What makes the difference?

when I did my doctoral work in the early 1980s, the matter of local church organization and management was at the head of the list of what was in vogue in the world of ministerial education. There is little question that such an emphasis was and still is needed among us. Pastors needed then and now to design and administer effective local structures. The people who filled many of our churches in the eighties and beyond have had higher expectations than ever for the way their pastors and, for that matter, corporate church administrators, design and run the managerial machinery of the church. It seems to me that without actually saying so, we have almost come to the place where we expect that a well-designed structure per se will somehow "fix" the church. One could certainly gain that impression when listening in on some of our committee discussions and business sessions!

Along with the organizational or administrative design concerns, Seventh-day Adventists have always been deeply concerned with the matter of accuracy in our conceptions and expressions of theology and doctrine. This is by all means an important concentration. The concern for doctrinal accuracy, deeply established as it has always been in the Adventist psyche, has received special attention in recent years as postmodernism and pluralism have arrived to exert their influence.

A third concentration in recent times in the Seventh-day Adventist Church is a demographic one. Many have concentrated on fashioning local churches that focus on carefully specified sectors of the surrounding society. Aside from this, we have developed a very necessary global consciousness through which we attempt to meet the needs of the myriad cultural, national, linguistic, ethnic, and tribal groups and subgroups that now make up a truly world denomination.

Structural design, doctrine, and demographics are three important aspects that have preoccupied our thinking as a church. These are, of course, honorable concerns that properly balanced can make significant differences to who we are and how we do our ministry. Yet when I look at the church I love, I sometimes feel that not much has happened to make the kind of difference you and I would like to see in the directions the church is taking or not taking. Is there something more?

I recently read what I would consider a 20-year-old contemporary Christian classic entitled, Celebration of Discipline, by Richard Foster. Although this book is well known and I had glanced through it in the past, as I picked it up this time, Celebration of Discipline came home to me with particular power. As I read I was struck above all with the fact that it is not so much in the area of doctrinal purity that we are lacking. It is not so much a newly designed church structure that we need locally or corporately, or a more specific application of demographic dynamics, but a deeper quality of discipleship. I have come to believe anew that God is calling us now to this discipleship. We are being drawn by God to simply fulfill the great disciplines of the Christian way as Jesus called his disciples to do it. This, of course, is in itself not a new thought, but somehow as I read Foster's book, the reality of it struck me with an unprecedented potency and conviction.

With freshness and admirable holistic insight Foster treats twelve great "disciplines" of Christian training and seasoning: meditation, prayer, fasting, study, simplicity, solitude, submission, service, confession, worship, guidance and celebration. Some of these are looked at in terms of the life of the individual and others in the light of the corporate fellowship of the church. Either way, they are definitively critical to our life and to our ministry and to the churches we serve.

When Foster begins his first chapter with the words, "superficiality is the curse of our age," ¹ he is talking of spiritual superficiality. We may feel our superficialities lie in structural, theological, or professional arenas, and we may be partially correct. But in practicing the principles of discipleship mentioned above, we are placed in a practical position before God through which He can transform us and make us potent for Him. They are presented as keys to unlock spiritual power, depth, and maturity. Practicing these spiritual disciplines opens the way for God to move us to the place where He can work with us in ways He is otherwise unable to do. These are not legalistic duties, but like breathing and eating, they usher in life and being. I believe these are the critical ingredients we lack.

I am especially moved by Foster's depth of practical insight into the disciplines of prayer (about which he recently wrote another groundbreaking book), simplicity, submission, guidance, and service, or more accurately, servanthood. What would happen if we made our ministers' meetings times of carefully conceived corporate and personal soul-searching and genuine spiritual growth, rather than just the professional advancement sessions that they usually are? I am aware, I think, of how such an idea may grate the cogs of some of our politically correct thinking and how easily such meetings could come to nothing, especially if they were not entered into wholeheartedly. But what if we forged ahead anyway?

I pray that this simple plea for a deeper, more practical and authentic spiritual ministry will reach out and grasp our hearts. That getting into Foster's kind of approach to ministry will convict us and move us nearer to the kind of forward thrust in our ministry that we dream of and to which God directs us. It could make the difference.

If there is anyone who would like a copy of Foster's book and is unable to obtain it, I have a limited number of copies available and would be glad to send them free to those who are first to request them. To order a copy, please use the email, fax, and regular mail addresses given on page 2 of any Ministry. Please date your fax or regular mail so that I can be as fair as possible in distributing the books according to the dates of the request arrivals.