Whose Agenda is it Anyway?

We, who are called Methodist, are called by God to do God’s work in the world.

Pastors in particular are called to lead God’s people, teaching and equipping them to do God’s work in the world. Pastors in the United Methodist Church are also called to follow the lead of their Bishops and their District Superintendents in achieving the will and direction of the General and Annual Conferences.

First on the agenda for any Pastor is leading people to Jesus and with God’s help, leading people to submit to God’s will with a confession of faith.

Second on the agenda is to disciple the Church, leading, equipping, nurturing, serving, and encouraging them to “Be all that they can be” in the lives of their families, the Church, and the world.

Third on the agenda is to obey the will of the Church, by adhering to the Discipline, submitting to those in authority, and leading the Church to do the same.

Implied in this pastoral agenda is for the pastor to do whatever it takes to see that the agenda is accomplished. If the pastor has to live in poverty to see the agenda accomplished, so be it. If the pastor has to work a second job to see God’s will is done, so be it. If the pastor must divorce an uncooperative spouse in order to follow the will of God, so be it. If the pastor must break the law in order to achieve God’s justice, so be it. If the pastor must ______________ to do the will of God, so be it.

How do we discern the will of God?

How do we discern the will of God in our lives? When is it right and good for the pastor to live in poverty? When is it right and good to divorce a rebellious spouse? When is it right and good to break the law? When is it right and good?

1. The way to discern the will of God is through the “Power of Three.”

1. First examine your own heart, wants, wishes and desires.
2. Second, ask for Godly wisdom from a few (3) trusted advisers, preferably outside the situation that warrants a decision.
3. Third, seek to hear God’s voice.

2. How does God speak to us?

1. First, through the Word.
2. Second, through wise and Godly friends.
3. Third, directly to our hearts and minds.

3. How can God speak to us directly to our hearts and minds?

1. First, through dreams and visions.
2. Second, through others (people, radio, TV).
3. Third, through circumstances (Stuff Happens!).

When we are aligned with God’s will, our will is His will, and His will is our will. When we are aligned with God’s agenda, God is aligned with our agenda.

What happens when the God/pastoral agenda is resisted by a church, when the church teaches heresy in its Sunday School, won’t support the pastor (passive aggressive behavior), and refuses to align with the Discipline of the Church or the mandates and emphasis of its Conference, Bishop and leaders?

In the Scripture and in John Wesley’s Notes we find the answer:
If anyone will not welcome (support) you or listen to your words, shake the dust off your feet when you leave that home or town (or church). Matthew 10:14

From John Wesley’s Notes: “Shake off the dust from your feet - The Jews thought the land of Israel so peculiarly holy, that when they came home from any heathen country, they stopped at the borders and shook or wiped off the dust of it from their feet, that the holy land might not be polluted with it. Therefore the action here enjoined was a lively intimation, that those Jews who had rejected the Gospel were holy no longer, but were on a level with heathens and idolaters.” Do NOT pollute your next church or charge with the dust of a carnal church! Leave them and do not look back. They are God’s children, let HIM deal with them.

There is a story, well known among Methodists, told of John Wesley . . . "John suddenly realized that three whole days had passed in which he had not suffered persecution. Not a brick or an egg had been thrown at him for three days! Believing himself to be backslidden he prayed for God to show him why he wasn't being persecuted. A rough man hearing his prayer tossed a brick at Wesley, whereupon the preacher leaped to his feet and exclaimed, "Thank God, it's all right. I still have His presence.""

God’s agenda has never been popular. If you are a pastor and NOT meeting resistance to God’s agenda, you must be doing something wrong! Even in the best of churches, the most heavenly of appointments, there is resistance to God’s Agenda. If you are leading, preaching and teaching from your heart, and your heart is aligned with God’s agenda, and bad report is made of you to your superiors, REJOICE!! You’re doing it right! Simply pray that your DS has the needed spiritual discernment to be able to tell the difference between God’s agenda and man’s agenda. Keep doing what you’re doing, and be at peace. We DO win in the end! And God will say, “Well done, good and faithful servant! Well done!” That’s all that really matters. Amen.