Tuesday, July 14, 2020

How to Lead Church in a Pandemic

(Holland State Park, Michigan)


In Hebrews 11:8 we read:

By an act of faith, Abraham said yes to God’s call to travel to an unknown place that would become his home. When he left he had no idea where he was going. By an act of faith he lived in the country promised him, lived as a stranger camping in tents. Isaac and Jacob did the same, living under the same promise. Abraham did it by keeping his eye on an unseen city with real, eternal foundations—the City designed and built by God.


Abraham did not have a map. No GPS, as we know it.

But, Abraham did have another kind of GPS. He had a God Positioning System. God was leading Abraham. Abraham, traveling without a map, had to discern the leading of God.

To do this, Abraham had to stay close to God. The closer to God, the more accurate the discernment. Discernment is a function of intimacy, of closeness, to God.

Abraham kept his eye on the "unseen city." This is where we are today. God's people, the Church, are being led to the unseen city. We have little idea where we are going. But God's presence is leading us.

This is leadership in the Presence-Driven Church. It's the development of a discerning community whose spiritual foundation is abiding in Christ. 

I write more extensively about how to do this in Leading the Presence-Driven Church.