on living out that righteousness. It may seem like a small thing, but I believe how you view yourself affects how you live. Paul regularly addressed his New Testament letters “to God’s holy people” in Ephesus, or Philippi. We are righteous ones pursuing The Righteous One. We want to pursue the God-given ideal and can rejoice that God has provided a way for us to become righteous when we miss the mark again.

Keep coming back to Jesus,

Andy Wiebe

Do We Need A Transition Pastor?

/ thinkingoutsidethetextbox / 1 Comment

I am presently serving as a Transition Pastor. Some might wonder what that is, or why a church might need one. Many of you reading this are part of a church, and may be part of the leadership that needs to determine next steps after a pastor leaves.

When a pastor resigns and leaves his church, the church needs to determine next steps. Some questions to consider would be:

  • Should we immediately look for a new pastor?
  • What kind of pastor do we need next?
  • Should we get a Transition Pastor?
  • Are there things we need to work on to be ready for a new pastor?

A Transition Pastor

A Transition Pastor serves in the time between a church’s last pastor and the next one they will hire. He will generally sign a contract for nine months up to two years. The Transition Pastor’s main role is to make sure the church is healthy and ready for the next part of their journey, before hiring the next pastor.

 Another role is to help the church say goodbye to the previous pastor and some of the experiences of the past. If the pastor who left was deeply loved by the congregation, and if he served there for a long time, a new pastor coming in immediately would probably be regularly compared to the last pastor. I have had that experience in a few churches I served. A Transition Pastor can be a buffer, helping the church move on from the last pastor and be ready to accept the next one.

If there was a lot of pain and heartache that caused the previous pastor to leave in turmoil, the Transition Pastor can help the church heal and move on from that experience so they are ready to accept the next pastor God sends their way. This is part of the process of ensuring the church is heathy and ready to move on.

The Transition Pastor can also bring consistency to the congregation while they are looking for their next pastor. Instead of bringing in different local people to preach every Sunday, he provides consistent leadership that takes the load from the Leadership Board that volunteers to serve with already busy lives of their own.

Transition Benefits

If you are part of a church that is in between pastors, I would highly recommend hiring a Transition pastor. They will help you say goodbye to the previous pastor and that chapter of the church. They will help you be healthy and ready for the next chapter. The Transition Pastor can focus in on the issues that will bring health in a way that a new pastor can’t, as they are responsible to deal with all aspects of the church.

The Transition Pastor is a trained specialist who can address much needed assessing and re-visioning that not every pastor is equipped to do.

The Transition Coach

Not every church that is between pastors will hire a Transition Pastor. Sometimes they opt to go with a Transition Coach. Churches that choose this option usually have others in the church that can continue to preach most Sundays and look after pastoral care of the congregation. This would most likely be a multi-staff church that may be looking for their next Lead Pastor while still having other staff running many aspects of the church.

The Transition Coach will do many of the same assessments and work through similar processes with the Elders, staff, and congregation. He will not be there every Sunday but will show up occasionally to work through different steps of the process. And he will be guiding the whole process, even suggesting topics or themes to address in the preaching. The one concern I have about choosing a Transition Coach is that this person is not as closely connected or intimately in tune with what is going on in the church in the way an on-site Transition Pastor is.

Are you in between pastors? Then consider hiring a Transition Pastor. You will benefit greatly!

Keep looking up

Andy Wiebe

*Click this link to connect with Andy about Transition ministry.

Always Become Better!

/ thinkingoutsidethetextbox / 1 Comment

Our education system helps us to figure out if we are continuing to learn and develop. If you are faithfully doing your homework and finishing your assignments, you should be learning what the curriculum has laid out for you in each grade in school, or each year of college or university. Every year you should ideally pass a level and move up to the next grade. When you enter college, there are a number of classes you must take as prerequisites to classes offered in the next year or two. You can track how well you are doing by what grade you are in, or what courses you have completed toward the degree you are pursuing. When we leave school, it is not as easy to see if we are still learning.

When you complete your degree, you hope to step into a career that uses your training. As you begin at a new place of employment, you are taught what is expected of you at that job. Sometimes there are opportunities to advance in your career so you feel like you are continuing to grow and develop.

Eventually even in your job, there are not more steps to advance to. You may not even be expected to do any further learning. You know what the job is, and have proven you are capable of doing it. You do not need to keep learning.

This is where some people become stagnant. They have reached a certain level in their job or their career and they are content. The problem is, no one plateaus in their life for long. Either you keep learning and growing and making yourself better in some way, or you start to fall off, and fall behind as the world keeps on changing and developing.

I have been a pastor most of my life. While I have done a few other things for an income, this has been what I have given my life to. And I have chosen to keep on growing. I love to read. If you have noticed my book reviews on this blog you will know that is true. I like to read a variety of things. Sometimes I focus on a certain subject for a while, but I love to learn and to grow and develop. As a pastor, I need to learn how to use technology.  I started out by writing my sermons by hand, no I always use my computer. Along the way I learned how to use PowerPoint to add slides to my sermons. I spent a number of years pursuing a Masters (It took a period of over 20 years from the first course I took towards my Masters degree until I completed the last one and graduated!) I was not as concerned about accomplishing the degree as I was about continuing to regularly keep on learning. I enjoyed taking time to implement what I was learning.

We should want to always become better. Whatever skill or ability or gift you may have, keep learning how to develop it further. If you are a good preacher, continue to learn from others who are better, or who may do it slightly differently. If you are good at leading meetings, keep reading new books or go to seminars on how to lead them even better. If you are a good counselor, continue to learn and find new techniques to try out.

It may be that you realize you are about average in a number of areas in what you are skilled at. You might want to choose one or two to become good at, or even one area where you excel.

I have found one of the ways of continuing to get better is to teach others. If you think you are pretty good at something, then see if there are opportunities for you to teach others. When you teach, you have to figure out what you actually do, how you do it, and why what you do or the way you do it is the best way. This forces you to not just do something you are naturally good at, but evaluate it and figure out what valuable lessons you can pass on to others.

David Sanders, a cellist in the Chicago Symphony was describing how many hours of practice it takes to get to and maintain such a high level of competency. “You cannot rest on your laurels in the Chicago Symphony, or in any world-class orchestra. You never want to let your colleagues down, yourself down, or, maybe more importantly, the music down. Now in my 42nd year, I still don’t want to let my colleagues, myself or the music down. It is a never-ending struggle to continually try to master a musical instrument, to keep improving, be it string, wind, brass, or percussion.” (A CHICAGO CELLIST EXPLAINS: WHY WE WORK ONLY 20 HOURS A WEEK)

If you want to be your best, you need to continue to work at your craft. You have to continue to learn and practice and develop. The person who is continuing to develop and grow will be sought after in their field of expertise. And I would venture to say, will be much more interesting than the person who has not learned anything new for the last couple of years. This is not necessarily about “moving up the ladder”, but about being the best you can be where you are at.

Always become better at what you are good at and what you are equipped to do. You will enjoy life more than those who have become stagnant. You won’t be left behind as those younger and more skilled start to catch up to you.

As a pastor, if you keep on learning and growing and developing, you will be more attractive to churches looking for someone relevant to the world around them who also comes with years of experience. Continue to become better, for yourself, and for long-term ongoing employment.

Always become better.

Keep looking up,

Andy

Prayer: The Gateway to Intimacy with God

/ thinkingoutsidethetextbox / Leave a comment

It is impossible to get close to another person if you never talk, and it is impossible to become truly intimate with another unless your share your heart. I love my wife. I enjoyed dating and getting to know her. I loved getting married and spending more and more time together. We recently took a little holiday, and loved sharing some time new experiences and time together. I have developed an intimate relationship with Lynnette through years of sharing my life with her. We have had many conversations about anything and everything. All this has brought us closer to each other. We are falling more and more in love with each other.

We can be in a close relationship with God. We can develop an intimate relationship with God. This is possible through prayer.

Unfortunately, many of us have confusing ideas about prayer. While I was a pastor at one church, I remember someone coming to me a number of times to get a “prayer” from me because I was a pastor. She didn’t want me to pray for her or with her. She wanted a specific prayer that she could take with her to use for a certain situation she wanted to deal with. She didn’t want God to do something. She thought this “prayer” would solve her problem like a lucky talisman. This type of prayer will not help us develop intimacy with God.

Some people pray before they eat, thanking God for the food. Some pray for God to do certain things in their lives. Some pray prayers like the Lord’s Prayer or others written by leaders of the past. When used only as a routine or ritual and not prayed from the heart, these are not prayers that will develop intimacy with God.

Prayer that can truly develop intimacy with God means we will spend time in prayer. We will spend time talking with God. Prayer that develops intimacy depends on us having regular conversations with God. Scripture tells us to “pray without ceasing.” I realized I was doing this the other day. I noticed a little car in the lane next to me, driven by an older gentleman. I was immediately reminded of Jerry, a man who was in one of the churches I served. He passed away a few years ago. My first thought was: “So God, how’s Jerry doing up there?” It was just automatic and so natural. I spend time with God and constantly talk with him about what is going on.

Intimacy developing prayer means we have conversations with God. For many of us, prayer is something we do when we list off a laundry list of requests. We talk to God often. We tell him all the things we need and all the problems we need help with. While we think that may be prayer, it is definitely not a conversation with God. We need to learn to have a conversation, where we may talk for a while, but then we listen for a while. We need to realize that for prayer to help us develop intimacy with God, we need to do more than just talk to him.

Intimacy-developing prayer means we expect to hear from God. We actually pause long enough to listen and expect God to speak to us. We could occasionally come to God with a question, ask it, and then just wait and listen to what God is saying. Don’t say anything else until you hear God speaking.

Prayer that helps us develop intimacy with God is also often connected to Scripture. Pray and read scripture. Ask God to speak through what you read, and then read with an expectation that God will reveal himself to you in His Word. Commit to spending time with God regularly, reading scripture and talking with Him.

One of the intimacy-developing practices I have right now is to take two mornings a week where I pray through a “One Hour Prayer Guide”. In his book, The Hour That Changes the World, Dick Eastman suggests that one divide an hour into 12 periods of 5 minutes each. Topics in the 5 minutes segments include steps including praise, thanksgiving, confession, and praying scripture. There are a few sections that focus on watching for God and listening to God. It is surprising how quickly the hour passes, and very encouraging in how it makes me feel like I am more connected to God and what He wants to do in me and through me.

The Hour That Changes the World, Dick Eastman

You can develop intimacy with God. He longs for that. In fact, He created the world so that he could have a relationship with his created people. When you desire intimacy with God, he will eagerly respond to your efforts. Conversational prayer, taking time with God, and praying as you read scripture, is the gateway to intimacy with God.

Do you want to know God intimately? Then make the effort to spend time with him, having conversations with him, and experiencing him at work in your life.

Keep looking up,

Andy Wiebe

Know Your Yes, Know Your No

/ thinkingoutsidethetextbox / Leave a comment

You do not have to say “yes” to every opportunity to serve that comes your way.

When we are young, and just starting out in life, the opportunities are endless. You could go in almost any direction for a career. As you get older and get more experience you learn that there are certain things that you are good at and certain things you are not as good at. There are certain roles you take on that you love and others where you struggle to survive the day.

As we get older, and hopefully a little more experienced, we begin to narrow down the real and meaningful opportunities for us. We are not quick to jump in to jobs that will require us doing things we hate. We choose to do what we enjoy if at all possible. We prefer doing what we enjoy, and over time get a clear sense of what those things are.

Beyond that, I believe that God has certain roles for us to fulfill. He has given us gifts and abilities, and led us through circumstances that prepare us for what is next. We can ask him to clarify for us what he wants us to do with our life, and he will. I believe that God has a role for everyone, if we will only ask him to help us discover that.

Through a number of different circumstance God has brought me to the place where I believe he wants me to focus on helping churches and leaders achieve their God-given dreams. I have been a pastor for about 30 years, and generally loved the role. I had the opportunity, with a few others, to start up and establish the Rural Church Pastors Network. I loved the opportunity to equip and encourage fellow pastors. I enjoy writing and sharing my thoughts with others. And God, through these experiences and some clear signs from him, called me to this role of helping leaders and churches.

God has called me to help churches and leaders discover their God-given dreams. I was recently offered a position that looked interesting. I knew I could do what was required, I might even enjoy the role, but I couldn’t say yes. As I prayed about it, God reminded me that he had called me to this role of helping leaders and churches. This new opportunity was not part of that. Saying “no” to something that I might enjoy was not easy, but I knew what God called me to do.

Knowing your “yes” helps you know your “no”. When you have a clear understanding of what God has called you to do, you can clearly say no to that which is not part of the plan. I know it is hard to say no to people. We want people to like us and so we try to please them. Knowing our specific calling from God helps us have an easier time making decisions about what we choose to agree to and what opportunities we decline. Then we can say no with a clear conscience when we know what fits in God’s plan for us and what does not.

Sometimes we are overwhelmed with all that is on our plate. I wonder how often that is a result of us not clearly understanding what we are called to do so we do everything that comes our way. We say yes to every good thing when maybe God would like us to focus in on a specific opportunity. We tell ourselves that we can’t get out of these responsibilities when maybe we just need to say no. Sometimes we get frustrated with people and all they demand of us, but the problem may be us. We haven’t set clear boundaries on what we should or should not do, what fits into the scope of who we are and what does not.

Clarifying who we are and what God is calling us to may be harder to determine when we are young and have not had time to try new things or experience various roles and opportunities. As we get involved in different jobs and serve in a variety of places, we can narrow down who we are and what we are called to do.

This allows us to  figure out how God has gifted us and what talents we have. But clarifying who we are and what we become involved in does not just depend on age and experience. I believe we need to have time with God asking him to clarify what he wants us to do with our lives. God may speak to you through your reading of scripture. He may speak to you in your prayer time. He may speak to unique ways such as dreams or visions. What I do know is this: if we ask God, he will answer. Ask him to clarify his calling on your life and then you will be able.

I hope you can clarify your “yes” so you can also know your “no.” May God show you your unique place in this world.

Keep looking up

Andy

Healing – What the Church Can Offer

/ thinkingoutsidethetextbox / Leave a comment

I recently heard two statements by two different people that I believe are prophetic words for the church. In my experience, there have been shifts in how the church functions or what church leaders think is important in reaching people for Christ. When I was a young youth pastor, it seemed the emphasis was on finding ways to make church fun and cool. As I got a little older, books and seminars seemed to focus on the church being relevant and relatable to unbelievers. What is the next emphasis of the church as we reach out to people who have not yet met Jesus personally?

On January 24, 2022, I heard Adam Browett of Glad Tidings Church in Victoria, B.C., make a profound statement in his sermon: The church moving forward “looks more like a healing center than a rec center.” He pointed out that if we were to be following Jesus’ example, we would be surrounding ourselves with hurting people and healing their hurts.

Our world offers all kinds of entertainment. The church does not need to provide entertainment. The church needs to find ways of helping the hurting and lonely. Our church buildings should be places where people find healing. Those of us who have a relationship with Jesus, the Healer, should be people in whom others can find healing as we point them to Jesus.

Dr. Rob Reimer writes in Spiritual Authority, “I think more people are going to come to faith in Christ in this generation because they know they are broken and in need of a Healer than because they know they are sinners in need of a Savior.” Our emphasis when we share the gospel has so often been about showing people how sinful they were so they would recognize they need a Saviour. Instead, if we focus on brokenness and healing, people don’t need us to point out how hurt and lonely they are. And we have an answer to that hurt and loneliness. We have a Healer.

In his book, Reimer points out that almost every time Jesus mentioned the kingdom of God he also mentioned healing from diseases and casting out of demons and restoring what is good and right in people. The church has been too focused on the “getting out of here” aspect of the Kingdom of God, where our goal is to gain eternal life and then just wait for that to be fulfilled. The kingdom of God is where what is bad is made right. The kingdom of God must be evident in displays of God’s power, as can be seen in demons cast out and people healed and relationships restored.

Our world is full of conflict. Countries are at odds with each other. People are at mad at each other. Large demonstrations and protests are rising up out of people’s frustrations. Violence is not uncommon. Disputes and arguments dominate social media. People are mad at the government and frustrated with the pandemic and all its fallout. Marriages and families are struggling and breaking apart. Many people are struggling with depression. Suicide is a way out for many. People are hurting.

If we truly love our world, if we as Christians want to truly love the hurting as Jesus did, then we need to be people offering healing, and our churches need to be places of healing. We need to believe God can still do miracles and bring healing and restoration. We need to speak and act with His authority and power to bring healing to our world.

This will not be just up to the pastors or church leaders. This is the role of every believer. We have the Holy Spirit in us. We have his power at work in and through us. We need to learn how to bring his healing to the hurting people around us. This will take much prayer, some in depth reading, and practice, as well as a continual filling of the Holy Spirit.

This is the need of the church today, but it is really just going back to what Jesus did when he was on earth, and what the apostles did as they established churches, and what New Testament church leaders did in their communities. We need to come back to inviting God to display his power and to bring healing to our hurting world again.

Let’s pray that the church will become the healing center it is meant to be.

Keep looking up

Andy