I have been privileged to be able to use the discernment process from my doctoral work variety of settings. We have used it in our local church setting for a number of important decisions (staffing, Sunday morning schedule change). As I look into 2013, I have scheduled meetings to utilize this process.

Each time I go through the process, I learn something new. A key insight has been the necessity of a leader who is familiar with the process. I handed the process off to one group last year; they had a difficult time staying on track without my help. This is probably because I have not documented the process well. Once I began attending the meetings of this group, they had a fruitful experience. They were able to make difficult decisions with confidence as they worked the process.

As I utilize the process in 2013, I look forward to sharing more stories about the experiences of each group. This month, I am scheduled to work with a Worship Arts team in our church to discern rehearsal schedules. As our church is changing, we need to consider how to best utilize the gifts of members as well as staff energy in music rehearsals. We will see how it goes.

We also have difficult budgetary decisions to make in 2013. I hope that we will be able to use the process to adequately reflect and discern God’s direction in how we use our resources as a church.

All this to say that I am hopeful that 2013 will be a year in which we properly discern the Spirit of God in our church. I hope to continue to utilize the process that I have shared about on this blog. I will continue to update this blog throughout the year.