Copyright holder: Tyndale University, 3377 Bayview Ave., Toronto, Ontario, Canada M2M 3S4 Att.: Library Director, J. William Horsey Library Copyright: This Work has been made available by the authority of the copyright owner solely for the purpose of private study and research and may not be copied or reproduced except as permitted by the copyright laws of Canada without the written authority from the copyright owner. Copyright license: Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License Citation: Joseph, Walter Gregory. “Developing Mutual Spiritual Intimacy Among the leaders of Walking on the Water Ministries Through the Use of Ruth Haley Barton’s Book Pursuing God’s Will Together.” D. Min., Tyndale University, 2020. ***** Begin Content ****** Tyndale University Developing Mutual Spiritual Intimacy Among the leaders of Walking on the Water Ministries Through the Use of Ruth Haley Barton’s Book Pursuing God’s Will Together A Thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Ministry Tyndale University by Walter Gregory Joseph Toronto, Canada June 2020 Copyright © 2020 by Walter Gregory Joseph All rights reserved ABSTRACT This research project used Ruth Haley Barton’s book Pursuing God’s Will Together, as a tool to develop mutual spiritual intimacy among the leaders of Walking on the Water Ministries. Sessions were completed with the leadership group over an eight-month period using some of the principles of participatory action research. Research methods included surveys, group sessions, Barton’s Personal Reflection exercises and questions, and my personal observations. The result was a personal growth experience for the leaders, as we journeyed together in developing mutual spiritual intimacy. vi ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to acknowledge the tremendous encouragement, support, an feedback I have received in successfully completing the Doctor of Ministry (DMin) program at Tyndale University. I would not have been able to complete the program without the undying support of my wife Erica and my children Clover and Tyrell. On several occasions Erica took time off from her job, helped and encouraged me, and dropped off or picked up the kids at school or other events so that I could focus on my project. My children were also very concerned about whether I was getting my project work done and would often inquire about how I was doing. Overall, Erica and my children helped to give me the impetus to keep pressing on even when I felt challenged to finish what I started. To my other family members and friends, thank you for your encouragement and support during this long and arduous journey. I would also like to thank the members of the leadership group of Walking on the Water Ministries (WOTWM), both past and present, for taking the time and faithfully committing themselves to participating in this project. They were good companions on the journey toward becoming part of a community for spiritual discernment. I would not have been able to successfully complete my project without their participation and support. To my church family at Walking on the Water Ministries, thank you for your love, patience, and support over the past several years as I completed my vii classroom studies and thesis. You have truly exemplified what the family of God should be like in the many ways you expressed your support. I especially want to thank the following individuals, without whose support the completion of this thesis would not have been possible: my and dear friend and Assistant Pastor Herby Robinson, for his tremendous support, and willingness to do whatever he felt was necessary both in and outside of church to help free up time for me to complete my studies; Dalia Rene, for her support and sacrifice in helping me with data analysis; Kerry-Ann Baker, for her review and feedback. I appreciated all the time, support and patience as I completed this project. My prayer is that we will all reap the benefits, as individuals and as a church, of having leaders who have both an understanding of and a commitment to be leaders who function as a community for spiritual discernment. I also want to acknowledge the tremendous support I received from my friend Mark Lawrence, who was always ready and willing to encourage, read and provide input on my thesis whenever I called upon him. He helped in making sure I did not give up and completed it in a timely manner. I am extremely grateful to my editor, Heather Jacobson, who spent many hours poring over my thesis to help me make the updates necessary to have an academically sound document. Last, but definitely not least, I am thankful for my advisor, Les Galicinski, for his consistent and patient support, direction and invaluable feedback as I worked through this project. I could not have done it without him. The time and effort he devoted to helping me to be successful is greatly appreciated. viii Finally, I thank God for giving me the grace, wisdom, understanding, and strength I needed to complete this project. God is good all the time! I have a renewed appreciation for the Scripture that says, “Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen” (Eph. 3:20-21 NKJV). ix TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF FIGURES .... xiii LIST OF TABLES .... xiii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS .... xiv LIST OF BIBLE VERSIONS .... xiv CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION .... 1 The Rationale .... 2 Ministry Context .... 2 Personal Role and Church Background .... 3 Church Governance .... 5 Ministry Opportunity .... 7 Definition of Key Terms .... 13 Leadership Group .... 13 Discernment .... 14 Leadership Discernment .... 14 Spiritual Leadership .... 14 Statement of Limitations .... 14 Summary .... 15 CHAPTER 2: BIBLICAL FRAMEWORK .... 16 Theological Perspective on Spiritual Intimacy .... 17 Spiritual Intimacy in the Old Testament .... 22 Joseph .... 22 Moses and Aaron .... 25 Elijah and Elisha .... 27 Spiritual Intimacy in the New Testament .... 30 Paul’s Determination to go to Jerusalem .... 32 The Twelve Apostles .... 34 Paul and Timothy .... 35 Discernment and Spiritual Intimacy .... 38 Living a Life of Spiritual Intimacy .... 43 Summary .... 45 CHAPTER 3: VIEWS OF VARIOUS CHRISTIAN AUTHORS ON DISCERNMENT .... 46 Approach of Other Christian Authors .... 46 Barton’s Approach to Discernment .... 51 Rationale for Using Barton’s Approach .... 52 Barton’s Discernment Foci .... 53 Learning to See .... 54 Beginning with Spiritual Transformation .... 55 Leaders Who Are Discerning .... 58 x Community at the Leadership Level .... 60 Values That Undergird Community .... 61 Practices for Opening to God Together .... 63 Practices for Listening to Each Other .... 65 Summary .... 68 CHAPTER 4: PROJECT METHODOLOGY .... 69 Participatory Action Research .... 69 Overview of Research Project .... 72 Research Challenges .... 75 Project Implementation .... 77 Project Period June 2017 - August 2017 ....78 Session Series 1: Sessions 1-6 .... 78 Project Period January 2018 - June 2018 .... 78 Session Series 2: Sessions 1-11 .... 78 Data Collection .... 79 Data Analysis .... 80 Categories and Themes .... 82 Ethical Considerations .... 83 Summary .... 86 CHAPTER 5: FINDINGS AND INTERPRETATION .... 88 Overview of Observations .... 88 Pre and Post-Session Surveys .... 89 Survey Questions - Ten-Point Scale .... 89 Survey Questions - Written .... 92 Personal Observations .... 94 Summary .... 94 Project Sessions - Becoming a Community for Discernment .... 95 Preparation of Individual Leaders for Discernment .... 97 Session Series 1 - Sessions 1-6 .... 97 Session Series 2 - Sessions 1-5 .... 105 Personal Observations .... 112 Preparation of Leadership Group for Discernment .... 113 Session Series 2 - Sessions 6-11 .... 113 Personal Observations .... 121 Project Session Themes ... 122 Dominant Themes .... 122 Lesser Themes .... 131 Assessment of Barton’s Approach .... 134 Most Helpful Elements .... 137 Least Helpful Elements .... 143 Summary .... 145 xi CHAPTER 6: SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION .... 147 Reasons for Unexpected Project Outcome .... 148 Key Project Discoveries .... 149 Impact & Implications of Project .... 154 Individual Leaders .... 154 Leadership Group .... 155 Walking on the Water Ministries .... 156 Wider Community .... 157 Personal .... 158 Reflection on Barton’s Approach .... 159 Suggestions for Using Barton’s Approach .... 161 Things I Could Have Done Differently .... 162 Summary and Conclusion .... 163 APPENDICES .... 165 Appendix A: Invitation Email to Leaders .... 166 Appendix B: Information Letter and Consent Form .... 167 Appendix C: Pre-Post Session Survey .... 170 Appendix D: Project Session Schedule .... 172 Appendix E: Ministerial Code of Ethics for Credential Holders of The Pentecostal Assemblies of Canada .... 173 Appendix F: Walking on the Water Ministries Leadership Covenant .... 175 Appendix G: Project Session Attendance Log .... 176 Appendix H: Pre-Session Survey - Questions 1-3, 5 Categories and Themes .... 177 Appendix I: Post-Session Survey - Questions 1-3, 5 Categories and Themes .... 178 Appendix J: Categories and Themes Session Series 1 - Sessions 1-6 .... 180 Appendix K: Comparison of Pre and Post Session Survey .... 181 Appendix L: Categories and Themes Session Series 2 - Sessions 1-5 .... 185 Appendix M: Categories and Themes Session Series 2 - Sessions 6-11 .... 186 Appendix N: Grouping of Themes into Categories Session Series 1 - Sessions 1-6 .... 187 Appendix O: Grouping of Themes into Categories Session Series 2 - Sessions 1-5 .... 188 Appendix P: Grouping of Themes into Categories Session Series 2 - Sessions 6-11 .... 189 Appendix Q: Discussion Questions - Session Series 1 .... 190 Appendix R: Discussion Questions - Session Series 2 .... 191 REFERENCES .... 193 xii LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1. Seven Foci to Help Leaders Become a Community for Discernment (after Barton, 2012) .... 12 Figure 2. Seven Foci to Help Leaders Become a Community for Discernment (after Barton, 2012) .... 53 Figure 3. Themes - Session Series 1 - Sessions 1-6 .... 104 Figure 4. Themes - Session Series 2: Sessions 1-5 .... 111 Figure 5. Themes - Session Series 2 - Sessions 6-11 .... 120 Figure 6. Seven Foci to Help Leaders Become a Community for Discernment (after Barton, 2012) .... 135 LIST OF TABLES Table 1. Summary of Data Sets .... 73 Table 2. Agenda - Session Series 1 .... 74 Table 3. Agenda - Session Series 2 .... 75 Table 4. Outline - Session Series / Project Sessions .... 77 Table 5. Attendance Log for Session Series 1 - Sessions 1-6 .... 98 Table 6. Attendance Log Session Series 2 - Sessions 1-5 .... 106 Table 7. Attendance Log Session Series 2 - Sessions 6-11 .... 114 xiii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS PAR Participatory Action Research L1-8 Leaders 1-8 PAOC Pentecostal Assemblies of Canada PC Pastor’s Council Research et al. 2014) WOTWM Walking on the Water Ministries DMIN Doctor of Ministry TCPS2 Tri-Council Policy Statement (Canadian Institutes of Health LIST OF BIBLE VERSIONS Unless otherwise indicated, all Bible quotations in this paper are from the NIV. ESV: English Standard Version. 2001. Wheaton, IL: Crossway. MSG: The Message: The Bible in Contemporary Language. 2002. Translator, Eugene Peterson. Colorado Springs, CO: NavPress. NIV: New International Version. 1978, 2011. Colorado Springs, CO: Biblica, The International Bible Society. NKJV: New King James Version. 1982. Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publisher. xiv CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION The objective of this project turned out to be very different to what I originally intended. What I originally set out to do was to use the discernment practices outlined by Ruth Haley Barton in her book Pursuing God’s Will Together (Barton 2012), to take the leadership group of Walking on the Water Ministries (WOTWM) on a journey to help them become a community for spiritual discernment. The actual result was that the project was about the process of using Ruth Haley Barton’s book Pursuing God’s Will Together, as a tool to develop mutual spiritual intimacy among these leaders. The principles in Barton’s book were used to design and conduct participative meetings with the leadership group through two series of sessions that spanned an eight-month period. Research methods included surveys, group sessions, Barton’s Personal Reflection exercises and questions, and my personal observations. The result was a personal growth experience for the leaders, as we journeyed together in developing mutual spiritual intimacy In this chapter, I discuss the importance of developing mutual spiritual intimacy among the leadership group at WOTWM, my ministry context, and the ministry opportunity that existed for me to pursue the project. I also discuss key 1 terms and definitions used throughout this thesis, and the limitations faced in pursuing the project. The Rationale The project started off based on the premise that as Christians we should seek to understand and do the will of God by practicing spiritual discernment in our daily lives. Such teaching can be found in passages like Romans 12:2, Mark 3:34-35, Ephesians 5:17, 1 John 2:17, Matthew 7:2. In the gospel of John, Jesus indicated that his food (what characterized his ministry) “is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work” (John 4:34). The primary goal of Jesus, to understand and do the will of God, should also characterize our lives and ministry as leaders. In conversations with members of the leadership of WOTWM and members of the congregation, there was a general desire among them to be able to understand God’s will for their lives. In order to do that effectively as leaders and Christians in general, we need to cultivate spiritual intimacy on the vertical level with God, and then on the horizontal level with each other. In our pursuit of that goal, the leadership group participated in what ended up being the process of using Barton’s book as a tool to develop mutual spiritual intimacy. Ministry Context It is helpful to understand the ministry context of the church, in order for one to have an appreciation of the framework within which the church operates and the potential impact of that framework on the execution and outcome of the project. In this section I will discuss the governance structure under which the 2 church operates, my personal role as pastor, and the cultural background of the church. Personal Role and Church Background My wife and I are both immigrants to Canada from the republic of Trinidad & Tobago, and were the church planting pastors of Walking on the Water Ministries. I am an ordained minister with the Pentecostal Assemblies of Canada (PAOC), and have been serving as the lead pastor at WOTWM since its inception. The church was originally started (planted) in the Fletcher’s Meadow community in the northwest corner of the city of Brampton, Ontario Canada. WOTWM started as a denominational sponsored church plant, and received financial and administrative support from the PAOC for its first several years of existence until we eventually became a self-supporting affiliated assembly. We started holding services with a core group of twelve persons on Sunday November 6th, 2005, at Edenbrook Hill Public School, in Brampton. On Sunday May 7th, 2006, we changed our meeting location to Fletcher’s Meadow Secondary School in Brampton and held an official launch service. As of November 17th, 2019, we changed our meeting location once again. The church now meets at Ruth Seventh- day Adventist Church, 10755 Torbram Rd, Brampton, Ontario. Sunday morning worship services, Sunday School, and discipleship classes are held at Ruth Seventh-day Adventist Church. Our Bible studies and prayer meetings are currently done via conference call. The current membership of the WOTWM stands at fifty, and the number of persons affiliated with the church is 3 approximately twenty-five. Our average Sunday morning attendance is forty-five. In terms of the demographic makeup of the congregation, it is predominantly a multicultural mix of persons from various Caribbean island backgrounds, comprised of primarily female and middle-aged individuals. There are also a few persons from other nationalities who are part of the congregation. Those nationalities include Italy, New Zealand, Ghana, and Gabon. There are a total of twelve nationalities represented at WOTWM. It has been good to see persons from other ethnic backgrounds choose to make WOTWM their primary place of worship, because one of our goals when we planted the church was to have it reflect the demographic of the surrounding community and become a multi-ethnic church. I believe that the current cultural background of the church would have impacted the project from the perspective that for persons with Caribbean backgrounds pastors of churches are persons who are generally held in high esteem. There is a lot of deference given to the pastor as the spiritual leader and primary decision maker in the church, because the assumption is that as the spiritual leader, the pastor is the person most closely in touch with and hearing from God. Therefore, many times, a lot of the decision making within the church tends to, and is allowed to, take a top-down approach because of that deference from the congregation and perceived spiritual intimacy the pastor has with God. When the church was planted, our desire was to help people understand the will of God for their lives and accomplish it. That was the motivation behind our original church theme of “Empowering People to Fulfill Divine Destiny,” that theme has since been updated to “Fulfill your divine destiny.” Although the 4 ministry theme suggested a certain level of discernment taking place within our church community, based on discussion with members of the leadership group and members of the congregation, there was a general desire among them to be able to better understand God’s will for their lives. This project originally intended to take the leadership group through a structured process for understanding discernment, to intentionally help them become a community for spiritual discernment. Taking the leadership group through the exercise was meant to equip them so that they would be able to equip and help other leaders and members of the congregation become persons who could discern God’s will. In addition, I realized through my interactions and conversations with members of the WOTWM leadership group, that their understanding of leadership was based on a secular business model, as opposed to an understanding of leadership from a spiritual leadership perspective. There was a need for the leaders to grow from being a decision-making group into a community for spiritual discernment. However, the primary result of the project was a greatly increased level of spiritual intimacy among the leaders of WOTWM through the process of using Barton’s book. Church Governance Walking on the Water Ministries is affiliated with the Pentecostal Assemblies of Canada (PAOC). The PAOC allows for churches to choose between two options of church governance as it relates to the appointment of leadership groups. Option one is ‘Elected’ and option two is ‘Pastor’s Council’. 5 The Elected option allows for nomination of leadership group members by the nomination committee that is made up of either the pastor and leadership, or a nomination committee appointed by the leadership. The nomination committee is made up of the pastor, one leadership member and three non-leadership members. Members of the congregation have the opportunity to vote on the nominees that are presented. The Pastor’s Council option allows for the pastor to make the initial appointment of the first member to the council, after which the pastor and that member makes the second appointment, then the pastor and the two members appoint the third council member. Any additional council member appointments are made by the Pastor’s Council, and all Pastor’s Council members are ratified at the annual business meeting of the congregation. The Pastor’s Council model is the one that has been adopted by Walking on the Water Ministries. This model is relevant to my project because it reflects that the leadership group of WOTWM is closely connected to the lead pastor in terms of their appointment and how they operate, which over the years has helped to facilitate a relatively close relationship between myself and the leadership group. This model also reflects that the lead pastor is the leader of the church and the Pastor’s Council serves in a collaborative and supportive role to assist the pastor in providing spiritual and administrative oversight of the church. The closeness of relationship between myself as the lead pastor and the leadership group, along with a collaborative approach to leadership, helped to facilitate the smooth execution of the project, but may have also contributed to a certain 6 amount of deference to myself as pastor by members of the leadership group during the project. Ministry Opportunity Before the start of the project, there was no specific process used by the leadership group of WOTWM to discern and do the will of God in our role of providing spiritual leadership to the church. The process prior to the project was that the leadership group met on a regular basis to discuss church related matter, and to make decisions based on review of pastoral guidance and recommendations, guidance and recommendations from individual leaders, and group consensus. The process of using Ruth Haley Barton’s book Pursuing God’s Will Together, as a tool to develop mutual spiritual intimacy among the leaders of WOTWM gave us the opportunity to journey and grow together both individually and as a leadership group. Barton believes that, Discernment together as leaders takes us beyond the personal to an increasing capacity to “see” what God is up to in the place we are called to lead. It calls us to be courageous in seeking the will of God and then making decisions that are responsive to that will as it unfolds in front of us. (Barton 2012, 20) I used some of the principles of participatory action research (PAR) during the project which I outline in chapter 4. This approach allowed for ongoing interaction between myself and members of the leadership group. The approach was also consistent with the culture of my ministry context, which is a close-knit family-type environment that enjoys and thrives on a lot of inter-personal interaction. Stringer says that, “The primary purpose of action research is to 7 provide the means for people to engage in systematic inquiry and investigation to ‘design’ an appropriate way of accomplishing a desired goal and to evaluate its effectiveness” (Stringer 2007, 6). In addition, Coghlan and Brannick indicate that there are three broad characteristics that define action research: research in action, rather than research about action; a collaborative, democratic partnership; a sequence of events and an approach to problem-solving (Coghlan and Brannick 2014, 6). Those three characteristics were evident in the progress and results of this project, as will be seen in my discussions in chapters 4 and 5 of this thesis. As indicated in the introduction, the project spanned two series of sessions over an eight-month period. These will be referred to going forward as session series one and session series two. The leadership group and I met for a total of seventeen sessions. Session series one was held between June 2017 - August 2017 and the session series two was held between January 2018 - June 2018. The reason for the significant break between both series of sessions, was that the data I initially collected for analysis in the first series of sessions was insufficient in volume and scope to allow for proper analysis or sound conclusions to be drawn and presented. During Session series one, we used the first chapter of Barton’s book, “Learning to See” as our guide. The focus of these sessions was on the leader’s capacity to “see” or discern what God is doing, and to position themselves as leaders to be participants with God in that work. Our ability as leaders to discern what God is doing should take us from the micro to the macro- level view of what God is doing in WOTWM. It requires that we be bold in our 8 pursuit both to know and to make decisions that are consistent with what we understand to be God’s will (Barton 2012, 20). Session series two began with a focus on chapter two of Barton’s book, “Beginning with Spiritual Transformation,” and ended with chapter seven of Barton’s book, “Practices for Listening to Each Other.” The chapter emphasized the importance of spiritual formation of the individual leaders. Chapters 12-15 of the book of Romans were used to emphasize the fact that for leaders to discern God’s will, we each need to be personally transformed. We learned that transformation needs to be worked out in practical ways in the context of community (Barton 2012, 37). Session series two continued with our discussion of chapter three of Barton’s book “Leaders Who Are Discerning.” This was the process of helping undiscerning individuals become discerning leaders. Our understanding was that with instruction and preparation, as leaders we can move beyond dependence on the personal accomplishments of our secular work environments or ministry at church, to become leaders who are able to use spiritual discernment, rather than business principles, in making decisions within the church context. It was agreed that in our leadership within a church context, discernment is something that is required of us (Barton 2012, 51). Using chapter four of Barton’s book, we discussed “Community at the Leadership Level,” the focus of our discussion was on the belief that leadership within the church goes beyond mere teamwork. We came to understand that the goal is for leaders to function together within the context of Christian community Leaders need to view themselves as gathering around the transforming presence 9 of Christ in order to discern and do the will of God. Jesus chose to live with his disciples in a transformative community, which facilitated the emergence of their ministry and the development of their leadership ability. We understood that as leaders within the church we are expected to move beyond a team mentality that focuses on a task, to becoming a spiritual leadership community that focuses on the person of Christ through the presence of the Holy Spirit (Barton 2012, 76-77). In our discussions using the fifth chapter of Barton’s book we looked at “Values That Undergird Community,” which is an extension of the deep desire of members in a leadership group to be transformed from a team to a leadership community. We learned that the guiding values and principles of the leadership community should not be idealistic, but realistic in terms of leaders being able to live out those values in practical ways. As leaders we discussed how the most meaningful values originate from the deep-seated convictions of individuals, and their shared commitment to seeing those values become a reality of their experience together (Barton 2012, 90-91). The focus of our discussion coming out of the sixth chapter of Barton’s book, Practices for Opening to God Together,” was on the practices, relationships and experiences that would help us as leaders in our ongoing pursuit of corporate spiritual transformation. It focused on practices we could pursue that would help us to remain in a position of being open to Christ’s presence, and on the importance of focusing our efforts on becoming completely committed to being guided by God, rather than our own personal agendas (Barton 2012, 112-113). In our discussion of chapter seven of Barton’s book, “Practices for Listening to Each 10 Other,” we looked at the process of helping leaders “to be open and receptive to God with each other and to be open and receptive to each other with God” (Barton 2012, 132). We learned that most leaders are unwilling to become vulnerable within their leadership environments because they do not feel safe doing so. We agreed that if leaders are truly committed to leadership discernment, it is of critical importance that the environment becomes a safe one in which leaders are comfortable sharing, not only their mind, but their innermost being with each other (Barton 2012, 132). Creating a leadership covenant for our leadership group as outlined in Barton’s chapter eight, “A Covenant That Protects Community,” is something we did together as leaders during one of our regular meetings, and prior to the project sessions. Prior to the start of the project and through the course of our regular leadership meetings, I thought it would be helpful for the leadership group to have a written commitment of how we intended to function as leaders within WOTWM (Appendix F). Barton believes that a covenant is needed because when we have something in writing, as opposed to simply having a conversation about it, it elevates the serious nature of our commitment. She indicates, and I agree with her, that, It provides a way for the group to claim shared ownership for their behaviour because it contains detailed guidelines that help the group function together in agreed ways. Without an actual covenant or written agreement, a group may not be clear about what they have agreed on, let alone what it means in the context of day-to-day life in leadership community. (Barton 2012, 153-154) Figure 1 reflects Barton’s approach to helping leaders become a community for discernment. It shows the seven foci as well as the progress of the 11 project. Our journey started with a focus on preparing the individual leaders for discernment (learning to see, beginning with spiritual transformation, and leaders who are discerning). It proceeded to focus on preparing the leadership group to become a community for discernment (community at the leadership level, values that undergird community, practices for opening to God together, and practices for listening to each other). Figure 1. Seven Foci to Help Leaders Become a Community for Discernment (after Barton, 2012) [ Please contact repository@tyndale.ca for Figure 1 details. ] There were four key discoveries made as a result of the research project. The first discovery is there was consensus among the leadership group members that we were better prepared, both individually and collectively, to embrace mutual spiritual intimacy. The second discovery is we grew as leaders in our 12 understanding of discernment practices. The third discovery is there was consensus among us as leaders that we had grown spiritually because of our experience of going on the journey of developing mutual spiritual intimacy. The fourth discovery is that the process of using Ruth Haley Barton’s book Pursuing God’s Will Together, as a tool to develop mutual spiritual intimacy among the leaders of Walking on the Water Ministries proved to be effective in developing that intimacy. The findings are discussed further in my Summary and Conclusion. Definition of Key Terms Technical terms that are used occasionally are defined as they occur. The following key terms are used throughout in ways specific to this project. Leadership Group The primary leaders of WOTWM are members of what is known as the Pastor’s Council (PC). The lead pastor chairs the PC, and members serve the church, along with the pastor, in matters related to the operation of the local church. They aid in the ministry of its ordinances and act in the examination of applications for membership and the administration of discipline in the local church. PC members include the Associate Pastor, the Assistant Pastor, two Youth Pastors (husband & wife), three Deacons, and the Church Treasurer. The Office Administrator provides ongoing administrative support to the Pastor’s Council. 13 Discernment From Barton’s standpoint, Discernment literally means to separate, to discriminate, to determine, to decide or to distinguish between two things. Spiritual discernment is the ability to distinguish or discriminate between good (that which is of God and draws us closer to God) and evil (that which is not of God and draws us away from God). (Barton 2012, 10-11) Spiritual Leadership Barton says of leadership, “There are many qualities that contribute to good leadership, but it is our commitment to discerning and doing the will of God through the help of the Holy Spirit that distinguishes spiritual leadership from other kinds of leadership” (Barton 2012, 11). Leadership Discernment Leadership Discernment is described by Barton as, The capacity to recognize and respond to the presence and activity of God as a leadership group relative to the issues we are facing, and to make decisions in response to that Presence. Spiritual leaders are distinguished by their commitment to discern important matters together so they can affirm a shared sense of God’s desire for them and move forward on that basis. (Barton 2012, 11) Statement of Limitations In executing this project, there were some limitations. There was a limitation of time. I conducted my sessions over a period of eight months, primarily using video conferencing. We were able to deal with the area of the leaders’ personal and corporate preparation for discernment. Several of the 14 leaders had time constraints due to their busy personal schedules, so it was not possible for all of the leaders to attend every session. One leader left the Pastor’s Council prior to my completion of the project, and two new individuals joined the leadership group during the project. However, based on the potential for disruption of the discernment process, I opted not to include the two new leadership group members in the project because of their lack of familiarity with what had been done prior to them joining the leadership group. Summary In this chapter, I discussed my rationale for doing the project. I went on to discuss my ministry context as it related to my personal role and background information about the church, along with an explanation of our church governance structure and its impact on the execution of the project. I moved on to discuss the ministry opportunity, which included a summary of participatory action research, an overview of the project sessions, and Barton’s approach to helping leaders become a community for discernment. I also outlined the four key discoveries made as a result of the research project. In conclusion, I defined key terms used within the thesis and statement of limitations. Throughout the rest of the thesis, the following is covered: In chapter two, I discuss the biblical framework for spiritual discernment; chapter three explores the views of other Christian authors on discernment; in chapter four, I discuss the project methodology; chapter five discusses findings and interpretation; and chapter six outlines my summary and conclusion. 15 CHAPTER 2: BIBLICAL FRAMEWORK Our ability to provide strong spiritual leadership is affected by the level of mutual spiritual intimacy we develop within our leadership group. As indicated in chapter one, a key discovery of this project was that the process of using Ruth Haley Barton’s book Pursuing God’s Will Together, as a tool to develop mutual spiritual intimacy among the leadership of WOTWM proved to be effective both for the leaders and the wider church community. As the leadership group went through the process of reviewing and discussing Barton’s discernment practice, it led us to a place of deeper personal and mutual spiritual intimacy. The value of pursuing discernment is described in the comments of Danny Morris and Charles Olsen when they describe discernment as “a search for the mind and will of God within a community of people with whom God has chosen to dwell” (Morris and Olsen 1997, loc. 1037). There is a connection between discernment and mutual spiritual intimacy. Barton also says that, One of the first lessons we learn about discernment-from Jesus, anyway-is that it will always tend toward concrete expressions of love with real people rather than theoretical conversations about theology and philosophy. (Barton 2012, 23) As a result of our journey together over the course of the project, the leadership group of WOTWM experienced some of those concrete expressions of love. The 16 experience helped to bring about spiritual intimacy among us as a leadership group members, which in turn positively impacted the congregation. In summary, one of the things Christian leaders need to focus on is developing mutual spiritual intimacy. That will translate into concrete expressions of love both to fellow leaders and to those whom we lead. In this chapter, I discuss theological perspectives on spiritual intimacy. I look at Old and New Testament examples related to spiritual intimacy. I go on to discuss discernment and spiritual intimacy, and conclude by looking at living a life of spiritual intimacy. Theological Perspective on Spiritual Intimacy In his commentary on Mark 3:34-35, William L. Lane explains what he believes Jesus meant when he responded to those who were highlighting the fact that members of his family were outside the house: “Whoever shall do the will of God is my brother, and sister, and mother.” It is the performance of the will of God which is decisive in determining kinship with Jesus. In the new family which Jesus calls into being there is demanded the radical obedience to God which he demonstrated in his submission to the Father and which the disciples manifested in their response to his call. (Lane 1974, 148) In this passage, Jesus deliberately engages his audience using a rhetorical question that challenges them to think about who His (true) mother and brothers are. The question he asked was “‘who are my mother and my brothers?’” Jesus’ intent was to help his hearers reflect on and understand that those in closest relationship with Him are not necessarily those who were part of his biological family, but rather those who are willing to walk with Him in response to His calling, direction and 17 will. Understood in the broader context, this statement by Jesus shows that those who are doing the will of God are the ones most closely affiliated with Him. Hence, as leaders within the church, there should be a sense of urgency for us to seek to do the will of God, because of our understanding of the present nature of the kingdom of God. It is insufficient for us as leaders to simply discern what the will of God is, we must both individually and collectively take whatever steps are necessary to obey it. It is this shared desire to obey the will of God that binds us together with Jesus and our Christian brethren in a spiritual familial relationship (Lane 1974, 148). Lane goes on to say that, Jesus’ statement regarding the true family, however, looks beyond the Twelve to a larger company of men and women: “whoever shall do the will of God is my brother, and sister, and mother.” It is the performance of the will of God which is decisive in determining kinship with Jesus. In the new family which Jesus calls into being there is demanded the radical obedience to God which he demonstrated in his submission to the Father and which the disciples manifested in their response to his call. (Lane 1974, 148) Given our understanding that it is insufficient for us as leaders to simply discern what the will of God, we can better appreciate what Paul wrote in Romans 12:1-2. There Paul explains how believers can become the embodiment of obedience by offering themselves to God as living sacrifices. Paul says, "Do not be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind." We need to be aware that only God, through the power and work of His Holy Spirit can transform us. Paul is making it clear that there must be a transformation that takes place in the hearts and lives of Christians. It is as that transformation 18 takes place; believers can live in a manner that is consistent with the new realm of righteousness they have come into. D. J. Moo puts it this way, Paul has pointed out that people’s rejection of God has resulted in God’s giving them over to a “worthless” mind: one that is “unqualified” (adokimos) in assessing the truth about God and the world he has made. Now, Paul asserts, the purpose of our being transformed by the renewing of the mind is that this state might be reversed; that we might be able to “approve” (dokimazo) the will of God. “Approving” the will of God means to understand and agree with what God wants of us with a view to putting it into practice. That Paul means here by “the will of God” his moral direction is clear from the way Paul describes it: this will is that which is “good,” “acceptable [to God],” and “perfect.” (Moo 1996, 757) In his commentary on Ephesians 5:17 (“Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is”), F.F. Bruce argues that, based on Paul’s admonishment, “It is always incumbent on the people of Christ to know and to do his will... The doing of his will is not a matter of irritational impulse but of intelligent reflection and action” (Bruce 1984, 379). Earlier on in Ephesians, Paul encouraged his readers to take the time to approve what is well-pleasing to the Lord (Eph. 5:10). Christian leaders must understand that, to do the will of God, we cannot depend on feelings or reason alone. Leaders need to take the time to intelligently reflect on and to act upon what they have come to understand to be the will of God, especially in evil and challenging times (Bruce 1984, 379). The goal was for us as leaders at WOTWM to come to a place of mutual spiritual intimacy, as we sought to understand and obey the will of God. The commitment and need for mutual spiritual intimacy is also emphasized by I.H. Marshall in his commentary on 1 John 2:17, which states, 19 “The world and its desires pass away, but whoever does the will of God lives forever,” Marshall explains that, considering this text, “it is foolish to desire the things of the world because the world and its desires are passing away” (Marshall 1978, 146). John reminded his readers that “the era of darkness is coming to an end” (1 John 2:8). Paul also said that “this world in its present form is passing away” (1 Cor. 7:31). Marshall says, The coming of the light is the sign of the beginning of the new era and the end of the old. With the world there will also depart desire for it. Since the other part of the contrast is presented in personal terms (“the man who does the will of God”) it is possible that “desire” is a case of the abstract noun representing the concrete reality, the person who desires the world. The desire, as it were, carries away the man who harbors it to share in its destruction. Permanence belongs to the person who does the will of God. He will remain standing amid the storms of judgment (Mt. 7:21, 24-27). (Marshall 1978, 146) Living in mutual spiritual intimacy as we seek to do the will of God causes us as leaders to be firmly grounded. He will still be standing amid the storms of judgment (Mt. 7:21, 24-27) (Marshall 1978, 146). The relevance of Marshall’s thoughts as it relates to the leadership group of WOTWM is that as leaders we need to guard against becoming preoccupied solely with temporary worldly concerns at the expense of the pursuit of spiritual concerns in our leadership role. It is as we pursue and embrace mutual spiritual intimacy, that we are better positioned to both understand and obey God’s will. Spiritual intimacy in his reflections on John 4:34, in which Jesus says, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work,” Leon Morris says that the “’my’ is emphatic” in this passage, because despite what others may have been saying or doing, Jesus understood and made known that his 20 goal was to obey the will of his Father (Morris 1995, 245). The work that Jesus was doing was not characterized as merely human work, but as fulfilling his Father’s will. Morris highlights many instances in the Gospel of John where Jesus characterized the work he was doing as “that which the Father has for him to do (e.g., John 5:30; 6:38; 7:18; 8:50; 9:4; 10:37-38; 12:49, 50; 14:31; 15:10; 17:4).” (Morris 1995, 245) In terms of the ministry of Jesus, Morris goes on to say: Obedience to the divine will is for him the major concern. Single- mindedly he presses on.... The verb is cognate with that used on the cross, when Jesus cried, “It is finished” (19:30). It reminds us of the awful cost of that work, and underlines the devotion implied in the expression. There is a sense in which each stage of his work may be regarded as perfect and complete. And there is a deeper sense in which nothing is complete without the cross. (Morris 1995, 245-246) What I learned from Morris is that as spiritual leaders we need to follow Jesus’ example of desiring to do the will of God our Father. That will mean putting away our self-interest and pride. It also means recognizing that the leadership we are exercising at WOTWM is not merely our carrying out of a role or responsibility, but it needs to be seen as the fulfilling God’s will. The core learning that the leadership group at WOTWM can take away from reflecting on Jesus’ life and ministry, is that it is essential to develop and maintain lives of spiritual intimacy both individually and collectively, which in turn will help us to discern and obey the will of God. In this section I discussed the principles of discernment by looking at the views of various commentators on some biblical key passages, along with my perspective of what I learned and from that discussion, and the implications for the leadership group of WOTWM. In the next section I will reference three Old 21 Testament characters in whose lives and ministry I believe we find evidence of them operating out of a level of mutual spiritual intimacy. I will also look at the implications for us as leaders at WOTWM. Spiritual Intimacy in the Old Testament There are several examples of spiritual intimacy in the Old Testament that can be seen in the lives of Biblical characters. The following are three examples I wish to highlight as they relates to developing mutual spiritual intimacy, and the implications for the leadership group of WOTWM. The examples highlight three areas of spiritual intimacy which include: the spiritual intimacy between one individual with another individual (man to man); the spiritual intimacy between an individual with God (man to God); and the spiritual intimacy between one individual with God, as well as between another individual in a mentoring relationship (man to God and man to man in mentoring) Joseph The first example is from the book of Genesis chapters 37-50, and reflects the relational spiritual intimacy between an individual and God. That spiritual intimacy is found in the life of Joseph, who was the second youngest son of Jacob. Through his actions it was evident that Jacob loved Joseph dearly, because he was the firstborn son of his favorite and initially barren wife Rachael. Jacob had worked hard to be able to marry Rachael, only to be deceived by Laban into first marrying Leah, Rachael’s older sister. Joseph’s life took what appeared to be a turn for the worse when, out of hate and jealousy, his brothers sold him to the 22 Ishmaelite traders who end up selling Joseph into Egyptian slavery and deceive their father into believing Joseph was dead. In spite of difficulty and suffering Joseph was eventually elevated to the place of second in command in Egypt after Pharaoh, and he came to manage the affairs of Egypt during a time of great famine. He stockpiles food during the years of great harvest prior to the famine, so there would be food during the years of famine. It turned out that Joseph became the person who would keep, not only the Egyptians from starvation but the rest of the Middle East, including his own family in Canaan. After Joseph’s family discovered he was alive, he brought them along with his aged father to Egypt to provide for them. Upon the death of Joseph’s father, his brothers became afraid and made up a story about their father’s last wishes for reconciliation between David and themselves and threw themselves on the mercy of Joseph. They pleaded for their lives and offered to become his slaves. Instead, Joseph demonstrates his willingness to reconcile. In chapter 50 of the book of Genesis he says to his brothers, “‘Don’t be afraid. Am I in the place of God? You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives. So then, don’t be afraid. I will provide for you and your children.’” (Gen. 50:19-21 NIV). It is evident from the life of Joseph that he had a personal and intimate spiritual relationship with God. All through the account of his life from a teenager to him becoming second command in Egypt after Pharaoh, we are reminded that God was with him. Joseph’s spiritual relationship with God was so strong that when Potiphar’s wife attempted to seduce him, he was able to resist by 23 recognizing that if he had given in, he would have been sinning against God. In addition, when Joseph had the opportunity to get back at his brothers, he was able to see things from the spiritual perspective that what his brothers meant for evil, God had turned it around for the good of many. What we learn from the life of Joseph, is how as leaders we need to respond when we go through challenging situations as individuals or as a leadership group. As leaders, our belief in the goodness of God was strengthened, as we learned to discern what God was doing (Baron 2012, 54-55). As spiritual intimacy started to be developed among the leadership group, we began to see God’s goodness at work in the midst of difficult and challenging situations we were going through both in our individual lives and that of the church. An example of that was how the leaders rallied together in unity when over a relatively short period of time several members of our congregation left the church for various reasons. Instead of pulling us apart we grew closer together as a leadership group as we sought to understand and address the issue. We also saw God use the response of the leaders to draw the members of the congregation closer together. I believe that happened in part because of how the spiritual intimacy demonstrated by the leadership group as we stood together in relationship. The leadership group along with many members of the congregation now have a better appreciation for each other as family, and now routinely refer to the congregation in that manner. 24 Moses and Aaron The second example from which we can see mutual spiritual intimacy is found in the life of Moses, and follows on the aspect of spiritually intimacy between Joseph and God. Moses’s life is chronicled in the books of Exodus to Deuteronomy. God protected Moses as a baby both in his home for three months after his birth, and when his mother placed him in a basket among the reeds on the banks of the Nile river. In God’s sovereign plan the daughter of Pharaoh found the baby Moses among the reeds and adopted him as her son. It is interesting that God caused Moses to be raised as royalty in the home of the very Pharaoh who had mandated that all Hebrew boy babies should be killed. As an adult when Moses one day saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew slave, he looked around to see, and thinking no one was watching he killed the Egyptian and hid his body in the sand. The next day he went out again and saw one Hebrew beating another Hebrew. When he challenged him about his actions, the one beating the other Hebrew exposed the fact that Moses had killed an Egyptian the previous day. The news got to Pharaoh who tried to kill Moses, so he fled for his life to the desert of Midian where he became a shepherd. God appeared to Moses in the desert and commanded him to go back to Egypt to deliver the Israelites out of slavery. As a result of Moses’ fear of public speaking God appointed his older brother Aaron to speak on his behalf, and to go along him and to speak to both the elders of the Israelites and to Pharaoh (Exodus 4ff). God worked through Moses and Aaron to bring the Israelites out of Egyptian bondage, through their wilderness, and to the brink of entering the promised land of Canaan. 25 This example highlights the value of mutual spiritual intimacy in the relationship between Moses and Aaron, as they partnered together to accomplish the purpose of God. Their personalities and giftings were complimentary, because based on his conversation with God, Moses highlighted the fact he was not strong in the area of public speaking (Exodus 4:10). God allowed Aaron to come alongside him to be his mouthpiece, so that collectively they would become God’s representatives to both the Israelites and Pharaoh (Exodus 4:14-16). It demonstrates that we need to acknowledge and embrace our inter-dependence on each other as leaders, so together we can fulfill the purpose of God for our lives and be positioned to give spiritual leadership in our context. The relationship between Moses and Aaron was not without challenges, consider the golden calf incident for example (Exodus 32), but together they were used by God to fulfill his covenant promise to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, to bring his purpose into the promised land of Canaan. Over the course of the project the leaders at WOTWM was able to develop mutual spiritual intimacy as a leadership group, because there was a realization that we were all striving to become more spiritually sensitive to understanding what God was saying and how he was leading. As leaders, we were taking the time to listen and learn from one another as we interacted on a regular basis. This extended outside the life of the project into the way we functioned on an ongoing basis in giving spiritual leadership to the church. The way we make decisions has changed and has become more consultative and collaborative over the course of time. So much so that we have not had to deal with serious conflict among leadership group members. The cultivation of mutual spiritual intimacy, as 26 evidenced by a very collaborative leadership group has positively impacted our church community. In one particular situation where there was a difference of opinion about church vision that could have created wider dissatisfaction, members of our church community rallied around the vision that had been agreed to collaboratively within the leadership group. Those who have not been willing or able to operate within the collaborative vision and culture of the church, have invariably chosen to move on to other places of fellowship. Even in the face of several departures, our bond together both as leaders and as a church family through mutual spiritual intimacy has remained strong. Elijah and Elisha The third example from which we can see mutual spiritual intimacy, is found in 1 Kings Chapter 19 (NIV), and builds on the aspects of spiritual intimacy with God, and spiritual intimacy with another individual. This example reflects spiritual intimacy in the context of a leader’s mentoring relationship with an emerging leader. The account is told of how Elijah fled in fear for his life after slaying the prophets of Baal because he heard that the wicked queen Jezebel threatened to kill him. He ended up in the wilderness where God sent an angel to feed Elijah, after which God instructs Elijah to go to mount Horeb where he hid in a cave out of fear. The Lord appears to Elijah at Mount Horeb and commands him to go out and stand on the mountain in his presence. It is at this point that God gave Elijah the three-fold experience of a powerful wind, an earthquake and a fire. However, Elijah realized that God was not speaking to him through any of 27 those powerful elements, but rather God was speaking to him in a gentle whisper. In the midst of this experience Elijah complained twice that he was the only prophet left and they were trying to kill him (v. 10, 14). God commands Elijah to anoint two political leaders, Hazael, Jehu, and one spiritual leader, Elisha as his successor. God then reveals to Elijah that he had preserved seven thousand in Israel who had remained faithful to him by not worshiping Baal. Elijah goes on to find Elisha and commissions him to be his servant. Elisha understanding the magnitude of the call, says goodbye to his parents, sacrifices his yoke of oxen, and followed Elijah as his servant. Elijah and Elisha remain in a spiritually intimate relationship right up the point when Elijah was supernaturally transported by a chariot of fire to heaven. This account highlights the fact that as leaders, God does not expect us to have to function alone, but he brings others alongside us to help us carry the burden of spiritual leadership. It is crucial that we have like-minded individuals to fellowship, work and lead within a supportive environment of mutual spiritual intimacy. It was good to see that over the course of the project, the leaders of WOTWM came to see the importance of and to appreciate the regular interaction we were having together, as we sought to set our hearts to learn about discernment. The frequency of our interactions helped to develop spiritual intimacy among us as leaders, because we became more comfortable sharing with and supporting each other. That spiritual connectedness continued even after the project ended. An example of this being worked out in our community, was when one of our leaders started taking time out of their busy schedule to come to my 28 home to assist with task that needed to be done around the house. The leader told me their reason for doing it was to give was to allow me more time to focus on managing the ongoing affairs of the church, and on completing my academic studies. I will never forget how humbled and blessed it made me feel, to see the demonstration of Christian love and self-sacrifice demonstrated by that leader. That gesture served to bring us even closer together in mutual spiritual intimacy. In this section, I referenced three Old Testament characters in whose lives and ministry I believe we find evidence of them operating out of a level of mutual spiritual intimacy. There are three summary conclusions coming out of this section. First, like in the life of Joseph, we need as leaders to see God’s goodness and purpose at work in the midst of the difficult and challenging situations we go through. Second, it was necessary for Moses and Aaron to work collaboratively together as spiritual leaders to fulfill the purpose of God for the nation of Israel. Third, based on the life of Elijah, it is encouraging as leaders to know we have the opportunity and ability to intentionally impact the lives of those whom God brings into spiritual intimacy with us and under our leadership. In the next section, I will reflect on Barton’s discussion of the gospel of John chapter 9. I will also look at a few examples in the New Testament, of leaders who reflect what it is like to lead as a result of an environment of mutual spiritual intimacy. 29 Spiritual Intimacy in the New Testament Spiritual intimacy is reflected in the Apostle Paul’s teaching in Romans chapter 12. Paul makes it clear that spiritual transformation needs to take place in our lives. I believe that transformation is necessary at both the individual and leadership group level. We should not allow ourselves to be squeezed into the world’s system. Instead, we need to allow our minds to be spiritually transformed so we can understand God’s will (Rom. 12:2 NIV). It is as our minds are spiritually transformed that we develop the ability to see what God is doing in, and among us, and to grow in individual and mutual spiritual intimacy. One of the things that facilitated mutual spiritual intimacy for us as leaders, was the considerable amount of time we spent as a leadership group during the first series of project sessions. During that time, we explored what Barton described as biblical precedent for the practice of discernment through her review of the gospel of John chapter 9. This passage contains the account of Jesus’ miraculous healing of a man who was born blind. Barton indicates, the passage highlights the response of four major groups of individuals in the narrative: the disciples, the neighbours, the Pharisees, and the parents of the blind man (Barton 2012, 21-26). The story demonstrates how a person who was unable to see, both physically and spiritually, was transformed into one who had both physical and spiritual sight. It is also the story of how those who thought they had physical and spiritual sight (the disciples, neighbours, Pharisees, and parents), were in fact blind to the light and living in darkness (Barton 2012, 30). The story starts in verse 1 of John 9 with the blind man who receives his sight, and ends with the Pharisees excluding the 30 man from spiritual community in the synagogue. That is because even though they claimed to see, they were spiritually blind. The learning from this account, is that as we develop spiritual intimacy as individuals and as leaders, we become like the man born blind in terms of how we progressed in our spiritual journey. We have the opportunity to become persons who can see past the cultural, spiritual, social and family lenses, to discern what God is doing, both in our individual lives, and in our place of ministry leadership at WOTWM. This is reflected in the comments from one leader who said, “the project has changed my view towards my Christian walk tremendously. In being able to ask the right question and discern situations and things within my life has allowed me to see God clearer.” Growth in spiritual intimacy among the leaders is also reflected in the comments of another leader who said, “I now make a conscious effort, in every situation to not take things at face value but rather to ask what it is that God would have me see.” Like the man born blind, we understood that as leaders at WOTWM, it would require commitment and courage for us to seek to know, and live in accordance to God’s will as it revealed to us (Barton 2012, 20). We also understood, that the response of the blind man who was healed was instructive to us as leaders. He was not afraid to embrace and act upon the spiritual transformation he experienced, in spite of the tremendous challenges he faced on both a spiritual and social level. Once he came into a personal spiritual relationship with Jesus as his disciple, he was prepared to stand firm for what he believed, which resulted in his physical exclusion from the religious community. We understood, that in our pursuit of mutual spiritual 31 intimacy as a leadership group, we also needed to be willing to stand up for our spiritual convictions, even in the face of challenges and negative consequences. In addition to the John 9 passage, there are other examples of spiritual intimacy in the New Testament that can be seen in the lives of Biblical characters. The following are three examples I wish to highlight, as they relate to developing mutual spiritual intimacy, and the implications of that for the leadership group of WOTWM. Paul’s Determination to go to Jerusalem The first example is found in Acts 21:1-16. In that passage, we see the Apostle Paul during his missionary journey having an encounter with a prophet named Agabus. Agabus had come down to Jerusalem from Antioch, and given Paul a prophetic declaration using the object lesson of taking off his belt and tying his own hands and feet. The purpose of Agabus’ prophetic act, was to demonstrate to Paul what the Jewish leaders in Jerusalem would do to him if he went there. According to Bruce, Agabus was speaking prophetically to Paul using a graphic demonstration to let him know he would be arrested and imprisoned on his trip to Jerusalem (Bruce 1988, 401). As a result, those who were travelling with Paul, as well as the Christians at Caesarea, tried to convince Paul not to go to Jerusalem. They felt so strongly about it, that they cried and pleaded with him not to go. However, the apostle Paul felt convinced, that regardless of what might happen to him in Jerusalem, he needed to follow what he was convinced was the will of God for him to go to Jerusalem to preach the gospel. When Paul’s travel 32 companions and the Christians in Antioch saw that his mind was undeterred, they prayed and released him for the Lord’s will to be done. The learning from this passage is that our spiritual intimacy with God will position us to hear what God is saying and how He is leading. It will also give us the confidence to take steps to obey and move in the direction of God’s leading as leaders, even in the face of potential challenges or difficulties that may arise. In my own life, I have noticed that as a result of the project, there have been changes in my willingness to share with the leadership group how I believe God is leading. Prior to the project I tended to be a very reserved and private person when it came to the sharing of my feelings and information that I do not want to become public. My motto for the past years has been, that if I keep certain information or feelings to myself, there is no chance of it leaking out to others. However, since going through the project, I feel much more connected to the members of the leadership group at WOTWM, and that has caused me to become more open and transparent. As a result of the mutual spiritual intimacy that developed during and subsequent to the project, I was able to confide in the leaders about a major ministry decision I was contemplating, and asked for their prayer for God’s direction. It was good to see I was not the only one who had experienced such change. Similar changes had also taken place in the spiritual lives of the leadership group, as reflected in their feedback. An example of feedback from leaders is when they said, “.. .the project helped to bring the team together to share experiences and grow together.. Most of the leadership group ended up on the same page” when it came to making decisions, and the project made the team “more coherent.” 33 The Twelve Apostles The second example is found in Acts 6:1-7, where we see a reflection of mutual spiritual intimacy from the perspective of the relationship between the Twelve (apostles), who were the leaders in the early church, and other disciples of Jesus. The widows in the early church were being neglected in the daily distribution of food. The passage describes what happened, when the Hellenistic Jews complained against the Hebraic Jews. They highlighted an inequity in the daily distribution of food to their widows. F.F. Bruce indicates, Widows naturally formed a considerable proportion of the poorer members of the church, and the Hellenistic widows were said to be at a disadvantage in comparison with the Hebrew widows, perhaps because the distribution of charity was in the hands of the “Hebrews.” (Bruce 1988, 120) The apostles as spiritual leaders within the church realized there was an issue, and looked to address the issue of inequity by taking specific steps. They called a meeting of all the disciples, and collectively decided on a course of action that would address the issue. Taking this step allowed them not to be deterred from their primary leadership responsibility, of the teaching and preaching of the word of God. The apostles asked the community of believers to select seven wise and Spirit filled men from among themselves, and make them responsible for overseeing the daily distribution. The goal of doing this was to allow them to focus their attention on administration, prayer, and the preaching and teaching of the word of God. Bruce points out, “it was the community as a whole that selected these seven men” (Bruce 1988, 122). After the men were chosen, presented to and approved by the apostles, they prayed for them, and gave them the responsibility 34 of handling the daily distribution. This resulted in the spreading of the word of God, and a rapid increase in the number of disciples in Jerusalem. The practice that is highlighted in this passage, is that there was a level of spiritual intimacy which existed among the twelve apostles in the leadership group, and between them and God. In order for that to happen, it is reasonable to assume there must have been both a commitment to relationship, and a dependence on the Holy Spirit. Having those two things present in their lives, would have helped them come into a place of mutual spiritual intimacy. That level of relationship would have given the apostles the opportunity to maintain their spiritual focus, while also making sure the practical needs of the community were being appropriately met. In a similar way, as leaders at WOTWM we came to appreciate the importance for us to set aside time to become spiritual intimate with God, and with each other. Those two things were necessary, as we continued to be faithful in our responsibility to minister to the practical needs of those within the community we were leading. An example of that working itself out in our community, is reflected in the comments of one of our leaders who said, The creating of a physical space that allows God centered focus was instrumental in setting the stage for a process that over time allowed for a stillness of mind and heart. This stillness of mind and heart then created an environment which I believe has allowed me to have a deeper and more fulfilling relationship with God as I think I am now better able to hear from and feel the personal ministry of the Holy Spirit. Paul and Timothy The third example of spiritual intimacy I highlight, is the close relationship we see in Scripture between Paul and Timothy. Similar to the 35 relationship between Elijah and Elisha, this example shows mutual spiritual intimacy between leaders from the perspective of one leader’s relationship with God and that leader’s mentoring relationship, and influence in the life of another leader. The closeness of Paul’s relationship with Timothy, is seen in part by Paul’s reference to it in Philippians 2:19-23. Also, in Acts 20:3-6, we see Paul and Timothy doing missionary work together. They were so close, that Paul entrusted Timothy with key ministry duties like pastoring the church at Ephesus (1 Timothy 1:3, 4). In addition, Timothy is listed in the introduction of six of Paul’s epistles, 2 Corinthians, Philippians, Colossians, 1 Thessalonians, 2 Thessalonians, and Philemon. What we see in the life of Paul and Timothy, is instructive to us as leaders, because it demonstrates the level of spiritual intimacy that existed in their relationship with God and one another. That spiritual intimacy, allowed Paul to mentor and disciple Timothy, and eventually release him to continue the work of spiritual leadership in the church. It gave Paul the ability to pass on the torch to another leader. I believe that like Paul, my God given responsibility as lead pastor, is neither to consolidate leadership with one person, nor within the pastoral role. I believe my role as lead pastor at WOTWM, is to engage, mentor and release leaders, and people within the church to do the work of the ministry. In the relationship between Paul and Timothy, we should be seeking as leaders to build up, and equip those within the community of faith God has given us the privilege of leading. As spiritual leaders, we need to cultivate spiritual intimacy with God and with each other at the leadership group level. That intimacy will help us 36 recognize, and respond to the work God is doing, and together as leaders and people, work to accomplish it. I believe that is something God has started to do both in our own lives, and in the lives of the congregation, as a result of the spiritual intimacy we developed as leaders through the project. That is reflected in the comment of one of our leaders who said, In my estimation going through the exercise has caused a change in focus of the pastoral team from the usual performance-based metrics to a more holistic spiritual growth model. This change has led to more participation from individuals in the congregation who were initially afraid because they did not fit into the stereotypical Christian model for participants in a certain ministry. Congregants are now exhibiting not only a more authentic expression of their Christianity but also closer sense of community. With this new sense of purpose, we eagerly anticipate what Go has in store for us. In this section, I discussed the account of Jesus’ healing of the blind man in John 9 as highlighted by Barton, and the implications of that to us as leaders. I went on to discuss three New Testament examples, as they relate to the existence and development of mutual spiritual intimacy. The first example was Paul and his relationship with God, as the driving factor in his determination to go to Jerusalem in the face of prophecy about him suffering adversity, and against the advice of the group of Christians in Caesarea, in Acts 21:10-14. The second example, was the account of the twelve apostles as they dealt with the issue of the widows who were being neglected in the daily distribution of food in Acts 6:1-7. The third example was the personal and ministry mentoring relationship between Paul and Timothy. In the next section, I discuss the relationship between discernment and spiritual intimacy. 37 Discernment and Spiritual Intimacy Barton indicates, there are five foundational beliefs, that form the building blocks for a strong practice of discernment. Those foundational beliefs proved helpful in facilitating mutual spiritual intimacy among the leaders of WOTWM during this project. The first belief, is that “spiritual discernment, by definition, is a process that takes place in and through the Trinity” (Barton 2012, 53). If we are committed to discernment on both a personal and a leadership group level, it must first start with a commitment to Christ, who leads the church as its head, “and the real presence of the Holy Spirit who has been given to lead and guide us on Christ behalf” (Barton 2012, 53). Barton reminds us, that “The Holy Spirit, the third person of the Trinity, ‘Comprehends what is truly God’s’ and interprets the deep things of God to us (1 Cor. 2:10)” (Barton 2012, 53). If Christ is the head of the church, then we should seek to know and discern what his will is. If we are seeking to know and discern what Christ’s will is, then we should be seeking to obey it (Barton 2012, 54). It was through our embracing of the role of the Trinity, and out of our shared experience of seeking to know and obey the will of God, that mutual spiritual intimacy began to grow among us as leaders. The leadership group of WOTWM, came to appreciate the importance of dependence on the Holy Spirit at both the personal and community level, as we gave leadership to the church. The second foundational belief, is “that the impulse to discern - to want to respond to Christ in this fashion - is a ‘good spirit’ that needs to be cultivated” (Barton 2012, 54). In order to become discerning leaders at WOTWM, we need to 38 depend on the Holy Spirit, who can help us differentiate between deliberately attempting to assert our wishes, and consciously allowing him as the Spirit of God, to work in our lives and decision-making (Barton 2012, 54). In our time spent together as part of this project, I encouraged the leadership group to take time to read and meditate on God’s word, and to make time for solitude, prayer and reflection. I shared an example from my own life of the tremendous benefit I find in going out for regular walks through the trails close to my home by myself, to be alone, pray, reflect and listen to the Spirit of God. As we learned to depend on the Holy Spirit to work in our lives and decision making, we became more aware that as leaders, we should not seek to assert our wishes, but to allow God through His Spirit to lead us. That realization, helped us to develop mutual spiritual intimacy as leaders. The third foundational belief, is “a deep belief in the goodness of God” (Barton 2012, 54), which moves us “to trust God with the things that are most important to us” (Barton 2012, 55). This goes beyond believing in God’s goodness as a general attribute, to very specifically believing “that God’s will is the best thing that can happen to us under any circumstances” (Barton 2012, 55). It is impossible to participate in the discernment process with freedom without trusting that God will always be good to us personally (Barton 2012, 55). Part of becoming discerning Christian leaders, is becoming convinced that God knows the plans he has for us, and that those plans are for our benefit, and not to our disadvantage (Barton 2012, 54-55). In the time we spent together through this project, I encouraged the leadership group to recognize, and embrace the 39 goodness of God in their daily lives, by reflecting on what God had done for them throughout the course of their lives. I shared about how God had worked in my life over the years, and how I had taken the time to document the things God had done at various points in my life. My having done that, has helped to remind and encourage me to continue to trust God based on what he has done in the past. Mutual spiritual intimacy continued to develop among the leadership group, as we shared various experiences, and were transparent about the challenges and successes we have faced over the years in learning to trust God. The fourth foundational belief, is “the conviction that love is our ultimate calling - love for God, love of self, love for others and love for the world” (cf. Matt. 22:37-40; 1 Cor. 13; 1 John 4:7-12) (Barton 2012, 55). Barton says, “this simple truth is easily lost in the press of church and organizational life” (Barton 2012, 55). It is possible to become so busy managing the affairs of the church, that we forget the core reason we are doing it. That reason is our obedience to both the great commandment, to love God and love your neighbours as ourselves (Mark 12:30-31), and the great commission making disciples, baptizing, teaching people to obey God (Matthew 28:19-20). To become leaders who are able to discern the mind of God, we need to be persons who are always seeking to do that which love for God, self and others requires us to do in our specific decision- making circumstances. As leaders at WOTWM, we also need to guard against using people, being people-pleasers, and practicing dishonesty with those whom God has called us to lead. The Holy Spirit can help us discern what love requires in the specifics of our own situation (Barton 2012, 55-56). In our time spent 40 together as leaders during this project, I encouraged the leadership group to take time to embrace, and seek to embody the Biblical truth, that our lives and actions should always be governed by the principle of love. Our spiritual intimacy was strengthened, as we shared with one another what it meant to allow our belief that love for God, self, others and the world, become our ultimate calling as Christian believers and leaders. The fifth belief is the understanding, that “we are committed to doing the will of God as it is revealed to us” (Barton 2012, 56). Barton quotes Chuck Olsen and Danny Morris, who says “the question of willingness must be answered before the process of discernment begins: Are we willing to do God’s will before we even know it?” (Barton 2012, 56). The implication of this, is that if we are to become discerning as leaders at WOTWM, we need to be both personally and collectively committed to not only knowing the will of God, but to doing God’s revealed will (Barton 2012, 56). I encouraged the leadership group, during our time spent together on this project, to develop the habit of always desiring to obey the will of God as it is revealed to us as individuals and as a leadership group. I did, that by sharing my experience of leaving my first pastoral position in an act of obedience to what my wife and I believed was God’s leading. It did not make logical sense at the time, because the church was in the process of looking into how I could be transitioned from part-time to full-time pastoral ministry. When I left my pastoral position I did not know where I was going or what I was going to do in terms of ministry, but as a result of multiple factors: a specific season of prayer for God’s direction; how we felt God was leading us at the time; in 41 conversation, in consultation with the district leadership of our organization, and conversation with trusted Christian friends. In addition, through prayer and reflection after reading John Ortberg’s book in February 2015, If You Want To Walk On The Water, You’ve Got To get Out Of The Boat, in which he discussed the Biblical account of Jesus’ walking on the water (Matt. 14:22-36; Mk. 6:45-56; Jn. 6:16-21), Walking on the Water Ministries was started as a denominationally sponsored church plant. I believe my taking the time to share with the leaders in such a personal manner, helped to foster spiritual intimacy among as a leadership group. In this section, I discussed the five foundational beliefs that form the building blocks for a strong practice of discernment. Barton describes the first belief as, “the belief that spiritual discernment, which is by definition, a process that takes place in and through the Trinity” (Barton 201, 53). The second foundational belief is, “that the impulse to discern - to want to respond to Christ in this fashion - is a ‘good spirit’ that needs to be cultivated” (Barton 2012, 54). The third belief is, “a deep belief in the goodness of God” (Barton 2012, 54), which moves us “to trust God with the things that are most important to us” (Barton 2012, 55). The fourth foundational belief is, “the conviction that love is our ultimate calling - love for God, love of self, love for others and love for the world” (Barton 2012, 55). The fifth belief comes with the understanding, “that we are committed to doing the will of God as it is revealed to us” (Barton 2012, 56). 42 Living a Life of Spiritual Intimacy Christian leaders need to have more than just an intellectual and spiritual desire for spiritual intimacy. Spiritual intimacy must characterize the way we live our day to day lives. In order to develop a lifestyle of mutual spiritual intimacy, Christian leaders need to be spiritually sensitive to the work God is doing and cooperate with Him in that work. The result of such a lifestyle choice, will help us to grow spiritually both in our understanding of, and in our response to God’s presence and guidance. Barton believes, we can learn to hear God’s voice, in the same way we learn to hear and understand the voices of loved ones in our everyday lives. That ability to hear the voice of God will enable us to perceive where God is at work, and the ways in which he is bringing about His plan and purpose (Barton 2006, 111). As we grow in our ability to embrace lives of spiritual intimacy as leaders, it will become easier for us to see the work of God, both in our individual and collective lives as we engage in ministry. In turn, that will allow us to be better positioned to cooperate with God, and align ourselves in cooperation with the work he is doing in our lives (Barton 2006, 114). Barton goes on to say that, “Discernment together as leaders ... opens us to an entirely different reality—the wisdom of God that is beyond human wisdom and is available to us as we learn how to open ourselves to it (I Cor. 2: 6-10)” (Barton 2012, 11). As a result of this research, the leadership group at WOTWM began to see mutual spiritual intimacy as necessary in our lives as leaders. Mutual spiritual intimacy, needs to become an essential aspect of every spiritual leader’s ongoing 43 experience. Barton in speaking about discernment says, “Discernment is an ever- increasing capacity to ‘see’ or discern the works of God in the midst of whatever it is God is doing. Every Christian is called to this kind of discernment (Rom 12:2)” (Barton 2012, 20). It is as we learn to see God at work, both personally and collectively as leaders at WOTWM, that we will continue to grow in our mutual spiritual intimacy. Barton goes on to indicate that, Discernment together as leaders takes us beyond the personal to an increasing capacity to “see’ what God is up to in the place we are called to lead. It calls us to be courageous in seeking the will of God and then making decisions that are responsive to that will as it unfolds in front of us. (Barton 2012, 20) There is no way to guarantee we will always be right in our discernment decisions. However, when we make a conscious effort to ask God to guide us in the process, he will gladly come and help us through our decision making. In this section, I discussed the importance of cultivating the habit of discernment as a way of growing in our personal and mutual spiritual intimacy as leaders. In seeking to make spiritually intimacy a way of life, there will be challenges. We need to be able to move beyond following basic principles for decision-making, to a way of being that is shaped by the practice of spiritual intimacy, cultivated through the use of spiritual disciplines. Those disciplines should include the prayerful, meditative reading of Scripture; growing in the awareness of God’s presence; and an honest examination of inner motives and feelings (Morris and Olsen 1997, 14). 44 Summary In this chapter, I discussed theological perspectives on spiritual intimacy. I looked at several Old and New Testament examples, related to persons who demonstrated spiritual intimacy personally and in relationship to others. I also explored the relationship between discernment and spiritual intimacy, and concluded with a discussion of living a life of spiritual intimacy. Throughout my discussion, I sought to highlight what we learned as a leadership group, as we journeyed together through the project, along with the practical impact the experience had on us as leaders. In addition, I reflected on some of the implications for the congregation of WOTWM. In the following chapter, I discuss the views of various Christian authors as it relates to discernment, as well as Barton’s discernment foci. 45 CHAPTER 3: VIEWS OF VARIOUS CHRISTIAN AUTHORS ON DISCERNMENT In this chapter, I will begin by looking at my primary resource Pursuing God’s Will Together by Ruth Haley Barton. I will proceed to look at the views and approaches of eight other Christian authors, along with two doctoral thesis that relate to my project. Approach of Other Christian Authors Apart from Barton, there are several other authors who have written about discernment, and spiritual disciplines. I reviewed several resources during this project, that deal with various corporate spiritual discernment practices, personal spiritual discernment practices, and the practice of spiritual disciplines. The purpose of my review, was to look at the various perspectives represented in the primary body of literature available on spiritual discernment, and the various approaches to discernment, in comparison to the approach presented by Barton. The list of resources included Danny Morris and Charles Olsen (1991) Discerning God’s Will Together. Morris and Olsen discussed discernment within the framework of What, Why, Who How, and Where. They explained, The practice of discernment has roots in the Judeo-Christian tradition. Human awareness of the presence of God prompts questions: God, what are you up to in the world? What is my part in it? The conviction that divine guidance operates in the human world invites us into a process of discernment. (Morris and Olsen 2012, loc. 378) 46 They believe that the purpose and goal of spiritual discernment, is to know and do the will of God. In their thinking, knowing and doing God’s will should be the most urgent thing in our lives, as individuals and as a church congregation. They believe that as leaders, God’s deepest desire is for us to know His will for the world, the church and ourselves (Morris & Olsen 2012, loc. 707). Morris and Olsen also highlighted the fact that, The culture of discernment does not necessarily stand over or against other decision-making cultures.... The process will draw on the faith tradition; adapt helpful aspects of decision making from other religious and secular cultures; and refine the process within the faith, love, and hope of the religious community. (Morris and Olsen 2012, loc. 874) In terms of who is involved in discernment, Morris and Olsen (2012) indicate, “the process of discernment invites us into the heart and life of the triune God” (Morris and Olsen 2012, loc. 1036). The implication is that we can no longer make decisions based on our individual understanding of “what we think is best.” We need to be primarily concerned about finding out what God’s mind and will are, in the context of the community of faith in whom God dwells (Morris and Olsen 2012, loc. 1031). As it relates to how we do spiritual discernment, Morris and Olsen believe, both the individual and community need to be involved in the process. They proceeded to outline ten specific movements, and practices they believe can be used as a starting point, in a selective way (some may be dropped) and in variable sequence. The movements are outlined as, framing, grounding, shedding, rooting, listening, exploring, improving, weighing, closing, and resting (Morris & Olsen 2012, loc. 1058-1069). 47 Charles M. Olsen (1995), in Transforming Church Boards into Communities of Spiritual Leaders, at the conclusion of chapter 5 on “Seeing with Spiritual Eyes: The Practice of Prayerful Discernment,” under the heading “Discernment: The Practice of Faithful Listening,” lists the following five processes: “rational stage” data (gathering information); “communication stage” (helping people to understand); “guiding principle stage” (identifying the issue); “analytical stage” (only focusing on options related to guiding principle); and “intuitive stage” (having consensus before making a decision) (Olsen 1995, 95- 96). Pierre Wolf (1970), in Discernment: The Art of Choosing Well, Revised Edition, presented his guidance about making choices both individually and collectively by focusing on the spiritual exercises of Saint Ignatius of Loyola. The book is divided into three primary parts - “Part One: The Components of Any Choice” (Wolf 1970, loc. 111-332,); “Part Two: Discernment by an Individual Person” (Wolf 1970, loc. 339-1194); and “Part Three: Discernment by a Group of People” (Wolf 1970, loc. 1202-1793). Bruce Waltke (1995) Finding the Will of God. In his discussion about the importance of seeking counsel from others, Waltke says that, “Wise counsel should be sought when the Bible and your inner desires are not clear, but the counsel of others should never negate what you heard the Lord say to you through the Scriptures. God’s Word takes precedence over the counsel of others” (Waltke 1995, loc. 1018). Charles R. Swindoll (1999) in his book The Mystery of God's Will says, “The longer I live, the more I believe that one of the most profound subjects in the Christian life is the will of God. The deeper we dig into it, the more we realize 48 how little we know” (Swindoll 1999, 4). In his book, Swindoll discussed “God’s decretive will,” which is God’s sovereign, determined, immutable will, and “God’s permissive will,” which represents what God allows (Swindoll 1999, 17). He also listed and discussed four ways that we can discover the will of God. These included: through Scripture, which is God’s written word; through the “inner prompting of the Holy Spirit”; “through the counsel of wise, qualified, trustworthy people”; and through God giving us “an inner assurance of peace” (Swindoll 1999, 44-51). Elizabeth Liebert (2008) who wrote The Way of Discernment: Spiritual Practices for Decision Making, aims to help readers enter discernment as a way of life. She positioned discernment, as a decision-making process based on faith in God and a desire to do the will of God. Liebert says: “Discernment means making a discriminating choice between two or more good options, seeking the best for this moment. These choices, while personal and conditional, are set within the community of faith and honour our previous well- made decisions” (Liebert 2008, loc. 440). I also reviewed two Doctor of Ministry theses, in which the researchers did similar work to my area of research. I found these theses helpful both for their overall approach and content, and from a resource and reference list perspective. The first thesis I reviewed was done by Lloyd Keith Taylor, and was entitled Directing the Leadership Team of the Newmarket Church of the Nazarene into the Christian Discipline of Discernment Employing Selected Spiritual Practices (Taylor 2012). The objective of the project, was for the leadership of the church to develop a deeper personal relationship with God and one another, by becoming 49 more attentive to God (Taylor 2012, iv). This thesis was especially relevant to my project, because Taylor’s primary focus was on discernment from the perspective of the preparation of the leaders within his ministry context, through personal spiritual practices. The second thesis I reviewed, was done by Marlene Morrison Pedigo, and is entitled Corporate Discernment of the Will of God (Pedigo 1994). Pedigo’s research project focused on the principles of discernment by leadership groups, as found in the book of Acts chapter 15, and the way it is practiced within the Religious Society of Friends. The goal of the intervention, was to develop a training tool to bring about the renewal of the practice of corporate discernment, and apply it in her ministry context (Pedigo 1994, ii). This thesis provided me with a different perspective than Taylor’s, because Pedigo’s primary focus was on the principles found in the book of Acts chapter 15, specifically as it related to her unique ministry context. In this section, I reviewed discernment approaches by the following authors: Fendall, Wood and Bishop; Morrison and Olsen; Charles Olsen; Pierre Wolf; Bruce Waltke; Charles Swindoll; and Elizabeth Liebert. I also reviewed two theses, the first by Lloyd Taylor and the second by Marlene Morrison Pedigo. These resources were useful in helping me to determine the approach I could take to the project, and in giving me ideas to effectively present the findings in a cohesive and comprehensive manner. As a result of the review, I came to the conclusion, that Barton’s approach would be helpful in my desire to help the leadership group of WOTWM on the journey of developing mutual spiritual intimacy. In the section that follows, I will discuss my rationale for using Barton’s 50 book and approach, as opposed to one of the other books or approaches I discussed. Barton’s Approach to Discernment Pursuing God’s Will Together by Ruth Haley Barton was an excellent resource from a spiritual leadership discernment practice perspective, because it proved to be a good tool to develop mutual spiritual intimacy among the leaders of Walking on the Water Ministries. Barton asserts, that corporate spiritual discernment is invaluable, when she says, “Corporate or leadership discernment, then, is the capacity to recognize and respond to the presence and activity of God as a leadership group relative to the issues we are facing, and to make decisions in response to that presence” (Barton 2012, 11). Barton designed her book as a tool that can be used to take a leadership group through a corporate leadership discernment process. It is intended to help a leadership group grow in their understanding, and ability to use a structured process of spiritual discernment on an ongoing basis. Ignatius of Loyola developed spiritual exercises, to help people see and respond to God in every area of their lives. Barton says, Ignatius defined the aim of discernment as, “finding God in all things in order that we might love and serve God in all” (Barton 2012, 20). Barton describes discernment as, An ever-increasing capacity to “see” or discern the works of God in the midst of the human situation so that we can align ourselves with whatever it is that God is doing. Every Christian is called to this kind of discernment (Rom 12:2). Discernment together as leaders takes us beyond the personal to an increasing capacity to “see” what God is up to in the place we are called to lead. It calls us to be courageous in seeking the will of God and 51 then making decisions that are responsive to that will as it unfolds in front of us. (Barton 2012, 20) Barton’s approach was of value to WOTWM, because it clearly presented the steps and the rationale, along with a systematic approach, to doing spiritual discernment as a leadership group. It met the leadership group’s felt need, to be more intentional about discerning God’s will, rather than simply making decisions. Included in the book’s appendices, are a leader’s guide, a Biblical perspective on spiritual transformation, and a summary of Lectio Divina. This project utilized Barton’s discernment practices for becoming a community for discernment, as outlined in part one of her book. Rationale for Using Barton’s Approach The objective of the project sessions, was to utilize Barton’s approach, to help the leadership group at WOTWM become a community for spiritual discernment. However, as indicated in the introduction to this thesis, the actual result was that the project was about the process of using Barton’s book, as a tool to develop mutual spiritual intimacy among the leaders. I used Part One of Barton’s book, “Becoming a Community for Discernment” as the focus of my project. I chose to utilize Barton’s discernment approach because of its emphasis on helping leaders become a community for spiritual discernment, both personally and corporately. Her approach helped to address the leader’s ability to recognize, and respond to the presence and activity of God in every area of their personal 52 and collective lives. This is in alignment with the biblical framework for spiritual intimacy, as discussed in chapter two of this thesis. Barton’s Discernment Foci The discernment foci included in Barton’s approach, represent practical and refreshing ways of helping leadership groups become a community for spiritual discernment. It helps leaders learn how to individually and collectively listen to God. Figure 1 Reproduced here as Figure 2 for ease of reference. This figure reflects Barton’s approach to helping leaders become a community for discernment. Figure 2. Seven Foci to Help Leaders Become a Community for Discernment (after Barton, 2012) [ Please contact repository@tyndale.ca for Figure 2 details. ] 53 Learning to See In terms of the first focus presented in chapter 1, “Learning to See,” Barton argues that, to become a community for discernment, each individual needs to be engaged in journeying from spiritual blindness to spiritual sight. She illustrates and emphasizes this belief, by referencing the account of the man born blind in John 9, and the varying effects Jesus’s healing of the man had on those who were associated with him in the narrative (i.e. the disciples, the neighbours, the Pharisees, and the parents) (Barton 2012, 21-26). The various individuals in the narrative were blind to what God was doing, because they were asking the wrong questions. The right question they should have been asking was, what is God doing in this situation, and how can I align myself with what God is doing? (Barton 2012, 21-22). Barton’s primary reason for focusing so heavily on this portion of Scripture, was to help leaders understand, we need to get to the place in our spiritual journey where we are able to see beyond what appears to be visually apparent, to begin ask the right questions. The irony in the narrative, is that those who purported to see, were actually blind (the disciples, the neighbours, the Pharisees, and the parents). The person who recognized and admitted his blindness (the blind man), was the one who received sight. Barton says, “This is the punch line to the whole story: those who admit their blindness see. Those who are convinced that they see and stubbornly refuse to admit their need for healing will not be able to see anything new” (Barton 2012, 30). In communicating this concept to any leadership group, Barton suggests it would be impactful to use this account from John 9, to develop a discussion that would illustrate the spiritual 54 discernment amidst differing points of view. It is for that reason, a study of this account formed a significant part of the discussions on discernment with the WOTWM leadership group. This chapter informed my approach to the project, by helping me to understand that our leadership group’s journey toward becoming a community for spiritual discernment needed to begin with us learning to see. In order for us to learn to see, we needed to start asking the right questions, in the midst of every situation and circumstance we found ourselves in, both as individual leaders, and as a leadership group. It helped me to focus the thinking of the leadership group on learning to ask the right questions. It is the question of, what is God doing in any given situation in our lives and in the life of the church we serve as leaders? Beginning with Spiritual Transformation The focus of Barton’s chapter 2, was on spiritual transformation. Barton believes if leadership groups are to pursue God’s will together, the starting point and the focus of that journey must be on the spiritual transformation of each leader’s life. She believes, “corporate discernment begins with attending to the spiritual formation of each individual leader” (Barton 2012, 37). That means, any attempt to bypass this necessary part of the discernment journey, in an effort to get to the place of being able to spiritually discern, is not advisable and would not provide the desired results. That is because, as leaders we need to be personally transformed, in order to see collective transformation within the leadership group. Barton references Romans 12-15, and its emphasis on how we live out our 55 Christian faith, not simply as leaders, but as leaders who are part of a wider community. To effectively function as the body of Christ, each individual leader must determine not to be conformed to the world, but should instead, strive to be spiritually transformed (Barton 2012, 37-38). Barton believes, for transformation to take place in the lives of individual leaders, “those who want to become discerners must have some basic spiritual practices in place to keep them in a posture of willing surrender to God” (Barton 2012, 39). She lists four spiritual practices as being necessary. The first spiritual practice Barton discussed, was solitude and silence. She believes that, Solitude is the foundational discipline of the spiritual life. It is time set aside to give God our full undivided attention... Spiritual leadership starts with listening for the one true Voice and learning to distinguish it from the other voices that clamour for our attention... leaders more than anyone need to stop the flow of our own words and ideas long enough for God to be able to get a word in edgewise. Without this kind of listening and presence to God it is impossible to cultivate leadership that is distinctly spiritual. (Barton 2012, 39-40) The second spiritual practice Barton discussed, was Engaging the Scripture for spiritual transformation. Barton encourages the use of lectio divina, as well as practicing the discovery of ourselves in the biblical narrative. She sees the practice of listening to God through scripture, as being essential for both individual leaders and leadership groups (Barton 2012, 41-42). The third spiritual practice Barton discusses is prayer. Barton believes “discernment takes place in the context of friendship with God, and is cultivated through prayer. Prayer encompasses all the ways we communicate and commune with God” (Barton 56 2012, 42). She goes on to outline and discuss the three kinds of prayer she sees as particularly key to discernment: the prayer of quiet trust; the prayer for indifference, asking God to work in our hearts and make us indifferent to everything but his will; and the prayer for wisdom (Barton 2012, 42-43). The fourth spiritual practice, is self-knowledge and self-examination. Barton emphasizes the importance of this practice by quoting Parker Palmer, who said, A leader is a person who must take special responsibility for what’s going on inside him/herself, inside his or her consciousness, lest the act of leadership create more harm than good. I have met many leaders whose confidence in the external world is so high that they regard the inner life as illusory, as a waste of time. But the link between leadership and spirituality calls us to re-examine that denial of the inner life. (Barton 2012, 43) To ignore the practice of self-knowledge and self-examination will place us at risk of functioning simply as doers, as opposed to striving to lead out of our personal and collective experience of being with Jesus. The insight I received from this focus, informed my approach to the project by helping me to pay closer attention to strengthening, and developing the spiritual practices in my own life. It strengthened my desire to become an individual and leader who is able to spiritually discern, and to encourage and inspire others to do the same. It also reinforced the importance of taking the leadership group of WOTWM on the journey of becoming individuals, who can spiritual discern what God is doing, because I recognized the potential impact that could have in the life of our church community. Through the discussions in our project sessions, we shared our varying experiences with one another and focused on the importance of spiritual practices in our lives as a leadership group. 57 Leaders Who Are Discerning Barton indicates in her third focus, in chapter 3, that we must become leaders who are discerning. She believes, for the leadership group to effectively practice corporate discernment, it is imperative for each individual leader to have a good knowledge of discernment, and to personally practice it in their lives. Barton goes on to discuss the five foundational beliefs (building blocks) she sees as necessary for a good discernment practice (Barton 2012, 53). Those beliefs have already been discussed in chapter 2 under the section “Discernment and Spiritual Intimacy.” Barton’s discussion included the following four aspects of discernment: First, discernment as a way of life that should go beyond decision- making, become a habit that engages our entire lives, and enables us to see things from a spiritual perspective, as opposed to a human perspective (John 9) (Barton 2012, 55-56). Second, Barton discussed the testing or discernment of spirits, to determine whether they are of God or not (1 Cor. 12:10; 1 Jn 4:1) (Barton 2012, 56-57). Third, Barton talked about consolation and desolation. She described it as having gone through something difficult that brings about “sadness or fear and concern about the future. But underneath these emotions, you might also identify a deep sense of well-being... God’s presence comforting or leading you” (Barton 2012, 58). Barton went on to explain that God wants us to choose life in every area and decision, whether that be daily decisions, larger decisions, or personal and leadership decisions (Barton 2012, 61-62). Fourth, Barton ended with a discussion of the dynamics of discernment, which include: the prayer for indifference (being indifferent to anything but God’s will); the prayer for wisdom 58 (we are to see the wisdom of God in our discernment as we are encouraged to do in James 1:5) (Barton 2012, 64); the ability to notice without judging (“the ability to notice everything pertinent to the situation - both external and internal - without judging, at least at first”) (Barton 2012, 64); the ability to seek spiritual direction and greater discernment of spirits; the need to gather and assess information; the cultivating of solitude as a time for listening to God; the ability to identify and work with options; and the ability to abandon ourselves to God (Barton 2012, 67-71). This part of Barton’s focus had a major impact on my approach to the project, because it helped us to realized how crucial it was for us to learn how to discern what God was doing. In addition, it highlighted useful practices for developing mutual spiritual intimacy. We had a lot of discussion around these practices during the project sessions, which is reflected in chapter 5, Findings and Interpretations. It helped me to focus on very specific and practical concepts that could help the leadership group, on our journey of developing mutual spiritual intimacy. The way that Barton outlined and itemized the various concepts, helped me to be structured and methodical in facilitating the project sessions. It helped us to remain focused, and not get distracted with other things that came up during the course of our discussion. In addition, it facilitated my ability to effectively guide the discussion, and ask relevant and specific questions throughout. 59 Community at the Leadership Level The focus of Barton’s chapter 4, was “Community at the Leadership Level.” This chapter emphasized that as leaders of churches or Christian organizations, we are called to a higher calling than simply having good teamwork, and focusing on a task. Barton believes we are called to go beyond teamwork to becoming a spiritual leadership community, that focuses on the person of Christ through, the presence of the Holy Spirit (Barton 2012, 76). Barton indicates that, “a New Testament perspective makes it clear that Christian community is made of people who gather round the transforming presence of Christ so that they can do the will of God (Mark 3:34-35)” (Barton 2012, 76). She goes on to explain, that there is a significant difference between a team and a spiritual community, because a team comes together with a commitment to complete a task, but a spiritual community comes together around the person of Jesus Christ, through the presence of the Holy Spirit (Barton 2012, 77). Barton believes that, What makes a community distinctly spiritual is that we gather around the presence of Christ, mediated through the Holy Spirit. We are unified by our commitment to be transformed in Christ’s presence through the work of the Holy Spirit, so we can discern and do the will of God as we are guided by the Spirit. (Barton 2012, 77) She also believes that when a leadership group moves from seeing itself primarily as a board, or a leadership group, and begins to see itself as a leadership community, that constitutes a conversion. Barton recognizes that getting to a place of conversion, is very challenging for leadership groups, she says, 60 Given the dynamics that come into play when people get together to lead. Transcending our primal human instincts and false-self patterns as we lead together does not happen by accident, nor is it a capacity that is maintained and cultivated in a random or haphazard way. (Barton 2012, 80) The insight I received from this helped me to understand that as I approached the project. I needed to be aware of the power of the existing organizational structure of WOTWM. It also made me acutely aware that the culture we create as leaders has a significant impact, not only in shaping us as individuals and as a leadership group, but also in shaping the overall culture of the congregation, along with individual persons within the congregation. I realized, that for spiritual transformation to take place, and for leaders to develop mutual spiritual intimacy, it needs to be intentional. Realizing that helped me to ask relevant questions, and to effectively guide the leadership group during the course of our discussions, to help them better understand what it meant to develop mutual spiritual intimacy. Values That Undergird Community The focus of Barton’s chapter 5, “Values That Undergird Community,” is an extension of the deep desire of a leadership group to be transformed from operating as a team, into operating as a leadership community. Barton indicates, that the establishment of values, comes out of the process of helping group members come to terms with both the positive aspects, and challenging aspects of their personal story. The most meaningful values originate from the deep-seated convictions of individuals, and their shared commitment to seeing those values 61 become a reality of their life together (Barton 2012, 90). Barton indicates, there are general and foundational values, and there are values that are specific to the particular community. She believes that “values are not ideals, they are actual ways of being and qualities of character that are real and possible for human beings, although living them often comes at a price” (Barton 2012, 90). Barton indicates that values need to have a sound biblical basis, they should encourage healthy relationships, they should give spiritual life, and they should be expressed in meaningful ways within the particular leadership context (Barton 2012, 91). She says the process of establishing values is two-fold. First, it begins with individual group members exploring the positive and negative aspects of their personal stories. Group members also need to clarify what values are necessary for them to embrace a community as trustworthy (Barton 2012, 91). Second, it is necessary to become familiar with the story of the leadership group as a whole, to identify the things that matter most to the group (Barton 2012, 92). A third aspect, is for leaders to find themselves in the biblical story, and to embrace and apply the values found in the story, so that we are shaped by it (Barton 2012, 94). This aspect of Barton’s focus, informed my approach to the project, by helping me to understand the importance of exploring the values we held as leaders, both individually and together as a leadership group. It helped me to appreciate that values reflect who we are, and how we function as a leadership group. I saw the importance of values needing to be sound, biblically based, and giving spiritual life. That is opposed to simply being onerous rules, and convictions we live by. In our project session discussions, it helped me to be 62 consciously aware of the need to have agreed upon values, to facilitate the leadership group becoming a community for spiritual discernment. Practices for Opening to God Together The focus of Barton’s chapter 6, “Practices for Opening to God Together,” was on the practices, relationships, and experiences that would help leaders in their ongoing pursuit of corporate spiritual transformation. Barton is careful to point out that, “Articulating values... does not guarantee that a group will be able to live by them. All of us struggle with staying true to our values in the rough and tumble of leadership” (Barton 2012, 111). Instead of trusting the leading of the Holy Spirit, we revert to what we are most comfortable with and know best; that is, relying on strategies and methods that may have worked for us in the past (Barton 2012, 111). Barton’s goal was to keep the leadership groups focused on practices they can pursue, which would help them to remain in a position of being open to Christ’s presence for the purpose of corporate discernment. Also, on the importance of focusing their efforts, to become completely committed to being guided by God, rather than their own personal agenda (Barton 2012, 112-113). In addition, Barton discussed five practices which were not a part of our communal practice as a leadership group during the course of the project, but I see value in implementing these practices with the leadership group subsequent to the project. The five practices included: one, practicing transformation, which requires each leader within the leadership group, to have an established personal rule of life, along with allowing themselves to be mutually accountable to each other (Barton 63 2012, 114); two, fixed-hour prayer (engaging in specific and regular times of prayer throughout the day - morning, midday, evening, night) (Barton 2012, 116); three, power of Scripture in community, through the practice of doing lectio divina within the leadership setting (Barton 2012, 119); four, creating space for the Spirit, by making time for specific times of silence within the leadership meetings, to allow for the Holy Spirit to bring any Scripture passages to mind that would provide guidance to decision-making (Barton 2012, 120); and five, practicing rest and retreat. Barton makes it clear that this is not just going away as a leadership group, or attending an organized conference-style event. She is referring to a spiritual retreat, where we “take time to rest, have extended time for solitude and silent listening, share our journeys and key learning, eat together, and enjoy one another’s company” (Barton 2012, 122). The insight I received from this focus, impacted my interaction with the leaders during the project sessions. In particular, we talked about the need for us as leaders, to be open to the presence of Christ and the Holy Spirit, so our lives and ministry to the congregation, and others, could be guided and directed by that relationship. That is as opposed to continuing to do things based on our experience and ability. We talked about the fact that when Jesus called his twelve disciples, he called them first to be with him, and it was out of that spiritual relationship with Jesus, that he sent them out to minister on his behalf. I was able to facilitate the discussion and share personal experiences, while allowing each leader to do the same. Some of that discussion is reflected in chapter 5, Findings and Interpretations. 64 Practices for Listening to Each Other Barton focuses in chapter 7, on “Practices for Listening to Each Other,” the focus is on the process of helping leaders “to be open and receptive to God with each other and to being open and receptive to each other with God” (Barton 2012, 132). Most leaders are unwilling to become vulnerable within their leadership environments, because they do not feel safe doing so. If leaders are truly committed to leadership discernment, it is of critical importance that the environment becomes a safe one, in which leaders are comfortable sharing not only their mind, but their innermost being with each other (Barton 2012, 132). Barton discusses eight practices she believes are necessary for leadership groups to put in place to cultivate the habit of listening to each other. Those practices include connecting at the soul level. Barton says “leadership discernment requires us to be open and receptive to God with each other and to be open and receptive to each other with God” (Barton 2012, 132). Her belief is that leadership discernment demands we “cultivate an environment in which it is safe for people to speak from their heart and soul, not just their mind” (Barton 2012, 132). The second practice she highlights, is practicing transformation, which involves establishing a rule of life (Barton 2012, 133). The third practice Barton discusses is practicing love. She says that in spite of “whatever else we are seeking to discern about God’s will, we can be sure that God wants us to love each other. And the outcome of spiritual transformation is an increasing capacity to love God and love others, which can be measured in concrete ways” (Barton 2012, 132). The fourth practice Barton discusses, is practicing stability. That means we 65 commit to stay and work things through within our leadership community, as opposed to exiting the community when the going gets tough, or whenever there is a difference of opinion on an issue that we feel strongly about. The goal is to remain in the community, work through the challenges and allow ourselves to be shaped by the rhythm of it rather than abandoning it when the going gets tough (Barton 2012, 135-136). The fifth practice Barton discusses, is submitting to discernment. She believes leaders should not only make, but keep that commitment. She talked about how she was continually surprised, that even after leaders make a commitment to discern together, they often make major decisions without consulting the group of which they are a part. She believes part of the reason that happens, is that it is counter-cultural to what we are accustomed to doing in our Western culture (Barton 2012, 135-136). The sixth practice discussed by Barton is, practicing truth-telling. She describes truth-telling as “the spiritual practice associated with valuing truth, (and says) it is essential to life in community” (Barton 2012, 140). It is essential to trust in the relationships between leadership group members. Barton emphasizes that “it was so foundational that ‘not bearing false witness’ was one of the Ten Commandments given to the children of Israel to help them navigate the perils of their wilderness journey together” (Barton 2012, 140). The seventh practice Barton discussed was practicing confession. She highlighted the fact that we are instructed to, “Confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another, so that you may be healed (James 5:16).” For Barton, “confession is the culmination of our personal practice of self-examination. It leads to increasing self-awareness, which increases the 66 health and functionality of our life together in community” (Barton 2012, 143- 144). The eighth practice Barton discussed was, practicing conflict transformation. Barton says, Conflict transformation begins with at least two shared affirmations. First, we affirm Jesus’ promise to be with us in the midst of conflict and find ways to open to his presence in it... Second, we affirm that conflict can be the catalyst for needed growth and transformation for everyone involved if we are willing to engage it as such. (Barton 2012, 146) I connected in a very personal way to the insights I received from this focus. Several of the practices Barton discussed resonated with me, because they were consistent with pre-existing values that I hold dearly. As a result, my approach during the project sessions was very deliberate and passionate. I sought to emphasize, and illustrate the practices in practical ways by utilizing past experiences, and knowledge of situations where the practices applied or could have applied. That helped to generate healthy discussion, and questions among us as leaders during the sessions. This approach encouraged the leaders to share out of their own experiences and knowledge during the project sessions, as reflected in chapter 5, “Findings and Interpretations.” The foci included in Barton’s approach are consistent with the biblical framework for developing mutual spiritual intimacy in both the Old and New Testaments, discernment and spiritual intimacy, and living a life of discernment, already discussed in chapter two. The foci provide us with practical and refreshing ways of helping leadership groups, in developing mutual intimacy. Throughout her book, Barton’s approach facilitated times during the discernment practices for worship, reflection, and prayer. It also provided opportunities for the 67 leaders to ask questions, share their insights, experiences, and concerns. Barton’s approach was well-received among the leaders of WOTWM. Summary The focus of this chapter was on providing the biblical framework for developing mutual spiritual intimacy among the members of the leadership group of WOTWM. It included a review of the approach of other Christian authors, Barton’s approach to discernment, and the rationale for using Barton’s discernment approach. In addition, I discussed seven foci discussed by Barton, summarized her insights, and elaborated on how these informed my approach to the project. In Chapter 4, I provide a description of the methodology involved in the implementation of the project, including a discussion of participatory action research, because I used some of the principles, the selection and recruitment of leaders, and an overview of my research methodology, project implementation, data collection, and data analysis, as well as ethical considerations. 68 CHAPTER 4: PROJECT METHODOLOGY In this chapter, I discuss the following: participatory action research; the selection and recruitment of leaders; the methodology used during the project; how the project was implemented; the collection and analysis of the data; project sessions’ categories and themes; and ethical considerations. Participatory Action Research As indicated earlier, this research project was about the process of using Ruth Haley Barton’s book Pursuing God’s Will Together, as a tool to develop mutual spiritual intimacy among the Leaders of Walking on the Water Ministries. I used some of the principles of participatory action research in completing sessions with the leadership group through two series of sessions that spanned an eight-month period. Stringer says that, “The primary purpose of action research is to provide the means for people to engage in systematic inquiry and investigation to ‘design’ an appropriate way of accomplishing a desired goal and to evaluate its effectiveness” (Stringer 2007, 6). The fundamental framework for action research involves three steps. The first is observation - gathering the necessary data and describing the existing situation. The second step is reflection - investigate and analyze the situation, and interpreting and explaining the situation. The third step is doing something or taking an action - that involves a plan/report, 69 implementation and evaluation of what has been done (Stringer 2007, 8). This framework may not necessarily be progressive, but may require going back and forth between the different steps of the framework (Stringer 2007, 9). Using some of the principles of PAR, I approached the research based on my interest in addressing the felt need (problem) of the leadership of WOTWM as it related to their ability to discern the will of God. My purpose was to help the leaders to broaden the understanding of their situation and to help address that felt need (Stringer 2007, 10). I collected facts through the pre and post session surveys and the two series of research sessions I held with the leaders. My goal was to identify the relationship of one set of facts to another (Bell 2010, 5). My focus was on research from a qualitative perspective, as opposed to a quantitative perspective. There were four key discoveries that came out of the research project, which were highlighted in Chapter 1 under “Ministry Opportunities.” Details of those key discoveries are found in Chapter 6, “Summary and conclusions.” It is evident from the finding and the key discoveries, that the process of using Ruth Haley Barton’s book, Pursuing God’s Will Together, as a tool to develop mutual spiritual intimacy among the leaders of WOTWM made a difference in our lives as leaders. Stringer indicates that, “if an action research project does not make a difference, in a specific way, for practitioners and/or their clients, then it has failed to achieve its objective” (Stringer 2007, 12). Action research is different from social and behavioural research because the assumption is that general solutions may not necessarily suit specific situations. 70 I also used group discussion, and Barton’s Personal Reflection exercises and questions to affect the social and personal dynamics of the leadership group, so the leaders would become part of the solution. The goal was for both myself as the researcher, and the leadership group, to interact and journey together as participants in the research. I also used survey as a qualitative tool in this research project, with the intent that it would allowed the leaders to express their personal perception as it related to the issue of discernment before and after their engagement in the project sessions. However, comparative results of the pre and post-session surveys showed they were not helpful. I discuss potential reasons for that under the research challenges section below. To incorporate the reflective component of action research, I used a few different methods: discussion, which utilized Barton’s personal/group reflections questions, which she incorporated into each chapter of her book, along with my personal observations and reflection. The personal reflection helped me record changes among members of the leadership group, in terms of their understanding of discernment and their progress in embracing the Barton’s approach as we journeyed together in developing mutual spiritual intimacy. In this section I discussed participatory action research, including the three broad characteristics that define action research, how it differs from social and behavioural research, and the research tools I incorporated, and my use of a reflective component. I also discussed the rationale for why I chose to use some of the principles of PAR. In the following section, I give an overview of my research project, including a summary of my data sets, the agenda both session 71 series, and the research challenges I faced during the project. In addition, I discuss my project implementation, including an outline of both session series and project sessions, of my data sets, an overview of each session series, my data collection and data analysis methodology, a discussion of my categories and themes. I close the chapter with a description of my ethical considerations. Overview of Research Project The selection and recruitment process of the leaders for my project was straightforward, given the nature of the project. As indicated in my introduction in chapter 1, my focus was specifically on the nine members of the leadership group of WOTWM (Pastor’s Council). In one of our regular meetings, I advised the leadership group, that as part of the program requirement for my DMin degree at Tyndale I would have to complete a research project and thesis. This exercise was intended to be a journey of helping the leadership group become a community for spiritual discernment. I eventually followed up on my disclosed intentions to the leadership group members by sending them individual emails inviting them to participate in the project. Once I was ready to begin the project sessions, I followed up that email with another email, to remind leaders about the timing around the start of the sessions, and gave them options in terms of the scheduling of times for us to meet. Eight of the nine leaders agreed to participate in the project, with the understanding that the sessions would last for approximately six weeks. There were four female and four male leaders. 72 There were a total of seventeen sessions held over a period of eight months, with a four-month break in between. The reason for the significant break between both series of sessions, was because the data I initially collected for analysis in the first series of sessions, was insufficient in volume and scope to allow for proper analysis or sound conclusions to be drawn and presented. I prepared for the sessions by reviewing the related material from Barton ahead of time and preparing and distributing handouts to the leaders, either ahead of time or at the start of the sessions. I then systematically went through the various elements of Barton’s approach for preparing leaders to become a community for discernment. The leaders were expected to review the material in the handouts they were given, prior to each session and/or to reflect on the presentation, discussion, personal reflection, and questions ahead of the upcoming session. I have included a summary of my data sets for ease of reference in Table 1 below. Table 1. Summary of Data Sets [ Please contact repository@tyndale.ca for Table 1 details. ] 73 Each session averaged between one and one and a half hours in duration. I facilitated the sessions, using and discussing material from the first seven chapters of Part One of Barton’s book Pursuing God’s Will Together. Barton’s focus in Part One of her book, was on leaders “Becoming A Community for Discernment.” The first series of sessions were in-person sessions, held in the basement of my home between June 2017 and August of 2017. The church does not have access to our Sunday/Tuesday rental facility, so leadership meetings are often held in my home. The format of the sessions followed the outline in Table 2 below. Table 2. Agenda - Session Series 1 [ Please contact repository@tyndale.ca for Table 2 details. ] The second series of sessions were held between January and July of 2018 via Zoom Video Conferencing, which was the method preferred by the leaders, because it was more convenient, and facilitated more regular sessions. Each session averaged one and a half hours. The format of the sessions followed the outline in Table 3 below. 74 Table 3. Agenda - Session Series 2 [ Please contact repository@tyndale.ca for Table 3 details. ] In this section, I did an overview of the research methodology. The methodology included the use of two series of sessions. The first series of sessions were in-person sessions held in the basement of my home between June and August of 2017. The second series of sessions were held between January and July of 2018 via Zoom Video Conferencing. In the following section, I outline and discuss the research challenges I faced. Research Challenges I deliberately chose to use email as my means of following-up with the leaders, during my recruitment of them as participants. My goal was to minimize any undue pressure the leaders may have felt to participate. However, I realize that based on the cultural context of my ministry (as described in chapter 1), and my position as lead pastor, it would have been very difficult for any of the leaders not to agree to participate in the project. After the first series of session were completed, it became very challenging to bring the leaders together for the project sessions on a consistent basis due to availability, personal constraints and at times inclement weather. I also had the challenge of functioning as the researcher, 75 facilitator, and note taker during the project sessions. In order to accurately capture all the details of the various sessions, without the benefit of having a stenographer, I audio recorded the first series of sessions. Due to the challenge of bringing the leaders together for the second series of sessions, I used video conferencing/audio recordings to facilitate the sessions, and to capture session details. The data capture methods I used, ensured I had an accurate record of each session, without having to rely on memory. According to Curt Lewin, empirical action research is a matter of keeping records and accumulating experiences, ideally with a succession of similar groups (Adelman 1993, 14). There was also a challenge with my use of surveys. The goal of using the pre and post session surveys was to identify how leaders viewed their knowledge and practices of discernment prior to and at the end of the project sessions. However, comparative results of the pre and post-session surveys showed there was very little change in the self-perception of many of the leaders. That may have been the case because the leaders found it challenging to self-evaluate using the criteria that I provided and to assess the level of progress they had made during the project, or because of the way the survey questions were written, they found it difficult to communicate the difference they experienced. In addition, the objective of this project turned out to be very different to what I originally intended, as discussed earlier in my introduction. In hindsight, better written questions and better focused questions, may have helped to yielded better results. 76 Project Implementation I followed the structure of Barton’s book, which is divided into two parts: Part One (chapters 1-8), dealt with the process of becoming a community for discernment. That involved preparing us as individual leaders, and Part Two (chapters 9-12), outlined three principles for practicing discernment together. The focus of our sessions, and my project, as indicated earlier in chapter one, was on Part One of Barton’s book. I provide a table below for ease of reference to outline the two series of sessions, along with the specific chapter of Barton’s book that was used as a focus for each session. Table 4. Outline - Session Series / Project Sessions [ Please contact repository@tyndale.ca for Table 4 details. ] 77 Project Period June 2017 - August 2017 Session Series 1: Sessions 1-6 Session Series 1: Sessions 1-6 followed Barton’s focus of preparing us as individual leaders for discernment. The session series started with a presentation of Barton’s introductory material, and discussion around her overall approach and obstacles that her approach presented. All six sessions focused on chapter one of Barton’s book, “Learning to See,” and proceeded to look at the necessity of us as leaders learning to view situations from a spiritual discernment perspective, and not merely based on what is seen with our physical eyes. Project Period January 2018 - June 2018 Session Series 2: Sessions 1-11 The problem of getting busy people together is a real problem in our culture, so it ended up being a part of my research experience with the leadership group. I gave the leaders the option of committing to half-day sessions on Saturdays, but that was not their preference. They preferred to do bi-weekly sessions on a weekday, so that is the approach I took. All eleven sessions were held using Zoom video conferencing. The leaders expressed appreciation that we were able to use a video conferencing option, because it allowed us to continue with the project sessions in consideration of their individual schedules, as well as the inclement weather over the winter months. The video conferencing allowed us to meet more frequently than we otherwise would have been able to. 78 Data Collection The data collection was done using five different methods, which include survey, audio recordings, video conferencing, Barton’s Personal Reflection exercises and questions, and my personal reflection. Having already identified the research concern as being the desire to take the leadership group of WOTWM on a journey to help them become a community for spiritual discernment, I needed to collect data to address the concern. The first method used in this project was a survey. I conducted a survey with the leaders at the start of the session. The goal of the survey was to gather information from the leaders to identify their level of understanding and perceived value of discernment both prior to the start of, and at the end of the project sessions (refer to Appendix C). I compared the survey results against the feedback I received from the leaders during the project sessions. The second data collection method I used, was audio recordings for all of my data collection during session series one. The third method I used, was video conferencing for all of the sessions in session series two. I processed the audio and video recordings by going through them one at a time and transcribing what was shared and discussed in each session. The fourth method of collecting data used in this project, was Barton’s Personal Reflection exercises and questions. This generated a lot of discussion, and was very helpful in getting personal and group feedback about the value of the sessions and the impact they were having on the leaders. I took note of the specific responses of each leader, to help with my evaluation of the data and the 79 reporting of my findings and conclusions. The fifth method of data collection, was my personal observations. I made note of how I thought the sessions went, based on interaction with the leaders during the sessions. I understood the potential for bias and subjectivity, but felt it would be of value to document my personal observations as the researcher. This exercise helped me not only to reflect on the session, but to adjust how I facilitated subsequent sessions. To ensure confidentiality, I assigned a code from L1 to L8 to each leader, so that specific questions and comments made by them during the sessions would be unidentifiable in the thesis. I also refer to leaders in some parts of the thesis in a generic sense, in order to maintain their anonymity. Data Analysis In this section, I outline the data I collected throughout the duration of the project from the survey, voice recording, video conferencing, Barton’s group reflections and questions, and my personal observations. There was a substantive amount of raw data, so by coding the data it helped me to effectively manage, and categorize the data from a qualitative research perspective. I used action research approaches of observation and reflection, to help me think more objectively about the interactions with the leaders during the series of project sessions. The process I used involved three steps. The first step, was to code the data using patterns that emerged within the data itself. This step is defined by Auerbach and Silverstein (2009,) as “making the text manageable” (Auerbach and Silverstein 2009, 43). This was a very time consuming but necessary step, 80 because it facilitated the sorting of the data, to help identify the various themes. Data identified as being related to specific themes (thoughts or ideas that repeated themselves) in the written notes, audio recordings and video conference recordings, was considered as relevant. That data was then utilized for the second step. In the second step, I identified repeated themes. This was when data from different leaders began to connect. Repeated ideas naturally surfaced from the research, as data was analyzed, and the use of the same or similar words and phrases appeared from the sessions with the leaders (Birks, Chapman, and Francis 2008, 68). The third and final step, was to place the themes into a category to help in interpreting and drawing conclusions from the data. Auerbach and Silverstein (2003) indicate that this is beneficial from a reasonability perspective. They say, “your interpretation of the data will be only one of several ‘right ways’ in which the data can be interpreted” (Auerbach and Silverstein 2003, 32). One’s interpretation must be supported by the data because “If your interpretation is supported by the data, then it is valid, even if there are other ways to interpret the same data.” (Auerbach and Silverstein 2003, 32). In this section, I discussed the five methods of data collection used during the project: The first method was survey. The second method was audio recordings. The third method was video conferencing, the fourth method was Barton’s Personal Reflection exercises and questions, and the fifth method was my personal reflections. I also discussed the three steps I used in analyzing the data. Those steps included: coding of the data using patterns that emerged within the data itself, labelling of repeated themes to help with conceptualization; the 81 grouping of concepts into themes; and placing the core themes into specific categories. In the following section, I discuss project session categories and themes in more detail. Categories and Themes In this section, I discuss how the categories were created as well as how themes were placed into a particular category. Four categories were derived from the questions and feedback in the pre and post-session surveys. The categories were determined by grouping the survey questions, based on their primary area of focus. The categories were used as a framework to categorize the themes coming out of the data from the group sessions. The four categories are as follows: 1. Embracing spiritual community (Survey questions 5 and 7); 2. Opening to God in leadership community (Survey question 6); 3. Embracing discernment as a way of life (Survey questions 3 and 4); and 4. Hindrances to accomplishing God’s will (Survey questions 1, 2 and 8). The process also involved doing a detailed review of all the discussions which took place during both series of sessions. During the review themes were determined based on the frequency of occurrence of words or phrases from the different leaders. The words and phrases that were repeated by more than one leader were tracked across the six sessions and grouped into the various themes. The themes were placed into a spreadsheet, and the spreadsheet was sorted to identify recurring themes. Similar themes were placed into one of the four categories. See Appendix N, Appendix O, and Appendix P. The five themes that occurred the most and were identified in the contribution by multiple 82 leaders were considered to be dominant themes, and were prioritized in order of frequency of occurrence, as identified by them appearing in the comments of several leaders. The five dominant themes are as follows: a sense of community, spiritual sensitivity, personal spiritual growth, self-disclosure / openness, and spiritual change. The five themes that appeared the least, were considered to be the lesser themes. The five lesser themes are as follows: love; understanding / obeying the Bible; faith; confidentiality; and making decisions. I discuss each the dominant and lesser theme in Chapter 5, “Findings and Interpretations.” Ethical Considerations I adhered to The Ministerial Code of Ethics for Credential Holders of the Pentecostal Assemblies of Canada. Approval was obtained on February 20, 2020 from Joel Spiridigliozzi, Regional Director PAOC Western Ontario District - South-East Region (see Appendix E). I also adhered to the Tri-Council Policy Statement (TCPS2) (Canadian Institutes of Health Research et al. 2014) with core principles of Respect for Persons, Concern for Welfare, and Justice. The fact that I am the church planting and lead pastor at WOTWM, I had to make a concerted effort to ensure I remained in compliance with ethical standards. It was critical that I did not use my authority to coerce or manipulate the leaders in any way in my research. I had a close relationship with all the leaders who participated in the study, because the church is relatively small, and the leaders have all been members of WOTWM for several years. However, given the cultural background on WOTWM, and my position as lead pastor, it would have been unavoidable for 83 the leaders not to feel a certain level of deference during. The risks involved in this project were minimal, because the leaders were not asked to engage in any activities that have any more risk than their usual engagement with the church. The following minimal risks were outlined in my ethics review: • I am the lead pastor of WOTWM, so there are institutional/formal power relationships present between researcher and subject (i.e., pastor/church member). • The subjects were not asked to do anything outside of what would ordinarily be done as part of their membership in the leadership group. • The research used audio recording during the interview process for efficiency and accuracy. I took steps to ensure compliance, by making sure all of the leaders understood they were not obligated to participate in the study if they were not comfortable doing so. All leaders were advised they were free to withdraw their participation from the study, without any negative consequences. Each leader was given a letter of information and a consent form that clearly outlined the purpose of the study, as well as their rights (Appendix B). Included in their rights, was a specific clause that stated, if they had any questions or concerns about this research or their participation, they could contact either the PAOC Regional Director or the Director of the DMin Program. In addition, they could direct any ethical concerns about the research to the Tyndale University Research Ethics Board. I also protected the leaders’ human rights and dignity by ensuring that all 84 research was kept confidential between them and myself. I ensured that all data received was always securely protected. Surveys, session notes, personal/group reflections, and my personal observations were kept confidential. The leaders were advised that their personal information and privacy would be protected during and after the study, and their real names and identities would not be included anywhere in the write-up of the study, or in any other material related to the study. An ethical review was completed and submitted for approval on October 25, 2016, and was approved for this research project by the Tyndale University Research Ethics Board on November 12, 2016. It was determined that the project complied with the Tri-Council Policy Statement: Ethical Conduct for Research Involving Humans (Canadian Institutes of Health Research et al. 2014). Signed informed consent was received from all of the leaders, and identifiable data was kept secure in a password protected format and/or a locked cabinet. The application outlined the reason for this research project and clearly outlined any potential ethical considerations of which I was aware. Out of the nine Pastor’s Council members that gave leadership at WOTWM, there were seven leaders at the first set of sessions (June-August 2017). One member was absent for the first session but started attending from the second session. That member reviewed the invitation and letter of consent prior to the start of the session. One member did not respond to the invitation to participate in the project. The letter of invitation and consent were reviewed with all of the leaders, and they were given the opportunity to ask questions or express 85 concerns they may have had. If they had not already done so, the leaders were asked to sign the consent form to confirm their willingness to participate in the research. The leaders were also advised they were free to withdraw their consent at any point during the project, without fear of negative consequences. In my discussion of Ethical Considerations, I confirmed that I adhered to The Ministerial Code of Ethics for Credential Holders of the Pentecostal Assemblies of Canada, as well as the Tri-Council Policy Statement (TCPS2). I listed the identified minimal risks, as outlined in my ethics review. I confirmed that I ensured compliance, by making sure all of the leaders understood they were not obligated to participate in the study, if they were not comfortable doing so. I described how I protected the leaders’ human rights and dignity, by ensuring all research was kept confidential between the leaders and myself, and I ensured all data received was always securely protected. Each leader was given a letter of invitation and consent (and were free to withdraw consent), and was given the opportunity to ask questions or advise of concerns. Summary In this chapter, I discussed participatory action research, because I used some of the principles of participatory action research during this project. I gave an overview of my research project, including a summary of my data sets, the agenda for both session series, and the research challenges I faced during the project. I also discussed my project implementation, including an outline of both session series and project sessions, a summary of my data sets, and an overview 86 of each session series. In addition, I explained the data collection methods that were used and discussed my data analysis. I also discussed categories and themes. I concluded the chapter with a discussion of ethical considerations. In Chapter 5, I will discuss the findings and interpretation of the data that informed my outcomes. 87 CHAPTER 5: FINDINGS AND INTERPRETATION In this chapter, I present an overview of my observations. I go on to discuss the following: pre and post-session surveys; becoming a discerning spiritual community, divided into the preparation of the individual leaders for discernment and the preparation of the group for discernment. I also outline and discuss the dominant and lesser project session themes and end the chapter with an assessment of Barton’s approach. To insure the anonymity and privacy of leaders, I used pseudonyms for the leaders: L1 through L8. Throughout the chapter, I refer to the leaders as L1-L8. I present the findings using several tables and discuss outcomes of the pre and post-session surveys, group sessions, Barton’s personal (group) reflections and questions, and my personal observations. Overview of Observations There were seventeen sessions held over an eight-month period. When the sessions started, I observed that some of the leaders seemed pensive. That was possible due to it being the first time some of them were involved in a structured project within the church environment, and were unsure about what to expect. Some leaders expressed concern about confidentiality, which I addressed to the 88 satisfaction of the leaders by reference to the information letter and consent form they received and signed. In this chapter, I will discuss the findings of the pre and post session surveys that were used, provide details of the two sets of session series as they related to preparation of the individual leader and preparation of the leadership group for discernment. I go on to discuss the dominant and lesser themes that came out of the project sessions, and close with an assessment of Barton’s approach, including the most helpful and least helpful elements. Pre and Post-Session Surveys The pre and post-session surveys contained the same questions. The purpose of these surveys was to help identify where leaders stood in terms of their knowledge and practices of discernment prior to the start of the group sessions. It was also to help determine what/if any changes had taken place after the sessions had ended. The leaders completed the pre-session survey prior to the start of Session Series 1, and the post-session survey five months after the end of Session Series 2. All eight leaders completed the pre-session survey, and the post-session survey was completed by seven leaders. One leader had requested to step down from the leadership group prior to the start of Session Series 2. A copy of the Pre- Post Session survey has been included in Appendix C. Survey Questions - Ten-Point Scale There were four questions on the survey that required a response on a scale of 1-10. The scale is interpreted as 1 = Strongly believe and => 6 = Do not strongly believe. The comparative response of the leaders to each question is 89 reflected in Appendix K. The four questions are listed below along with how they relate to the written questions on the survey and the associated category. 1. On a scale of 1-10, do you believe that there are obstacles that prevent a person from seeing God at work? This relates to Question 8 / Category 4 - Hindrances to accomplishing God’s will 2. On a scale of 1-10, do you believe that there are obstacles that prevent a person from joining God in the work God is doing? This relates to Question 8 / Category 4 - Hindrances to accomplishing God’s will 3. On a scale of 1-10, how would you describe your practice for fully and freely engaging Scripture for spiritual transformation? This relates to Question 4 / Category 3 - Embracing discernment as a way of life) 5. On a scale of 1-10, how important do you believe it is for you to move beyond teamwork to spiritual community as part of the WOTWM leadership group? This relates to Question 7 / Category 1 - Embracing spiritual community In response to Question 1, the pre-session data shows that all eight leaders strongly believed there were obstacles that prevented a person from seeing God at work. The post-session data shows that the belief of four leaders remained the same. The belief in obstacles remained the same for three leaders (L8, L4 and L1). There was a marginal decreased in belief that there were obstacles for 90 Leaders L3, L6 and L7. See the Comparison of the Pre and Post Session Survey in Appendix K. In response to Question 2, the Pre-Session data shows that most leaders strongly or very strongly believed there were obstacles that prevented a person from joining God in the work God is doing. The only exception was L6, who indicated they did not have a very strong belief that there were such obstacles. The post-session data shows that four leaders maintained their strong to very strong belief. The belief in obstacles increased for three leaders (L5, L6, L7), with L6 seeing a significant increase from 9 to 4. The belief in such obstacles decreased marginally for L3 from 3 to 4. See the Comparison of the Pre and Post Session Survey in Appendix K. In response to Question 3, the Pre and Post-Session data shows that the practices of three leaders remained the same (L1, L6, L7), while the practices of two leaders improved (L3, L5). There was a decrease in the practices of L4 and L8. See the Comparison of the Pre and Post Session Survey in Appendix K. In response to Question 5, the pre-session data shows that more than half of the leaders (L1, L2, L4, L7, L8) believed it was very important for them to move beyond teamwork to spiritual community as part of the WOTWM leadership. The other three leaders (L3, L5, L6) ranged between a strong and a very strong belief in the importance of spiritual community. The post-session data shows that four of the original five leaders maintained their strong to very strong belief (L1, L4, L7, L8, while L2 was no longer a part of the leadership). The 91 belief of two leaders (L3, L5) remained the same, and L6 decreased from 2 to 5. See the Comparison of the Pre and Post Session Survey in Appendix K. Survey Questions - Written The remaining four questions on the survey, questions 4, 6, 7, and 8 were also used as input for code words, which were grouped into twelve themes and four categories (pre-session survey), and thirteen themes and four categories (post-session survey). The four survey questions along with an explanation of how the categories were defined are listed below. See Appendix H and Appendix I for copies of the pre and post session surveys. 4. List the things you believe would help you to wholeheartedly embrace discernment as a way of life. 6. As a leader within the WOTWM family, what values and principles do you believe are necessary for you to engage fully and freely? 7. What practices resonate with your own heart’s desire for opening to God in the midst of your leadership with this group? 8. What do I need to let go of or ask God to remove from my life so that his will can be accomplished? Four categories were created based on the four written questions above. The four categories are: Category 1 - Embracing Discernment as a way of life. This category was derived from Question 4; Category 2 - Opening to God in Leadership Community. This category was derived from Question 6; Category 3, Embracing Spiritual Community. This category was derived from Question 7; 92 Category 4 - Hinderances to accomplishing God's Will. This category was derived from Question 8. In addition, twelve themes were identified through the Pre and Post session surveys. See Chapter 4 - Project Methodology for detailed information around the creation of categories and identification of themes. A comparison of the Pre and Post-Session surveys themes are reflected in Appendix K. The themes encompassed all four categories that cover Embracing discernment as a way of life; Opening to God in leadership community Embracing spiritual community; and Hindrances to accomplishing God’s will. Any item that was identified by the leaders more than once was listed as a theme. The comparison of the pre-survey and post-survey themes show that almost all the themes appeared in both surveys. The only exception was the theme of Faithfulness (Category - Embracing Spiritual Community). In terms of details, five out of the eight leaders in both the pre and post-surveys believed that receiving teaching and practicing what was taught (Category - Embracing Discernment as a Way of Life) was crucial in helping them to wholeheartedly embrace discernment as a way of life. Five out of eight leaders in both surveys listed insecurities as one of the things they needed to ask God to remove from their lives so that His will can be accomplished. Three out of eight leaders in the pre-survey, and three out of seven in the post-survey, indicated that spiritual sensitivity, direction (Category - Embracing Discernment as a Way of Life), confidentiality (Category - Embracing Spiritual Community), and time 93 management (Category - Hindrances to Accomplishing God’s Will) were factors that impacted their ability to embrace discernment as a way of life. Personal Observations It was good to see the leaders willingly completing the survey, although surveys were not a regular part of how we collected information within our church community at WOTWM. The church community has a strong family focus, and so our primary means of feedback in the past has been discussion and requests for verbal feedback from members and attendees. If I had structured the questions better, I would have been able to collect more helpful data as it relates to discernment. In addition, the project turned out to be about the process of using Barton’s book to develop mutual intimacy among the leaders of WOTWM. I believe that had my focus had been on mutual spiritual intimacy from the beginning of the project, the pre and post survey questions I asked would have been very different, and would have provided more useful information specific to mutual spiritual intimacy. Summary The findings indicate that the pre-session survey was helpful in identifying how leaders viewed themselves in terms of their knowledge and practices of discernment prior to the start of the group sessions. The results of the post-session surveys helped to highlight what/if any changes had taken place after the leaders completed the sessions. Comparative results of the pre and post-session surveys showed there was very little change in the self-perception of many of the leaders. 94 That may have been the case because the questions asked on the survey could have been better constructed to capture better data, and as not to appear as leading questions. In addition, the leaders may have found it challenging to self-evaluate the level of progress they had made during the project, or they may have found it difficult based on the questions asked, to communicate the difference they experienced during the course of the project. In hindsight, it may have been helpful to conduct one-on-one interviews with the leaders before and after the project sessions, because it would have given the leaders to ask questions to clarify what the intent of the questions were. It would also have given me the ability to ask explain anything that was unclear. Categories were created from the questions and feedback in the pre and post-session surveys, and those categories were also used as a framework to categorize the themes coming out of the data from the group sessions. Project Sessions - Becoming a Community for Discernment The two series of sessions followed the structure of chapters one through seven of Barton’s book. The leadership group started the process in Session Series 1 - Sessions 1-6, by contemplating Barton’s belief, that to shape a leadership group into a community for spiritual discernment, we needed to come to a place of unity as a group. Barton says, First, a leadership group needs to have a shared understanding of what discernment is, a shared conviction that discernment is the heart of spiritual leadership, and a shared affirmation that discerning and doing the will of god is how they intend to lead. (Barton 2012, 14) 95 The focus of Barton’s chapters one through seven is on becoming a community for discernment. Session Series 1:1-6 and Session Series 2:1-5 were guided by chapters one through three and focused on the spiritual preparation of each individual leader (Barton 2012, 17-73). Session Series 2:6-11 was guided by chapters four through seven and focused on the preparation of the leadership group as a community for discernment (Barton 2012, 74-151). The project sessions did not include chapter eight of Barton’s approach, which dealt with “A Covenant That Protects Community” (Barton 2012, 152-165). The covenant proposed by Barton is helpful, but the concept of a leadership covenant was something the leadership group had already discussed and finalized in our regular leadership group meetings prior to the start of the project. Our intention is to look at Barton’s foci around the covenant she provides, during a future review of our leadership covenant. Also, chapters 9-12 of Barton’s book which deals with “Practicing Discernment Together” were not used as part of this project. The focus of my project was on the principles outlined by Barton for leadership groups becoming a community for discernment, as opposed to the practice of those principles by the leaders. As indicated in my introduction, I originally set out to use the discernment practices outlined by Barton, to take the leadership group of WOTWM on a journey to help them become a community for spiritual discernment. The result of our journey was that the project became about the process of using Barton’s book as a tool to develop mutual spiritual intimacy among the leaders. I will discuss the use of Barton’s principles for the preparation 96 of individual leaders for discernment and preparation of the leadership group for discernment in the following two sections of the thesis. Preparation of Individual Leaders for Discernment Session Series 1 - Sessions 1-6 The focus of these sessions was on the spiritual preparation of each individual leader for discernment. Not every leader was present in every session, but we did not have fewer than four leaders in any particular session. The sessions started with Barton’s introductory material and discussion about her overall approach, and obstacles to that approach. We then moved into chapter one of Barton’s book, “Learning to See.” In chapter one, Barton discussed the different perspectives and motives of the various persons involved in the story of Jesus performing a healing on the Sabbath of a man born blind. Barton believes that even though the various groups in the story (the disciples, the neighbours, the Pharisees, and the parents) saw the blind man healed, they were unable to see and respond to what God was doing in their midst. The point of the story is that those who think they see are blind, but those who admit their blindness see. Our discussion focused on looking at the different perspectives, and motives of the various persons involved in the story, and where the leaders saw themselves relative to those perspectives and motives in their own lives. Table 5 is an attendance log showing which specific leaders were at each of the sessions. 97 Table 5. Attendance Log for Session Series 1 - Sessions 1-6 [ Please contact repository@tyndale.ca for Table 5 details. ] Session Details The following is a detailed description of the interaction that took place in our discussion as leaders during the course of Session Series 1. See the Project Session Schedule in Appendix D. Session One: There were seven leaders in the session. One new leader was introduced to the project, using the Information Letter as the focal point. The nature and requirements of the DMin program at Tyndale University were discussed, and th leader were given the opportunity to ask relevant questions or raise any concerns they might have had. In addition, each leader was provided with a copy of the pre project survey to complete, and return to me prior to the start of session two. Some of the leaders were coming to the session directly from work, so light refreshment was provided. My observation was that the informal atmosphere, along with the refreshments, seemed to help the leaders to feel more relaxed. 98 Session Two: There were six leaders in the session. This was the first session for one of the leaders, so I took some time to redo the introduction of the project. I also provided the leader with a copy of the pre-project survey, which he completed and gave back to me prior to the start of the session. Handouts were provided to all of the leaders, which consisted of material taken from the introduction of Barton’s book, Pursuing God’s Will Together. The material was on “The Heart of Spiritual Leadership.” The material included definitions of discernment, spiritual discernment, corporate leadership discernment, and an overview of the preparation and process for discernment in churches and Christian organizations. The focus of our discussion was on Barton’s assertion that the heart of spiritual leadership (decision-making) was limited because leaders make decisions, but discernment is given by God. Decision-making depends on the leader and their abilities, intellect, ability, will, and training, but discernment depends on God and the Spirit of God. Leaders tend to be more comfortable making decisions rather than learning and taking time to discern, because that is what leaders are used to doing. Discernment is primarily trying to find and understand the will of God for us as leaders, and for those to whom we give leadership at WOTWM. Session Three: There were seven leaders present at the session. Each leader was given a copy of the material to be discussed. The focus was on chapter 1 of Barton’s book - “Learning to See” and focused on the subtopic of “The Trouble with Seeing.” We discussed the opening quote from Richard Rohr that says, “Most people do 99 not see things as they are; rather, they see things as they are” (Barton 2012, 19). We looked at the fact that one of the miracles Jesus most commonly performed while he was on this earth was the healing of blind people. We surmised that the reason this specific type of miracle was so common might be because it is a metaphor for the spiritual journey itself - the movement from spiritual blindness to spiritual sight (Barton 2012, 20). We also talked about Ignatius of Loyola’s (founder of the Jesuits) view of discernment: that we must desire to discern that God is working in every area of our lives. In doing so, we will be able to serve him in every situation. In terms of discernment, we talked about it being an ever-increasing ability to “see” or discern the works of God amid the human situation, so that we can align ourselves with whatever it is God is doing. Every Christian is called to this kind of discernment (Rom 12:2). Discernment together as leaders takes us beyond the personal to an increasing ability to “see” what God is up to in the place we are called to lead. It calls us to be courageous in seeking the will of God and then making decisions that are responsive to that will as it unfolds in front of us (Barton 2012, 20). We looked at several Scripture passages dealing with discernment: Acts 6:1-7, a situation in which the apostles needed to discern God’s heart and mind about the complaints of a minority; Acts 15:19-20, a major decision involving doctrine and practice that needed to be discerned; Acts 21:10-14, a situation in Paul was contemplating a personal decision that would affect the leadership group he was a part of; John 9, the account of a group of the religious elite who were 100 unable to recognize the work of God in their midst and thus missed the opportunity to be a part of what God was doing (Barton 2012, 20-21). Session Four: There were five leaders present at the session. We continued our discussion from chapter 1 of Barton’s book dealing with “Learning to See” and discussed the subtopic of “Asking the Wrong Question.” We took time to read chapter 9 of the gospel of John in its entirety because we saw this as indispensable to our understanding and practice of discernment. I highlighted the fact there were four categories of persons identified in the gospel narrative. They asked questions and responded to the healing of the blind man in different ways (the disciples, the neighbours, the Pharisees, and the blind man’s parents). We emphasized that the issue was not with asking questions, but the issue was that they were asking the wrong questions. We discussed the categories of the disciples and the neighbours, and how it related to our daily lives as individuals and leaders. We highlighted the fact that the disciples spent a lot of time with Jesus and were the closest to him, but because of their spiritual blindness, they still ended up asking the wrong question about whether it was the blind man who had sinned or his parents. We also discussed the topic of being Stuck in Old Paradigms, as it relates to the blind man’s neighbours. We discussed how they were afflicted with what are called cognitive filters and that we, as individuals and leaders, can also have such filters. Those filters affect the way we view the world, and our presuppositions and 101 conceptions of how things are, which prevents new data from coming into our consciousness. Session Five: There were five leaders at the session. We discussed the topic of Preserving the System at All Cost, as it related to the response of the Pharisees to the healing of the blind man. We also discussed the blind man’s parents and how the responses relate to our daily lives as leaders learning to discern what God is doing. We talked about the Pharisees as part of the religious establishment, being primarily concerned with maintaining the status quo. This ultimately prevented them from discerning what God was doing in their midst, in the form of the blind man’s healing. They were more concerned with finding a way to explain away what had happened and to delegitimize it because of their desire to maintain their religious position of influence. Session Six: There were six leaders present at the sixth session. The session started, as usual, with prayer. We discussed John 9 and the reality that the blind man was on a personal journey on two levels. He was on a journey from physical blindness to physical sight, and from spiritual blindness to spiritual sight/insight into who Jesus was. Over time, the man came to discern that God was at work in his situation because he had experienced a miraculous healing. Whereas the Pharisees in the narrative were moving in the opposite direction, from spiritual sight to spiritual blindness, because of their inability to see what God was doing. 102 We also had a discussion around about the fact that the blind man was moving in one direction (from spiritual blindness to spiritual sight), while the Pharisees (other groups) were moving in the opposite direction, relate to us today in our position as spiritual leaders in our leadership discernment efforts at WOTWM. We highlighted that, in making decisions as leaders, we might not be able to go along with the crowd or in the direction everyone else is going. We then took the time to summarize our time spent together over the previous weeks. In our discussion, we emphasized that the response of the man who was healed was instructive to us as leaders desiring to discern the will of God. He was not afraid to go against the challenges he faced with the disciples, neighbours, Pharisees, and even his own parents. He understood what God was saying to him personally and was willing to do it. We agreed that discernment is learning to listen and obey as a way of life. L7 shared about a personal experience of having to use what was learned in the group sessions. L7 used the principle of asking what God wanted them to see in the situation. Based on the final decision and outcome, L7 indicated that they were sure God had given direction. L1 took the time to share a personal experience of how refreshing it was to use discernment as it related to deciding whether to proceed with a career change. L1 used some of the principles discussed in our group sessions and saw a positive outcome. It was evident from the passion with which L1 shared that our time spent together in the sessions was beneficial to their growth in discerning and doing what they believed to be God’s will. 103 Figure 8 shows ten themes that were identified based on our discussion as leaders during the sessions. Themes Figure 3. Themes - Session Series 1 - Sessions 1-6 [ Please contact repository@tyndale.ca for Figure 3 details. ] Themes were determined based on the frequency of occurrence of words or phrases. The words and phrases that were repeated by more than one leader were tracked across the six sessions and grouped into the various themes. In retrospect I could have also considered including the frequency of emotions expressed by the leaders during the sessions in identifying themes coming out of the sessions. That may have helped in my identification and categorization of dominant and lesser themes based on the kind of emotion attached to themes as expressed by various leaders. The identified themes were grouped into the following four categories: Embracing Spiritual Community; Opening to God in Leadership Community; Embracing Discernment as a Way of Life; and 104 Hindrances to Accomplishing God’s Will. The relationship between themes and categories is shown in Appendix J. The ten themes coming out of this session series showed that the leaders focused on and were concerned mostly about the need for spiritual sensitivity, followed closely by a strong sense of community. They also focused on the themes of commitment and self-disclosure/openness in our discussions. That was followed closely by the issues of vulnerability/trust, the necessity of faith, and the importance of understanding and obeying biblical teaching. There were some concerns expressed around the themes of spiritual insensitivity and confidentiality. It was good to see that there was not a big focus on simply making decisions as leaders. Session Series 2 - Sessions 1-5 In these sessions, we continued dealing with the spiritual preparation of each individual leader for discernment. We focused on chapters two and three of Barton’s book - “Beginning with Spiritual Transformation” and “Leaders Who Are Discerning.” In terms of spiritual transformation, Barton says that, “corporate discernment begins with attending to the spiritual formation of each individual leader” (Barton 2012, 37), and that “discernment requires that first of all, they are able to discern matters of their own heart” (Barton 2012, 45). When it comes to leaders who are discerning, Barton says a common leadership mistake is, We commonly assume that we can assemble a group of undiscerning individuals and expect them to be discerning leaders... Such individuals do have valuable gifts to bring to the leadership setting... The problem, however, is when individuals bring only the training, experience and 105 influences of a secular mindset without preparation in the areas of spiritual discernment. (Barton 2012, 51-52) There were seven leaders participating in these sessions, because one leader decided to step down from their leadership position for personal reasons prior to the start of the sessions. Not every leader was present in every session, but we did not have fewer than four leaders in any one session. This is necessary to note because of the effect their absence and the missing data could have on the conclusions I draw from the data collected in the project. See the Project Session Attendance Log in Appendix G. Schedule in Appendix D. We discussed the necessity for us as leaders to be spiritually transformed on a personal level through the practice of spiritual disciplines. This was necessary to help prepare leaders for the broader task, as a leadership group, of becoming a community for spiritual discernment. Table 6 is an attendance log showing which specific leaders were at each of the sessions. Table 6. Attendance Log Session Series 2 - Sessions 1-5 [Please contact repository@tyndale.ca for Table 6 details. ] 106 Session Details The following is a detailed description of the interaction that took place in our discussion as leaders during the course of Session Series 2. See the Project Session Schedule in Appendix D. Session One: In session series one, there were six leaders present at the first session. At the start of the session, L8 asked the question, “How do we know we are accomplishing our goal?” This led us to give each leader the opportunity to reflect on and talk about what they had learned through the first set of sessions in 2017 that dealt with the concept of “Learning to See.” The responses of the leaders were all positive and reflected growth in their understanding and approach to becoming a community for spiritual discernment. This was borne out by the comments of various leaders during the session. L7 indicated they came to understand that whatever we are faced with, or whenever we are faced with situations, rather than jumping to conclusions or making assessments based on what we believe to be happening or dodging the situation, it is always better for us to step back and ask God to show us what He wants us to take away from the situation or to learn from what is going on. This is a better approach to get to a successful result. L8 indicated that the concept we discussed about “who, what, where, when” made a significant impact on their life. It highlights the importance of taking time to see what God is doing in them personally or within another individual. 107 L6 said they now recognized the importance of taking the time to recognize what is happening as opposed to jumping to conclusions right away. L4 felt it was crucial to learn to ask the right questions, wait to hear what God is saying, and not jump to conclusions about what God might be saying. L1 felt it was essential to be able to see things through God’s eyes and to be able to interpret things the way He wants us to interpret them; and that it is important to make decisions the way God wants us to so that, as we learn to do that together, it puts us all on the same path. L5 said it was somewhat eye-opening because it caused them to see the importance of learning to listen and allowing God to lead. It gave them a sense of reassurance and a sense of balance in terms of how to apply the discerning part and the logical part, when the tendency is to be either one or the other. They realized there is a healthy balance to be found in the middle, and the sessions started to get them in the mindset to find that balance. L5 also shared that they anticipated the next steps forward would give us more of the tools we needed to continue moving forward. Session Two: In this session, there were six leaders present. The session started with the second element in chapter 2 of Barton’s book on becoming a community for discernment. Chapter 2 - “Beginning with Spiritual Transformation,” focused on the spiritual formation of the individual leaders. Chapters 12-15 of the book of Romans were utilized to emphasize the fact that, for leaders to discern God’s will, we each need to be personally transformed. That transformation needs to be worked out in practical ways in the context of community (Barton 2012, 37). The 108 leaders were also provided with Barton’s overview of Becoming A Community That Practices Corporate Leadership Discernment, and we discussed how we would be moving forward in our upcoming sessions. Session Three: There were five leaders present at the session. The session started, as usual, with prayer. Each leader had received a prior copy of the material we would be discussing for the night, which was taken from chapter 3 of Barton’s book, entitled “Leaders Who Are Discerning.” It started with a quote from Byron Brazier emphasizing the importance of leaders needing to be sensitive to how God is leading of God them as they seek to lead others. We discussed a common leadership mistake - assembling undiscerning individuals and expecting them to be discerning leaders (Barton 2012, 51). We also talked about the foundational beliefs that are the building blocks of a sound discernment practice: • Spiritual discernment is a process that takes place in and through the Trinity • The impulse to discern is a “good spirit” that needs to be cultivated • A deep belief in the goodness of God • The conviction that love for God, self, others and for the world is our ultimate calling • We are committed to doing the will of God as it is revealed to us (Barton 2012, 53-56) 109 Session Four: There were five leaders present at the session. The session started, as usual, with prayer. We continued our discussion from chapter 3, “Leaders Who Are Discerning,” by encouraging discussion among the leaders about the five foundational beliefs that are the building blocks of a sound discernment practice. The discussion then focused on the following: discernment as a way of life; testing the spirits; consolation, desolation and leadership; an invitation to choose life (Barton 2012, 56-62). Session Five: There were five leaders present at the session. The session started, as usual, with prayer. We continued our discussion to complete chapter 3, “Leaders Who Are Discerning,” and discussed the dynamics of discernment using the following topics: the prayer of indifference; the prayer of wisdom; notice without judging; seek spiritual direction and greater discernment of spirits; gather and assess information. We also started discussing a leader’s ability to ask good questions and to allow those questions to help guide our discernment decisions. Questions should relate to the following: direction and calling; consolation and desolation; desire; Scripture; the life of Christ; character growth and development; love; clarifying purpose; and community. 110 Figure 9 shows the eight themes which were identified based on discussion with the leaders during the sessions. [ Please contact repository@tyndale.ca for Figure 9 details. ] Figure 4. Themes - Session Series 2: Sessions 1-5 Themes were determined based on the frequency of occurrence of words or phrases. The words and phrases that were repeated by more than one leader were tracked across the six sessions and grouped into the various themes. The themes were grouped into the following four categories: Embracing Spiritual Community; Opening to God in Leadership Community; Embracing Discernment as a Way of Life; and Hindrances to Accomplishing God’s Will. It is clear from the above figure that two themes were a lot more prominent that the others. This makes sense to me, based on my personal relationship with the leaders, and on our discussion during and subsequent to the project sessions. The relationship between themes and categories is shown in Appendix O. 111 In this series of sessions, we also focused on and discussed several of Barton’s personal/group reflections and questions, along with questions I raised as the facilitator. See Appendix Q for a list of those reflections and questions. Personal Observations In our discussion about learning to see in Session Series 1, Sessions 1-6, we discussed the need for leaders to cultivate the capacity to “see” or discern what God is doing, where He is at work, and to position themselves to be participants with God in that work. The ability of leaders to discern what God is doing should move them from a personal to a corporate view of God’s work in and through WOTWM. It required leaders to be bold in their pursuit both to know and to make decisions that are consistent with what they understood to be God’s will. The data presented and discussed below in the project themes section, provides evidence that the leaders were very engaged in and positively impacted by the sessions. During the series of sessions, the leaders continued to be very engaged in the discussions. That was evident by their interest, enthusiasm and participation in discussions. It appeared that leaders were comfortable with each other, demonstrated by willingness to engage in the discussion and to share personal experiences about how we made decisions and tried to discern what God was doing in our lives. This freedom in sharing among the leadership group was an indication that the privacy concern that existed at the beginning of the session series was no longer an issue. There were several themes that came out of this series of sessions, which are presented and discussed in the sub-section on project 112 session themes which follows. The data provides evidence that members of the leadership group were very engaged in and positively impacted by the sessions. Preparation of Leadership Group for Discernment Session Series 2 - Sessions 6-11 These sessions dealt with helping the leaders become a community for discernment. As indicated earlier, the discernment practices focused on chapters four through seven of Barton’s book, and dealt with the preparation of the leadership group as a community for discernment. Barton says, “A New Testament perspective makes it clear that Christian community is made of people who gather around the transforming presence of Christ, so they can do the will of God (Mk 3:34-35)” (Barton 2012, 76). This is different from a team, “which assembles around a task and is bound together by a commitment to that task” (Barton 2102, 77). Barton emphasizes that “spiritual community... gathers around a Person - the person of Christ present with us through the Holy Spirit” (Barton 2012, 77). According to Barton, “We are unified by our commitment to be transformed in Christ’s presence for the work of the Holy Spirit so we can discern and do the will of God as we are guided by the Spirit” (Barton 2012, 77). The session ended with chapter seven, “Practices for Listening to Each Other.” Table 7 is an attendance log showing which specific leaders were at each of the sessions. 113 Table 7. Attendance Log Session Series 2 - Sessions 6-11 [ Please contact repository@tyndale.ca for Table 7 details. ] Session Details The following is a detailed description of the interaction that took place in our discussions as leaders during the series of sessions. See the Project Session Schedule in Appendix D. Session Six: There were six leaders present at the sixth session. The session started as usual with prayer. The focus of our discussion was chapter 4 - “Community at the Leadership Level.” The emphasis was on going beyond teamwork because, as Christians and Christian leaders, we are called to move beyond the traditional idea of teamwork to the place where we cultivate and live in Christian community. It was also emphasized, that Christian community is a Biblical concept that reflects the reality of people gathering together to be transformed by the presence of Christ so they can be empowered to do God’s will (Mk 3:34-35). Barton says, “Those of us who come together to lead churches and organizations with a 114 Christian purpose answer to a deeper calling: to move beyond teamwork and live into that great spiritual reality called Christian community” (Barton 2012, 76). We moved on to talk about the nature of spiritual community, and the fact that there is a significant difference between a team and a spiritual community. Teams assemble around and focus on completing a certain task. Spiritual community is different because it assembles around the person of Jesus Christ, through the presence of the Holy Spirit. The main purpose of coming together in community is for unity. Barton indicates that “the word community comes from communis, meaning ‘common,’ and from communicare, meaning ‘to share or participate’” (Barton 2012, 76-77). We then discussed conversation to community. The thought was that leadership groups need to experience a conversion that causes them to see themselves as a spiritual community, rather than as a board or a leadership group. That conversion would involve giving up old thought patterns to embrace new thought patterns, values, priorities, and practices. Session Seven: There were four leaders present at the session. The session started, as usual, with prayer. We continued our discussion on chapter 4, “Community at the Leadership Level.” We began by discussing how we become a transforming community. Barton emphasizes that cultivating community at the leadership level requires three things: 1. great clarity and intentional commitment to values that undergird community, 115 2. shared practices that help us to live our values and keep us open to the transforming presence of Christ, and 3. a clear covenant that ratifies or makes real our intent to live together this way. In most cases this process begins by asking brave questions about the organizational culture, and thoughtfully choosing practices, structures and behaviors that will help us become the community we long to be (Barton 2012, 80) We also talked about what is our culture, and that if we are to experience authentic spiritual transformation, it must challenge us both at the personal and corporate levels. We talked about the fact that, as leaders at WOTWM, we need to be concerned about spiritual formation and discernment in our specific setting. The effects of our life together can either be of benefit, or an impediment in shaping us. Our concern should be whether we are being transformed or deformed by the organizational dynamics within the church. Our discussion moved to transforming or deforming, and the reality of whether our life together is having either a transforming or a deforming effect on us. We talked about how the unique cultural norms of each church are imparted to the community, either through oral or written communication. Barton believes that “The more deeply an individual engages in the life of the group, the more he or she will be shaped by the spirit of it, often without even being aware of it” (Barton 2012, 81-83). Session Eight: There were four leaders present at the session. The session started, as usual, with prayer. We continued in chapter 4, “Community at the Leadership Level.” Before moving on to talking about Values That Undergird Community, we summarized what we discussed the prior week in terms of the following: moving from teamwork to community; the nature of spiritual community; 116 conversion to community; becoming a transforming community; what is our culture as a church?; transforming or deforming; and good news or bad news. The focus for the remainder of the session was on practicing community together. We asked every leader to express what their experience was like as a part of WOTWM. We asked them to talk about the spirit of the church, and what they personally see as its driving force, based on their experience. They were asked to indicate whether they found their participation in the life of the church transforming or deforming. The sentiments expressed by all the leaders were very positive, and reflected transformation for the most part, with opportunity for improvement in certain areas of our lives (e.g. lack of growth, not just numeric, but in terms of personal engagement of members in worship services). L7 said the project sessions had “taken me to a whole new level.” “It has improved my spiritual life tremendously,” and “My journey with WOTWM has been a good one. It has been transforming.” “There is much more room for growth. I personally need to get rid of some of the shackles that are hindering my growth.” They are embracing and trying to practice discernment in their own life. L5 said, “For me, it has been transforming. It has been very, very transforming... It has, to a large extent, brought me out of myself and taught me how to function in community.” We closed the session in prayer taking time to express to God how we felt. Session Nine: There were six leaders present at the session. The session started, as usual, with prayer. Due to a technical issue with my laptop, we only had voice and no 117 video. We talked briefly about what we had discussed the prior week in terms of Chapter 4, “Community at the Leadership Level.” That included: moving from teamwork to community; the nature of spiritual community; conversion to community; becoming a transforming community; what is our culture as a church?; transforming or deforming; and good news or bad news. We then moved on to start discussing chapter 5, “Values That Undergird Community.” Barton indicates that values articulated by each leadership group must be done in ways that are “biblically sound, relationally healthy, spiritually enlivening, and meaningfully expressed in their context” (Barton 2012, 91).The process must first begin at the personal level, and extend out to the group level so that everyone could share and have a clear understanding of the values. This helps members to feel comfortable in the group being a trustworthy community. We also discussed the following: our story and God’s story; finding ourselves in the biblical story; values that emerge from the story; spiritual transformation; leadership discernment; equality and inclusiveness; self-knowledge and personal responsibility; truth; lovingkindness; gratitude; and conflict transformation (Barton 2012, 92-104). Session Ten: There were five leaders present at the session. The session started once again with prayer. We talked briefly about what we discussed the prior week in terms of “Values That Undergird Community.” We talked about the fact that Jesus called to himself those whom he wanted, and he called them to be with him (Mark 3:13-14). We continued through the session and moved on to start 118 discussing chapter 6, “Practices for Opening to God Together.” To become a leadership community that gathers around the presence of Christ, so that we understand and do the will of God, we need to pursue the following practices: The practice of transformation - personal rule of life/rhythms that lead to regular spiritual practices for the glory of God, that will be of benefit to ourselves and others; fixed hour prayer - having periods of prayer throughout the day, or at a convenient time prior to group meetings; the power of Scripture in community - the use of Scripture in our leadership gatherings, using lectio divina; creating space for the Holy Spirit through times of silence; practicing rest and retreat. These disciplines teach us to not allow our limitations to constrain us in the way we live and lead. It means doing what we can with what we have. Barton says, that includes recognizing our limitations in terms of the following: time and space; physical, emotional, relational and spiritual capacities; our organization’s stage of life; the individuals who make up the organization; God’s call (Barton 2012, 114-123). Session Eleven: There were six leaders present at the session. The session was started with prayer. We talked briefly about what we discussed the prior week in terms of “Practices for Opening to God Together.” We talked about how Jesus called to himself those whom he wanted, and he called them to be with him (Mark 3:13- 14). We continued through the session and moved to discuss chapter 7, “Practices for Listening to Each Other.” The practices we discussed included the following: connecting at the soul level; practicing transformation; practicing love; practicing 119 stability; submitting to discernment; practicing truth-telling; practicing confession; practicing conflict transformation. Chapter 8 of Barton’s book, dealing with “A Covenant That Protects Community,” was something the leadership group felt was necessary for us to do as part of our ongoing commitment to each other and our leadership within the church. This was done as part of our regular leadership meetings and not as part of the project. Figure 9 shows the eight themes which were identified based on discussion with the leaders during the sessions. Themes Figure 5. Themes - Session Series 2 - Sessions 6-11 [ Please contact repository@tyndale.ca for Figure 5 details. ] A review of the eight themes coming out of this session series indicates that the focus of the leaders had broadened. The discussions focused on the following four themes, in the order listed: Sense of community; Spiritual 120 sensitivity; Personal spiritual growth; and Self-disclosure/openness. The issue of Spiritual challenge was the next most discussed theme, followed by Love. Understanding and obeying the Bible and Faith rounded out the themes that were discussed. See Appendix M. In the second series of sessions, the leaders also focused on and discussed several personal/group reflection questions from Barton (see Appendix R), with the admonition that we Pay attention to resonance and resistance. Even (and perhaps most especially) if you feel resistant, don’t judge yourself but rather be curious about why you are resisting and where that resistance is coming from. Talk to God about it or write about it in your journal. (Barton 2012, 79) Personal Observations It was good to see the interest and enthusiasm of the leaders as they willingly engaged in the various sessions. They participated by asking and responding to questions and joining in discussions during our times spent together. They were open and honest in expressing how they felt, while at the same time being careful to be respectful, sensitive and non-judgmental in articulating their perspectives and concerns. It was a privilege for me to have participated in these sessions with leaders who demonstrated such willingness to explore something new in terms of spiritual discernment. There were several themes that came out of this series of sessions, which are presented and discussed in the sub-section on project session themes which follows. The ongoing engagement of the leaders was shown by their interest, enthusiasm and participation in discussions. They appeared comfortable with each 121 other, demonstrated by their willingness to engage in the discussion, and to share personal experiences about how they made decisions, and tried to discern what God was doing in their lives. This freedom of sharing among the leaders, was an indication that the privacy concern that existed at the beginning of the session series was no longer an issue. In addition, the data presented and discussed under the project session themes provides evidence that the leaders were engaged and were positively impacted by the sessions. Project Session Themes In this section, I will outline and discuss each of the themes in order of significance, as they appeared throughout the course of the project sessions. I will provide specific examples from leaders in the sessions, to show how the leaders came to appreciate and express its importance. I will also discuss how that contributed to the development of mutual spiritually intimacy among the leaders. See details about the creation of themes and categories in Chapter 4, Project Methodology. Dominant Themes There are five themes which appeared in our discussion over the course of session series 1 and session series 2. I have characterized these as dominant themes. As I indicated in chapter 4, under the section “Categories and Themes,” the dominant themes were the ones that occurred the most, because they were identified in our discussion by several leaders. The five dominant themes I will discuss are as follows: a sense of community; spiritual sensitivity; personal 122 spiritual growth; self-disclosure / openness; and spiritual change. See Appendix J, Appendix L, and Appendix M. Sense of Community Sense of community refers to seeing spiritual community as essential to becoming a community for discernment. Developing a sense of community within the leadership group was an integral part of helping the leaders to be develop mutual spiritual intimacy. This theme reoccurred a total of sixty-eight times over the course of the three Session Series. It reoccurred thirty-two times in Session Series 1, Sessions 1-6, ten times in Session Series 2, Sessions 1-5 and twenty-six times in Session Series 2, Sessions 6-11. During our times of discussion, L7 highlighted the importance of the individual in helping to develop a sense of community when they said, “the collective group is only as good as individuals making up the community.” L5 agreed with what was expressed by L7. L8 also agreed that “a sense of community was necessary, and is determined by what the individual leader brings to the community.” Having a sense of community, progressed into being the most dominant theme in Session Series 2, Sessions 6-11, recurring twenty-six times within five sessions. L8 said, “As a community we are called to take care of each other, to minister to each other in various ways. Serve each other.” Those sentiments were echoed by L5, who went on to say, “Community is a lot more work than teamwork. In teamwork, the individual is generally sacrificed for the sake of the team. In community, the individual is an integral part of the team 123 because the individual is supposed to grow, as led by the Holy Spirit.” This was a valuable insight that resonated well with the rest of the leaders. In a specific reference to the teaching from Barton’s discernment practices, L7 said, “Just the use of the term team, as opposed to community, is significant because a team works for a common goal or outcome, and if we are led by the Holy Spirit in spiritual community it should be easier to fulfil ministry calling.” That sentiment was commented on by L4 who said, “In addition, the unity part of our leadership community will be a reflection to the wider church community of WOTWM, seeing that, as leaders, we are being led by Christ and the Holy Spirit.” In what I have described above, and our ongoing discussions in the sessions, other leaders, by their comments indicated they understood that becoming a community for spiritual discernment, needed to start with a personal commitment to God, a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, a commitment to the group, and dependence on the Holy Spirit. However, there was also an acknowledgement there would be challenges along the way, “L5 said, “the idea of changing from teamwork to community resonated. It will be a big challenge, like trying to move people from religion to relationship.” L8 agreed and went on to say that teaching about community “has to be done both at the leadership level, and with the congregation at Walking on the Water Ministries. Leaders have to start communicating to their smaller group, so it filters all through the church body.” 124 During session 9 of Session Series 2, the leadership group had an experience which indicated they had progressed in the goal of mutual spiritual intimacy. It was at the end of the session, when we took some time to discuss the process of deciding how to choose two deacons to replace two of our deacons who had recently moved out of that position. Our desire was to be faithful to the teaching of Scripture, consistent with the requirements of our church constitution, and sensitive to the culture of the church. Our deliberations ended with the leadership group coming to a consensus on two individuals we felt would be best qualified to become deacons. Those individuals were presented to the congregation for their feedback, prior to their appointment being finalized. I was pleased to see that our candidate selection received ninety percent acceptance from the congregation, our approach proved to be widely accepted by the congregation, and resulted in the successful selection of two new deacons who have fitted into the leadership group well, and have been a blessing to the church. In our previous way of doing things, the pastoral leadership of the church would have made a decision on candidates based on consultation with the leadership group, as opposed to doing so out of a place of mutual spiritual intimacy among the members of our leadership group. Along with the example provided, there is evidence that the leaders had grown in their understanding of and ability to function in mutual spiritual intimacy. 125 Spiritual Sensitivity The theme of spiritual sensitivity refers to being sensitive to the presence and direction of the Holy Spirit individually and collectively. Spiritual sensitivity was the second most significant theme throughout the project sessions. It played a pivotal part in our journey as leaders to develop mutual spiritual intimacy. This theme recurred a total of eighty-nine times over the course of the three Session Series. It reoccurred thirty-three times in Session Series 1, Sessions 1-6, forty-six times in Session Series 2, Sessions 1-5 and ten times in Session Series 2, Sessions 6-11. In the interaction between the leaders, L8 said, “I have received encouragement to want to know God and recognize His voice. I can only discern properly as I remain in His presence and wait to hear from him, being led by the Holy Spirit and not self.” L7’s thoughts about the experience were that, “It has really been a good journey. It has improved my personal life tremendously and my spiritual life. It has brought me a lot closer to God. It has helped me even with my interactions in the church with people.” In our discussion about values that undergird community, L4 said it was meaningful to them that empowering individuals to fulfill divine destiny is part of what WOTWM is about. The church “helping people find their spiritual gift and ministries is something I personally loved when I started coming to the church.” There was some concern expressed by L5 about the role of spiritual direction, because of their perception that there was a potential for error. L5 said, “I have not found biblical support for this.” I addressed the concerns by explaining that spiritual direction was more about 126 journeying with people to help them learn to listen and discern what God might be saying to them or how God might be leading in a situation, rather than someone directing a person by saying to them, “This is what I believe you should do.” It is evident from the interaction referred to above, that spiritual sensitivity was valued us as a leadership group, and that we had grown as leaders in terms of our individual and mutual desire for spiritual intimacy. Personal Spiritual Growth Personal spiritual growth refers to the desire and experience of individual leaders to grow spiritually in their Christian lives. This theme reoccurred a total of ninety-four times over the course of the three Session Series. It reoccurred thirty- one times in Session Series 1, Sessions 1-6, forty-one times in Session Series 2, Sessions 1-5 and twenty-two times in Session Series 2, Sessions 6-11. In discussion with the leaders, L7 said, “Week after week we come here, and we engage in various topics and conversation, and I can see that the level of thinking is maturing for each person because we are now thinking on a higher level than before we got engaged in the project.” L3 said, “Having Christ as our head can be both difficult and easy. We need, as leaders, to be in full dependency on Christ for our decision-making.” In commenting on the overall discernment exercise, L8 said, “The discernment process for us a team has been excellent. It has been itemized and given us a roadmap of how we are going to do it.” L5 agreed with what L8 said and, in reflecting on his experience, said, “The discernment process has been very, very transforming because, based on my experience, I am a loner. 127 [I] just like to get my task, [do] my thing, get it done and keep on moving. But in a community that is not necessarily the case. To a large extent, the process has brought me out of my shell and taught me how to function in community.” It was very encouraging to hear such positive feedback from the leaders. As we continued to interact around the subject of spiritual transformation, and what it meant to the leaders personally, L8 said, “It has to do with God changing my heart, becoming more like Christ and practicing spiritual rhythms.” L5 said, “It is necessary for us, as adult Christians (as opposed immature ones), to make a conscious effort to internalize and embrace transformation, as opposed to putting on a performance.” In terms of taking practical steps in spiritual rhythms and transformation. L3 talked about using the time during their commute to work to read and pray. L7 said they try to take time at work during the day, or at nights prior to going to bed, to pray, and L1 said they take time to pray and worship while driving to work. L7 said, “Going through this project has taken me to a whole different level. It has me thinking on a much, much higher level than I probably would have been had I not been involved in these sessions.” It was wonderful to hear the many practical ways in which the leaders were seeking to continue to grow spiritually. The recurrence of this theme across the session series, the level of interaction that took place around it, along with the positive feedback shared within the leadership group as highlighted above, indicates that both individual and mutual spiritual intimacy had begun to take place among us as leaders. 128 Self-Disclosure / Openness The theme of self-disclosure/openness, refers to the leaders feeling free to be open and share personal experiences that were relevant to the discussions we were having, which was helpful in the leadership group’s journey to develop mutual spiritual intimacy. This theme recurred a total of fifty-one times over the course of the three session series. It reoccurred twenty-nine times in Session Series 1, Sessions 1-6, twice in Session Series 2, Sessions 1-5 and twenty times in Session Series 2, Sessions 6-11. During our discussions, L8 talked about how they lost all their friends after their salvation experience. L7 felt free to talk about their experience at the church and said, “I can honestly say my experience at the church has been a positive one.” L5 also took the opportunity to share openly about their experience. L3 talked about a situation that took place at their job, to show how people take notice of Christians in the workplace and elsewhere. L8 also felt free to share a very personal life experience saying, “I believe that God is always with us and gives us his direction which, at times, may be the opposite to what others might be telling us.” It was good to see that, over the course of the sessions, the leaders had become more comfortable sharing personal details about their lives and experiences. The fact that self-disclosure/openness became a dominant theme during the project sessions is a testament to the fact that as leaders we became comfortable sharing with each other, and were becoming comfortable sharing our thoughts and experiences as mutual spiritual intimacy developed. 129 Spiritual Challenge Spiritual challenge refers to hindrances experienced by the leaders in their Christian lives that can impede their ability to discern and do the will of God. Such hindrances can negatively impact the ability of leaders to fully embrace discernment as a way of life, as well as their progress in becoming a spiritually discerning community. This theme reoccurred a total of twenty times over the course of the three Session Series. It reoccurred thirteen times in Session Series 1, Sessions 1-6, eight times in Session Series 2, Sessions 1-5 and nine times in Session Series 2 Sessions 6 11 During the sessions, L7 said, “I think there is much more room for growth. I probably need to get rid of some of the shackles that are hindering my growth.” L3 shared, “Love is our ultimate calling, so one of the challenges we face is in our ability to love - love for God, self and the world.” L1 said, “I need the ability to trust God with the things that are important to me, not try to do things in my own power. I need to constantly remind myself that all things work together for good to those who love God.” L1 agreed that “the issue is with trust. When the human side takes over, it wants to take control. We need to be sensitive to the Holy Spirit.” L8 indicated that they agreed with everything that was said by L1, L3, and went on to say, “It is important to have a commitment to doing God’s revealed will - actually doing God's will when he shows it to me and abandoning myself to God.” L4 said, “I need to die to self and allow the Holy Spirit to do His work, trusting in God's will for me, believing that with my whole heart.” It was refreshing to see the honesty with which the leaders shared their spiritual 130 challenges. It was good to see the leaders had grown more comfortable within the leadership community. Based on the feedback received from the leaders across the sessions, it is evident that spiritual challenge was something that the leadership group identified as an unavoidable part of our Christian experience. As leaders there was a mutual desire to see change that would align us with how we believed God would have us align our lives. In this section, I discussed the five dominant themes that reoccurred during the two Session Series. The themes included the following: a sense of community, personal growth, spiritual sensitivity, self-disclosure/openness, and spiritual change. In the following section, I discuss the lesser themes which were identified through the project sessions. Lesser Themes There were a few themes of lesser significance that recurred during the two-session series. As I indicated in chapter 4, under the section “Categories and Themes,” The five lesser themes are as follows: love; understanding / obeying the Bible; faith; confidentiality; and making decisions. Based on the level of frequency and interactions around those themes by the leaders, I will give a brief description of each theme, in the interest of being comprehensive in highlighting all themes coming out of the sessions. See Appendix J, Appendix L, and Appendix M. 131 Love Love refers to having love for God and for others. That is consistent with the two greatest commandments. Love played a role in the leadership group developing mutual spiritual intimacy. Coming out of the discussion among the leaders, L8 said, “I can truly be myself (good or not so good). I can just be me, and that is freeing. I like feeling accepted by people, in spite of having disagreements at times, but we can embrace each other because we love and care for each other.” L5 went on to say, “There is a strong love for God, but a critical element of whether I am totally sold out in every aspect of my life is, am I actually practicing it apart from saying it? God always cuts us some slack, but I have the tendency to either not cut any slack or give too much slack. I need to fine tune that in my dealings with others.” Understanding / Obeying the Bible Understanding and obeying the Bible, refers to the value the leaders placed on understanding, and living in obedience to the teachings of Scripture. Understanding/obeying the Bible played a role in us as leaders developing mutual spiritual intimacy. In our discussions during the sessions, L7 said, “I am more sensitive to things I need to do or let go of because it may be detracting from my spiritual life, and whether or not I do it, I am aware I am supposed to let go of them because of the exercise we are going through.” L8’s perspective was that “the Word is well preached and taught by those who minister.” L3 emphasized, “I choose Scripture as my source of guidance.” 132 Faith The theme of faith, refers to the importance of faith in God, as expressed in the leaders’ willingness to trust God personally and corporately as members of a leadership community. Faith played a role in the leadership group developing mutual spiritual intimacy. Coming out of our discussion, L6 talked about how their faith is sometimes challenged in terms of not always being certain about God’s will. L5 responded to that by saying, “We need to trust that God is in control based on historical precedence.” L8 expressed their agreement with what was shared by L5. L7’s view was that “It takes a certain level of spiritual maturity to accept God’s will in the face of adversity.” Confidentiality Confidentiality pertains to project sessions with the leaders. The theme of confidentiality only appeared during the first two sessions of Session Series 1. Once the theme was addressed, it did not recur during the other session series. Confidentiality played a role in the leadership group developing mutual spiritual intimacy. The brief appearance and then disappearance of this theme suggests that there was some initial concern within the leadership group, and it was addressed to their satisfaction. Making Decisions Making Decisions pertains to the process primarily used by many Christian leadership groups. The theme of making decisions only appeared during the first session of Session Series 1. The appearance of this theme at the 133 beginning of the session series speaks to its initial relevance to the leaders’ journey of becoming a community for spiritual discernment. The fact that this theme was a minor one is significant, given that many leadership groups are focused primarily on decision-making. In this section I discussed five themes of lesser significance that recurred during the three-session series. The themes included love, understanding/obeying the Bible, faith, confidentiality, and making decisions. In the following session, I do an assessment of Barton’s discernment approach. Assessment of Barton’s Approach I appreciated that Barton did not merely deal with the theoretical aspect of discernment, nor did she focus on the mystical aspect of it; instead, her focus was on the practical application of discernment in the lives of the leaders and the leadership group. Her approach proved to be a good leadership model that does not rely primarily on decision-making or strategic planning. The benefit of using Barton’s book (approach) as a tool to develop mutual spiritual intimacy among the leadership community of WOTWM, is seen in the comments from various leaders captured earlier in this chapter in my discussion of the project sessions and the themes coming out of them. The positive benefit of Barton’s approach to our leadership community is also found in more detail in the feedback received from various leaders, which I include in my discussion in the two sections below about the most helpful and least helpful elements of her approach. Additional evidence of the effects of Barton approach is seen by the comments from various 134 leaders highlighted in chapter 6 under the sections dealing with the impact of the project on the individual leaders and on the leadership group. Figure 6 was first presented in chapter 1 as Figure 1. It is reproduced below for ease of convenience as Figure 6, and reflects Barton’s foci for helping leaders become a community for discernment. Figure 6. Seven Foci to Help Leaders Become a Community for Discernment (after Barton, 2012) [ Please contact repository@tyndale.ca for Figure 6 details. ] Barton’s foci are consistent with the biblical and theological foundations of discernment, discernment as a way of life, principles of discernment, and the biblical examples of discernment already discussed in chapter two. The foci emphasized practical and refreshing ways of helping leadership groups become a community for spiritual discernment, as they learn to individually and collectively 135 listen to God. Out of our pursuit of spiritual discernment, the leadership group of WOWTM discovered the opportunity to develop mutual spiritual intimacy. Figure 6 shows the seven foci used by the WOTWM leadership group during our project sessions. The journey started with a focus on preparing the individual leaders for discernment (learning to see, beginning with spiritual transformation, and leaders who are discerning). It proceeded to focus on preparing the leadership group to become a community for discernment (community at the leadership level, values that undergird community, practices for opening to God together, and practices for listening to each other). However, as indicated in chapter 1, my original intension of using the discernment practices outlined by Barton to take the leadership group of WOTWM on a journey to help them become a community for spiritual discernment, ended up changing over the course of the project. The project ended up being about the process of developing mutual spiritual intimacy among the leaders of WOTWM, using Ruth Haley Barton’s book as a tool In going through Barton’s foci during our project sessions, I encouraged the leaders to individually prepare themselves for our times of discussion. We also talked about Barton’s emphasis on leadership groups learning to see beyond the natural, pursuing personal spiritual transformation, and reviewing as much relevant wisdom/information as possible (Scripture, pertinent research, information, etc.). I talked to the leaders about the need to include time in our individual lives for worship, reflection, and prayer. We also took time to share insights, experiences, and concerns. I encouraged the leaders to become part of 136 the discussion by asking questions, so I could get their feedback, and by allowing each leader to share their opinion while the rest of the group listened. This seemed to work well because we had been together for a few years as a leadership group and had strong relationships. In the following section, I discuss the things that were most helpful, and the things that were least helpful to me, as we went through Barton’s discernment foci from Part One of her book. Under the most helpful elements, I include two general elements that appeared throughout the book. Most Helpful Elements The first element I found helpful, was the material Barton dealt with in chapter 1, “Learning to See.” The scriptural focus was on the gospel of John, chapter 9. We spent all six sessions of session series 1 exploring this material. In the chapter Barton made a statement I found to be very helpful, and one she proceeds to flesh out. Barton’s statement is, “Discernment is an ever-increasing capacity to ‘see’ or discern the works of God in the midst of the human situation so that we can align ourselves with whatever it is God is doing. Every Christian is called to this kind of discernment (Rom 12:2)” (Barton 2012, 20). She also says that, “Discernment together as leaders takes us beyond the personal to an increasing capacity to ‘see’ what God is up to in the place we are called to lead. It calls us to be courageous in seeking the will of God and then making decisions that are responsive to that will as it unfolds in front of us” (Barton 2012, 20). L7 shared a personal experience of having to use what was learned in the group 137 sessions in their personal life. L7 used the principle of asking what God wanted them to see in the situation. Based on the final decision and outcome, L7 indicated they were sure God had given direction. L1 also shared a personal experience of how refreshing it was to use discernment as it related to deciding whether to proceed with a career change. Feedback from another leader included the fact they were trying to get a better understanding of what God is doing in their life, family, and in the church. A third leader attributed this element to them being personally able to ask the right question with the goal of discerning what God was doing in their own life, and said it had helped with their spiritual intimacy with God. A second element I found helpful, was Barton’s description of what she calls, “a common leadership mistake” (Barton 2012, 51). Barton says that in many churches, we elect the smartest, the richest, the keenest, or the most efficient. These individuals may not have much instruction or preparation for discernment, and might not see the value of discernment to their exercise of spiritual leadership within the church (Barton 2012, 51). I can identify with what Barton said, because I have been guilty of that in the past. Also, I have had the experience of working with individuals within a spiritual leadership setting, where that mistake has been made. In selecting leaders to serve on the Pastor’s Council of WOTWM, individuals were selected based on their spiritual maturity and commitment to consistently living out their Christian faith. The third element I found helpful, was the five foundational beliefs Barton indicates are the building blocks of a sound discernment practice. The five 138 building blocks were listed by Barton as follows: “Spiritual discernment... [as] a process that takes place in and through the Trinity” (Barton 2012, 53-54); “The impulse to discern - to want to respond to Christ in this fashion - [as] a “good spirit” that needs to be cultivated” (Barton 2012, 54); “Deep belief in the goodness of God who moves us to trust him with the things that are most important to us” (Barton 2012, 54-55); “Love [as] our ultimate calling - love for God, love of self, love for others and love for the world” (Barton 2012, 55-56); and a commitment “to doing the will of God that is revealed to us” (Barton 2012, 56). The leadership groups’ discussion around the building blocks, helped to generate valuable data. In reflecting on the value of what had been shared, and its impact on their spiritual life, L4 said, “The building blocks were a great foundation for all leaders, and even though we may not be there yet, we strive for it, and I have been personally praying for God to help.” A fourth element I found helpful, was the eight dynamics of discernment identified and discussed by Barton. The first dynamic is “the prayer of indifference.” Indifference is a positive term signifying that “I am indifferent to anything but God’s will” (Barton 2012, 63). The second dynamic Barton discussed, was “the prayer for wisdom.” She derives this principle from James’ epistle, in which he writes, “If any of you is lacking in wisdom, ask God, who gives to all generously and ungrudgingly, and it will be given you” (James 1:5) (Barton 2012, 64). Barton’s third dynamic is the ability to “notice without judging. The ability to notice everything pertinent to the situation - both external and internal - without judging, at least at first” (Barton 2012, 64). The fourth 139 dynamic Barton identifies is to “seek spiritual direction, greater discernment of spirits” (Barton 2012, 66). The fifth dynamic discussed by Barton, is “gathering and assessing information. The ability to ask good questions and to allow those questions to help us gather data and gain perspective” (Barton 2012, 68-69). Barton goes on to discuss the sixth dynamic, which is to “cultivate solitude as a time for listening to God around these and similar questions. Jesus himself set aside times of solitude for intense prayer and listening at important points in his life” (Barton 2012, 70). The seventh dynamic Barton discussed is the ability to “identify and work with options” (Barton 2012, 70). The eighth and final dynamic identified by Barton, is making the commitment of “abandoning ourselves to God” (Barton 2012, 71). In our discussion on what had been shared and how the leaders personally benefitted it, L5 said, “It reminds me of the process the disciples went through - wanting to do His will but struggling through it. They needed to depend on the help of the Holy Spirit, and be committed to being in God's presence. I liked the way the steps are laid out. It helps a person to stay focused.” This speaks about the opportunity for leaders to benefit and grow in spiritual intimacy from implementing this dynamic in their daily lives. Overall, these eight dynamics of prayer, lack of judging, seeking spiritual direction, gathering and assessing information, cultivating solitude in order to listen to God, and working with options, affected the development of mutual intimacy among the members of the leadership group. My overall sense coming out of the feedback from our discussion in the sessions, was although we were not there yet 140 in terms of mutual spiritual intimacy as leaders, we were prepared to continue striving to achieve it with God’s help. The fifth element I found helpful, was the five practices for opening to God together. This element resonated with and challenged the leaders. The first of the practices Barton lists, is practicing transformation. She writes, “Including personal rhythms as one aspect of our community commitment acknowledges the fact that the process of spiritual transformation is not for self alone; it is for the glory of God, the abundance of our own lives and for the sake of others” (Barton 2012, 114). The second practice is fixed-hour prayer. Barton says, “one of the most critical aspects of our community rule of life is simply finding ways to be open to the presence of Christ" (Barton 2012, 116). The third practice Barton lists is the power of Scripture in community. She writes that “a special power is released when two or three (or more!) gather around the presence of Christ and together open our hearts to him” (Barton 2012, 119). Fourthly, Barton lists creating space for the Spirit, as an essential practice to discerning God’s will. She encourages leaders “to create space for the Spirit by introducing time for silence. ... after fully discussing an agenda item” (Barton 2012, 120). Finally, Barton encourages leaders to practice rest and retreat (Barton 2012, 121). In their reflection on the benefits of what had been shared, and its impact on their individual lives and that of the leadership group, L7 said, “I am now embracing this business of discernment and actually trying to practice it in my own personal life, so I am thinking it is doing a world of good as a leadership group to go through this exercise together.” Overall the leadership group saw the benefit of 141 the five practices of transformation, fixed-hour prayer, scripture in community, creating space for the Spirit and practicing rest and retreat as a means of developing spiritual intimacy. My sense from our discussion is that as leaders, there was a willingness to strengthen and engage in these practices as necessary for opening to God together. There were two structural items that are used by Barton in each chapter of her book which I found helpful. The first of those items, was Barton’s use of reflection questions. The questions helped to generate and guide a lot of the discussion among the leaders in the sessions. The questions were a key part of our journey together as a group, as we reflected on and discussed the discernment practices. They were also helpful in our learning how to become a community. Several of the reflection questions have been included in Appendix Q and Appendix R. The second structural item I found helpful, was the use of thought- provoking quotes at the beginning of each chapter which helped to set the tone for what was to come within the chapter. I found the quotes to be intellectually and spiritually stimulating, and used several of them at the beginning of our sessions to stimulate the leaders’ thinking. One example of a quote used by Barton that is attributed to Richard Rohr is, “Most people do not see things as they are; rather, they see things as they are.” (Barton 2012, 19). This quote resonated with me, because as I reflected on it, I saw it as an accurate description of what happens in reality. A second quote used by Barton and attributed to Byron Brazier is, “If you don’t know how God is leading you, you won’t know how to lead others” (Barton 2012, 50). Once again, this had very practical application to us, as individuals and 142 as a group. We need to first discern God’s personal leading in our lives before we can effectively lead others. A third quote used by Barton and attributed to Joan Chittister was, “No one grows by doing what someone else forces us to do. We begin to grow when we finally want to grow. All the rigid fathers and demanding mothers and disapproving teachers in the world cannot make up for our own decision to become what we can by doing what we must” (Barton 2012, 108). This bears a lot of truth for us as individual leaders, as well as parents. I found this quote of practical value not only in facilitating the project sessions, but also in how I relate to my children. In the above section, I highlighted five specific elements I found most helpful from Barton’s approach. I looked at five foundational beliefs, eight dynamics of discernment, and five practices for opening to God together. In addition, I also highlighted two structural items Barton used throughout her book, which I found helpful. Included in in my discussion, was the effect I believe these items had on the development of spiritual intimacy within the leadership group. In the next section, I will discuss the three elements I found least helpful from Barton’s discernment approach. Least Helpful Elements The first element I found least helpful in Barton’s approach, was the closing prayer at the end of each chapter. Even though the prayers are biblically sound, and would undoubtedly be helpful in certain religious traditions, the reading of written prayer is not something that is usually practiced within my 143 religious tradition (Pentecostalism) or ministry context, because the emphasis is on allowing people to pray spontaneously. I did not use any of the prayers provided by Barton but instead asked someone to pray at the end of each session, and left it up to them to pray spontaneously, as they felt appropriate. In retrospect, it may have been helpful to introduce the prayers to the leadership group to help broaden their perspective of prayer. It may have been helpful for us to have the mutual experience of approaching prayer in a different way from what we were accustomed to, which may have contributed to the development of mutual spiritual intimacy. The second element I found least helpful, was the continuous reference to the leadership group at Grace Church, beginning in chapter two through to chapter 8. The leadership group is portrayed fictitiously as being “part of a large, well-established church in a busy suburb of a major city in the Pacific Northwest” (Barton 2012, 34). I believe there are things that smaller churches can learn from large churches and vice versa. However, it would have been helpful for Barton to show how her discernment practice related to a small church setting, given that WOTWM ministry is a small church, and the membership in a lot of churches is not large. The portrayal was not very helpful, because I could not fully relate to it, since my ministry context at WOTWM is very different from what is described and referenced by Barton. The membership of Walking on the Water Ministries stands at fifty persons (our average Sunday attendance is forty people), and we do not have large staff meetings, a worship pastor, or an executive pastor. The third element I found least helpful was chapter 8, “A Covenant that Protects 144 Community”. It is not that the steps outlined by Barton would not be helpful, but rather we did not take the time to go through them as a leadership group. That is because we had already agreed upon a leadership covenant for the members of the leadership group. I believe there is benefit to Barton’s leadership covenant, so in future when we look at updating our leadership covenant, we will reference the steps outlined by Barton. Summary In this chapter I discussed the pre and post-session surveys, and the journey toward becoming a spiritually discerning community, both at the individual level and leadership group level. I also outlined and discussed the dominant and lesser project session themes identified in the project. I concluded the chapter with my assessment of Barton’s approach, including the elements I found most and least helpful. There were four key discoveries coming out of my findings and interpretation of the project data. The first discovery is there was consensus among the leadership group members that we were better prepared, both individually and collectively, to embrace mutual spiritual intimacy. The second discovery is we grew as leaders in our understanding of discernment practices. The third discovery is there was consensus among us as leaders that we had grown spiritually because of our experience of going on the journey of developing mutual spiritual intimacy. The fourth discovery is that the process of using Ruth Haley Barton’s book Pursuing God’s Will Together, as a tool to develop mutual spiritual intimacy among the leaders of Walking on the Water 145 Ministries proved to be effective in developing that intimacy. A detailed discussion of these four key project discoveries is found in chapter 6. 146 CHAPTER 6: SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION The original objective of the project was to take the leadership group of Walking on the Water Ministries on a journey to help them become a community for spiritual discernment. That objective was supposed to be accomplished by utilizing the discernment practices for leadership groups, as outlined by Ruth Haley Barton in her book Pursuing God’s Will Together. As indicated in the introduction to this thesis, the outcome of the project turned out to be more about mutual spiritual intimacy rather that discernment. The project resulted in greatly enhanced mutual spiritual intimacy among the leaders of WOTWM, as a result of using Ruth Haley Barton’s book as a tool. It facilitated a time of spiritual growth for us as leaders, as we journeyed together in developing mutual spiritual intimacy. In this chapter, I discuss the following: reasons for the unexpected project outcome; key project discoveries; the impact and implications of the project as it relates to the individual leaders at Walking on the Water Ministries, the leadership group as a whole, and the wider leadership and congregation of WOTWM. I also look at implications for leaders and leadership groups in the broader community, and the personal impact the project had on me as lead pastor of WOTWM. In addition, I reflect on Barton’s approach, provide suggestions for using her 147 approach, and end the chapter by discussing things I thought could have been done differently. Reasons for Unexpected Project Outcome I was initially concerned that the project did not work out the way I originally intended, because I thought we had attempted to follow Barton’s process as closely as we could. My concern turned to pleasant surprise when I realized that the outcome was not something to be disappointed about but needed to be embraced. That is because the impact of the project on myself and the rest of the leadership group was positive in a different way. I believe the primary reason for the unexpected outcome is that Barton’s foci for improving communal discernment serves as the basis and preparation for leaders and leadership groups to develop personal and mutual intimacy, because that is what is required for individuals and leaders to become more discerning. It also makes sense that our time spent in discussion during the project on the seven discernment foci highlighted and discussed in chapter 3 would have had a positive effect on our spiritual intimacy. Another reason the process may not have worked out the way I intended was because we did not follow Barton’s entire approach. Our leadership group only used part one of Barton’s book during our project sessions, dealing with “Becoming A Community for Discernment.” That part of the book focused on preparation of both the individual leaders and leadership group for discernment. During the project we did not going through Part two of Barton’s book that dealt with “Practicing Discernment Together”. Part two deals with' the 148 practical aspects of leadership groups practicing discernment in an actual ministry setting. Key Project Discoveries Understanding and doing the will of God has always been one of key things I wanted to do growing up as a young Christian. That desire has remained with me into adulthood and throughout the past 40 years of my Christian life. I remember when I came into a personal relationship with Jesus as a 17-year old teenager. I had such a passion for understanding God’s will that I prayed, fasted, spoke to mature Christians, attended special services, and read books on the subject, all in an attempt to “figure it out.” What was missing from my approach then, and up until now is that no one ever took the time to teach me how to discern God’s will in a systematic way, nor did the books I read at the time provide an adequate framework for doing so. In addition, one of my character traits is that I am goal-oriented and function best with structure, consistency, and clear objectives. I enjoy accomplishing my objectives and seeing the results. Having gone through the process of using Ruth Haley Barton’s book Pursuing God’s Will Together, as a tool to develop mutual spiritual intimacy among the leadership group of Walking on the Water Ministries, I feel a lot more confident that I have found a systematic approach to discernment, which through the course of this project, has proven to have significant benefits not only for our leadership as a group but also for us as individuals. 149 There were four key discoveries coming out of the research project that support what I have concluded above. The first discovery is there was consensus among the leadership group members that we were better prepared, both individually and collectively, to embrace mutual spiritual intimacy. As I reflect on the journey the leaders and I took, it was good to see them progress from a place of being somewhat skeptical and unsure about how things would work out during the project sessions. I believe that to be the case because, by their own admission, they had never gone through anything like the journey we embarked on before. The more we progressed into our journey, the better prepared they felt they had become. It was like watching my son’s soccer team progress over the past few years. As they trained as a team, they started to develop the strength, stamina, and skills necessary to be good soccer players. That development took place on both the personal and team level. They started off with the objective of winning the league they were playing in and progressing to the higher league. Even though they started off a bit shaky, over time and with ongoing training and experience, they developed into a pretty good soccer team that was able to win three league championships in a row. That is how I saw the leadership group of WOTWM develop over the course of the project, and it was both refreshing and rewarding. Evidence of that being the case is seen in Chapter 5, findings and interpretation, based on the various themes that were identified. The things that were of most significance to the leaders, based on the categorization of the themes, were spiritual sensitivity, sense of community, commitment, and vulnerability/trust. 150 The second discovery is we grew as leaders in our understanding of discernment practices. It was like seeing our kids grow up from being babies, into toddlers, to the teens and adolescents (and eventually to adulthood). It was good to see the progressive growth of the leaders as they began to understand and embrace the discernment practices that had been discussed. The leaders had not previously gone through a spiritual discernment exercise, so as the project sessions progressed, the leaders grew in their understanding of spiritual discernment. Chapter 5, Findings and Interpretations captures some of the impact of the discernment journey on both the individual leaders and the leadership group as a whole. The categorization of themes reflect the primary areas of focus for the leaders. The third discovery is there was consensus among us as leaders that we had grown spiritually because of our experience of going on the journey of developing mutual spiritual intimacy. I believe that to be the case because, by their own admission, they had never gone through anything like the journey we embarked on before. The more we progressed into our journey, the more they became comfortable with and excited about the prospects of how things would turn out. It reminded me of going on a journey with friends to a place we have never been before. The journey may start off with a desire to go, and there may be some ambivalence about what may lie ahead. There may also be a sense of anticipation to see and discover new things. The journey may end with a sense of accomplishment and broadened perspective gained as a result of the experience. Evidence of that spiritual growth was seen in Chapter 5, findings and 151 interpretation, through our discussion on the preparation of the leadership group for discernment. The picture that paints of the leadership and church group is that the leaders started off in agreement to be a part of the project journey, and although they initially experienced some ambivalence about what to expect and how things would turn out they continued with the process. As a result, they grew spiritually and experienced new ways of thinking and relating to each other based on spiritual intimacy. The fourth discovery is that the process of using Ruth Haley Barton’s book Pursuing God’s Will Together, as a tool to develop mutual spiritual intimacy among the leaders of Walking on the Water Ministries proved to be effective in developing that intimacy. Coming out of the discussion in Chapter 5 around the preparation of the leadership group for discernment, it was good to see that the two themes coming out of the project sessions fell under the two categories of a sense of community and spiritual sensitivity. What that tells me is that over the course of the project sessions, and as a result of our many discussions and journeying together, a transformation had started to take place in the lives of individual leaders and in the leadership group as a whole. What is even more gratifying is that, for several of the leaders, that growth has not stopped but continues right up to the time of the writing of this thesis. Based on our experience at Walking on the Water Ministries, I can attest to the fact that Barton’s discernment practices for leadership groups have the potential to positively impact and help a leadership group develop mutual intimacy. 152 Prior to the start of the project, leaders and members of the congregation were very guarded in what they shared with one another. They tended to be very careful not to share things that could potentially cause them to be seen as having certain issues that would bring into question their spirituality. Subsequent to the project, members of the leadership group have demonstrated personal spiritual growth and intimacy. I have also noticed that spiritual intimacy has been passed on to the wider congregation, which I believe it is a result of what they have seen demonstrated by members of the leadership group. One example of that is when one of the leaders who was going through a very difficult time personally said to me that if they had not gone through the process, they don’t know how they would have been able to cope with the situation they ended up facing. Another example is seen among several of the ladies from the church who regularly attend both our church prayer meeting and their own women’s prayer meeting. There was identifiable grown in their relationship with each other, which was seen in their newfound willingness to be vulnerable, open and honest in their embrace of and sharing with one another. In addition, members of the congregation are now rallying around each other with spiritual and tangible support on an ongoing basis, compared to what was happening prior to the project. 153 Impact & Implications of Project The following section describes the impact of the project on the individual leaders and leadership group of Walking on the Water Ministries, the impact on the congregation of Walking on the Water Ministries, and the impact on the external community. I end this section by describing the impact the project had on me personally as the lead pastor at Walking on the Water Ministries. Individual Leaders It is evident, based on my discussion of the findings and interpretations in chapter five, that the project had a positive impact on the lives of the individual leaders in terms of developing spiritual intimacy, and in helping us to see the importance of being able to discern and do the will of God. In addition, the following feedback from some of the leaders subsequent to the end of the project sessions highlight the personal impact of the project in their individual lives. One leader shared their feedback on the project session by describing the effect the sessions had on them personally. They said, “I am now more aware of the importance of discernment in one's spiritual journey. .[and].. .I now make a conscious effort, in every situation to not take things at face value but rather to ask what it is that God would have me see.” Another leader said the project sessions was “one of the catalyst for getting them to where they are now,” and they continue to use it in both their decision making and in terms of their spiritual intimacy. A third leaders said, “the impact of your Tyndale project has changed my view towards my Christian walk tremendously. In being able to ask the right 154 question.... My intimacy with God, recognizing my love and need for him has caused me to see His depth and love for me.” See chapter 5, for additional feedback received from individual leaders over the course of the project sessions. In this section, I discussed the impact of the project on the lives of the individual leaders at WOTWM as a result of our journey together in developing mutual spiritual intimacy. In the following section I discuss the impact of the project on the leadership group (Pastor’s Council) as a whole. Leadership Group The findings and interpretations discussed in chapter five also provides evidence that the leadership group of Walking on the Water Ministries was positively impacted by the project. The impact on the leadership group is also reflected in the session series detail and in the discussion of the themes coming out of the session as discussed in chapter 5, which includes some of the specific feedback received from individual leaders over the course of the project sessions. It has been refreshing to see the ongoing impact of the project in the lives of the leaders who participated. The following is feedback from some of the leaders subsequent to the end of the project sessions. One leaders stated, “I believe we strive to act as a community rather than as individual leaders. We also have a tendency to try and figure out if we are all on the same page with regards to what we are each hearing from God.” Another leader said, “in my estimation going through the exercise has caused a change in focus of the pastoral team from the usual performance-based metrics to a more holistic spiritual growth model.” A 155 third leader indicated that the project “helped to bring the team together to share experiences and grow together.” The leader also pointed out that since the project “most of the leadership group ended up on the same page” when it came to making decisions, and the project made the team “more coherent.” Another leader said, “seeing a passion stir up in the leadership team during [and] after the project was an outward representation of the change and growth our leaders experienced. In this section, I discussed the impact of the project on the leadership group (Pastor’s Council) of Walking on the Water Ministries, as during the project journey that helped us develop mutual spiritual intimacy. The following section looks at the implications of the project for the broader leadership (Servant’s Council) and congregation of WOTWM. Walking on the Water Ministries Given the positive impact that going through the exercise of becoming a spiritually discerning community had on the Pastor’s Council of WOTWM, the church needs to look at taking the next layer of leaders (the Servant’s Council / ministry team leaders) through the process, so that the entire leadership body understands and experiences the process. That will, by extension, affect a wider cross-section of the church community. To that end, I will look at arranging sessions with the leadership group over the coming year, so we can spend time focusing on the five foundational beliefs Barton sees as the building blocks of a sound discernment practice. The goal would be to have the leaders more fully incorporate the foundational beliefs into their daily lives and leadership at 156 WOTWM. I will also look at arranging a series of sessions with the leadership group over the coming year and a half, so we can spend time focusing on Barton’s chapter 6, “Practices for Opening to God Together” and chapter 5 “Practices for Listening to Each Other.” The goal going forward is to have the leaders continue to engage to incorporate the practices into the way our leadership community functions in both our personal and congregational lives together at WOTWM. This is reflected in the comments of one leader about the impact on the congregation as it relates the change evident in the leaders being passed on to the congregation. The leader said, change [in us as leaders] has led to more participation from individuals in the congregation who were initially afraid because they did not fit into the stereotypical Christian model for participants in a certain ministry. Congregants are now exhibiting not only a more authentic expression of their Christianity but also closer sense of community. With this new sense of purpose, we eagerly anticipate what God has in store for us. This section focused on the impact of the project on the members of the congregation of WOTWM and outlined specific steps I plan on taking to move things forward. That includes having sessions with the leadership group to help them integrate Barton’s discernment practices into their daily lives. The following section describes the impact of the project on the wider community. Wider Community I believe it will be helpful for leaders in the broader Christian community to go through the process of using Barton’s book as a tool to develop mutual spiritual intimacy among their leadership groups. In order to do that they must be prepared to take specific steps to facilitate it. It will take time, effort, patience, and 157 a willingness to allow God by his Holy Spirit to work in their midst, individually and collectively as leadership groups. The Bible teaches us in passages like Romans 12:2, Mark 3:34-35, Ephesians 5:17, 1 John 2:17, Matt. 7:2 that, as Christians, we should seek to understand and do the will of God. For mutual spiritual intimacy to effectively take place within leadership groups, leaders must be willing to both know and do the will of God. Jesus was clear about what the goal of his ministry was when he said in John 4:30, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work” (John 4:34). Jesus’ primary objective in ministry was to understand and do the will of God. That should also be characteristic of the lives and ministries of every Christian leader and leadership group. This section focused on the implications of the project for leaders in the wider Christian community, who may be able to benefit from the project. In the following section, I describe the personal impact the project had on me as lead pastor. Personal I started this project with a desire to facilitate spiritual transformation in the lives of the leadership group of Walking on the Water Ministries. Having completed the project, I realize that change has taken place not only in the personal lives of individual leaders and the leadership group but also in my own life during the journey. I have been making a conscious effort to apply the things I have learned during discussions with the leaders over the course of the project. I 158 am encouraged by the personal and corporate transformation I have seen in the lives of the leaders, excited about the potential that exists for the leaders to use what they have learned to the benefit of the church, and hopeful that this project will be helpful to Christian leaders and leadership groups in the wider community I believe the greatest ministry gift I can give to Walking on the Water Ministries as pastor is not to lead the church relying solely on my ability to think logically and act strategically (as necessary as those attributes may be) but to have a commitment to listen carefully and respond with sensitivity to the work of the Spirit of God within the community. In this section, I discussed the impact the project had on the individual leaders at Walking on the Water Ministries, the leadership group, Walking on the Water Ministries as a congregation, the wider Christian community, and the personal impact it had on me as an individual. In the following section I reflect on Barton’s approach to helping leaders and leadership groups become a community for spiritual discernment. Reflection on Barton’s Approach When the project was started, my intention was to work through Barton’s book to take the leadership group of Walking on the Water Ministries on a journey of becoming a community for spiritual discernment. However, as indicated earlier, what ended up happening during the course of the project, is that the nature of that journey changed. It turned out to be about the process of using Barton’s book as a tool to develop mutual spiritual intimacy among the leaders of 159 Walking on the Water Ministries. Even though the outcome is not what I originally intended, I am thankful that the project turned out the way it did because of the impact it has had on me as the pastor, the individual leaders and leadership group, the WOTWM church family, as well as its potential benefit to the wider Christian community. The process of using Barton’s approach helped the leadership group to move from being simply a decision-making body to developing mutual spiritual intimacy. The leaders were also provided with tools to become persons who better understand what discernment is about both on a personal and community level. I appreciated that Barton did not simply deal with the theoretical aspect of discernment, nor did she focus on the mystical aspect of it, but she focused instead on the practical aspects of discernment. I close my reflection on Barton’s approach with the words of Barton herself as they relate to leadership discernment: Discernment, in a most general sense, is the capacity to recognize and respond to the presence and activity of God - both in the ordinary moments and in the larger decisions of our lives... Spiritual discernment is the ability to distinguish or discriminate between good (that which is of God and draws us closer to God) and evil (that which is not of God and draws us away from God). (Barton 2012, 10) Discernment involves moving “beyond reliance on human thinking and strategizing to a place of deep listening and response to the Spirit of God within and among us” (Barton 2012, 10-11). I would also conclude that there is benefit to be derived from using Barton’s book as a tool to develop mutual spiritual intimacy among members of a leadership group. 160 Suggestions for Using Barton’s Approach I offer the following suggestions for leaders and leadership groups that may be considering using Barton’s discernment practice for leadership groups: • Introduce your intention to use Barton’s book as a tool to your leadership group • Get a commitment from leaders that they have a desire and would like to participate in an exercise to develop mutual spiritual intimacy • Ensure each member of the leadership group has a copy of Barton’s book and reads it ahead of starting the exercise • Plan for completion within one year, because it will allow the leadership group more time to go through and apply the principles Barton provides in her book • Consider using a retreat format if possible, for at least part of the process to allow leaders more time to interact together on a personal level • Do not rush or give in to the temptation to rush or skip practices such as corporate times of Bible reading, reflection and prayer • Be willing to experience and embrace the transformation that will inevitably take place 161 Things I Could Have Done Differently There are several things I believe I could have done differently over the course of the project. The first thing is that I could have made sure that each leader had a copy of Barton’s book and read it prior to the start of the project sessions. That may have helped to give the leaders a better appreciation and understanding of Barton’s approach ahead of time, and help prepare them to participate in the project sessions. The second thing I could have done was to better evaluate the length of time it would take to complete the project sessions. I grossly underestimated how long it would take to complete enough sessions to compile a meaningful amount of data for analyzing the project. This then required the addition of a second group of sessions mid-project. In addition, I could have rearranged a couple of the questions on the survey by switching the order of questions 4 and 5 and changing the ratings on the ten-point scale to reflect the highest rating as 10, as opposed to 1. It would have given it a better logical flow. The fifth thing I could have done was to review the types of questions asked on the pre and post-session surveys to ensure effectiveness. Comparative results of the pre and post-session surveys showed there was very little change in the self- perception of many of the leaders. As indicated in chapter 5, if I had structured the questions better, I would have been able to collect more helpful data as it relates to discernment. In addition, the project turned out to be about the process of using Barton’s book to develop mutual intimacy among the leaders of WOTWM. I believe that had my focus had been on mutual spiritual intimacy from the beginning of the project, the pre and post survey questions I asked would 162 have been very different, and would have provided more useful information specific to mutual spiritual intimacy. Another thing I could have done was to log my session series data into the Excel spreadsheet I used earlier, and complete coding of the project session data after every session, as opposed to waiting until the end to review and code all the data. It ended up being a very painstaking exercise. I could have also enlisted the help of someone with expertise in data analysis earlier in the project, as opposed to at the end of the session series. It would have made the process a lot more efficient. Finally, I could have had someone take notes during the sessions, to help with my personal reflection subsequent to each session. Summary and Conclusion In this chapter, I started by discussing the key discoveries coming out of the project. I went on to discuss the impact of the project as it relates to the individual leaders, the leadership group at Walking on the Water Ministries, the wider community, and the personal impact the project had on me. I also reflected on the approached used by Barton in her book, suggestions for using Barton’s approach, and concluded with things I thought I could have done differently during the course of the project. The key discoveries show there was value in utilizing Barton’s discernment practices for leadership groups to help the leaders at Walking on the Water Ministries understanding spiritual discernment, and in their development of spiritual intimacy. It would be of benefit to the church if all the ministry team leaders were also given the opportunity to go through sessions 163 that utilize Barton’s discernment practices. The findings and interpretations of the project discussed in chapter five, along with the summary, including the discoveries and impact of the project discussed in this chapter, highlight that the process of using Ruth Haley Barton’s book Pursuing God’s Will Together, as a tool to develop mutual spiritual intimacy among the leadership group of Walking on the Water Ministries, was very beneficial to the individual leaders, leadership group, the congregation of Walking on the water Ministries, the wider Christian community, and to me personally. 164 APPENDICES 165 Appendix A: Invitation Email to Leaders Please see the attached Information Letter and Consent Form related to my Doctor of Ministry project at Tyndale University. Please take your time to review in detail to determine if this is something you would like to participate in and if so, you can sign the Consent Form, and I can arrange to pick it up. Please note that your decision to participate in the project is totally voluntary. You are under no obligation to participate. Blessings! Pastor Walter Rev. Walter G. Joseph Lead Pastor Walking On The Water Ministries www.walkingonthewater.org 905.840.7962 ext. 701 166 Appendix B: Information Letter and Consent Form This research is being conducted by Rev. Walter Joseph under the supervision of Dr. Les Galicinski, Dr. Mark Chapman, and Dr. Paul Bramer, in partial fulfilment of the Doctor of Ministry program at Tyndale University, 3377 Bayview Ave, Toronto, Ontario. The research will require interactions over a six-month period between respondents (you) and myself. The research will involve surveys, observation, personal reflection, and one-on-one sessions. There are no physical, psychological, economic, or social risks associated with this study, as far as I am aware. Purpose of the research The purpose of this research is to ‘Facilitate an Exercise in Corporate Leadership Discernment through the use of the Movements in Discernment as Described by Ruth Haley Barton in Pursuing God’s Will Together.’ Benefit of the research The research will be used for ongoing church development. The leadership team of WOTWM will be better equipped to make major decisions based on their understanding of the will of God. This will better position WOTWM to make an impact for Christ in the city of Brampton. There is no risk to involvement greater than the regular risk of church involvement. Participation in the research Your participation in this research is voluntary, and you are free to withdraw your consent at any time, without fear of any negative consequences. You waive no legal rights by your participation. Handling of research responses We will keep your responses strictly confidential. To help us ensure confidentiality, please do not put your name on any of the survey questions. The data may also be published in professional journals or presented at scientific conferences, but all such presentations will be of generalized findings and will never breach individual confidentiality. If you are interested, you are entitled to a free copy of the research findings. Financial incentives for research participation There will be no monetary incentive or reward for participating in the research. 167 Addressing of Questions and Concerns If you have any questions or concerns about this research or your participation, please direct them either to Walter Joseph at 905-840-7962 / walterjoseph062@gmail.com or the Assistant Director of the DMin Program Dr. Mark Chapman at 416-226-6620 Ext. 2602 / mchapman@tyndale.ca. Any ethical concerns about the research should be directed to Tyndale’s Research Ethics Board at REB@tyndale.ca. Consent Form I, _____________________________________________ (Please Print Name Clearly) 1. I have read the Letter of Information and have had all questions answered to my satisfaction. 2. I understand that I will be participating in research called ‘Facilitating an Exercise in Corporate Leadership Discernment through the use of the Movements in Discernment as Described by Ruth Haley Barton in her book Pursuing God’s Will Together. 3. I understand that my participation in this study is voluntary, and I may withdraw at any time without consequence. 4. I understand that data will be collected by means of surveys, observation, personal reflection, and one-on-one sessions. 5. I understand that every effort will be made to maintain the confidentiality of the data, both now and in the future. I also understand that the data may be published in professional journals or presented at scientific conferences, but any such presentations will be of generalized findings and will never breach individual confidentiality. If I am interested, I am entitled to a copy of the findings. 6. I understand that there is no monetary incentive or reward for my participation in this research. 7. I understand that, in the event of research-related harm, I do not waive any of my legal rights for recourse. 8. I am aware that if I have any questions or concerns about this research or my participation, I should direct them to the researcher, Walter Joseph at 905-840- 7962 / walterjoseph062@gmail.com, to the Assistant Director of the DMin Program Dr. Mark Chapman at 416-226-6620 Ext. 2602 / mchapman@tyndale.ca, 168 or to Rev. Tom Quinn, Regional Director-South East, Pentecostal Assemblies of Canada (PAOC) at 905-637-5566 / tquinn@wodistrict.org. 9. I should direct any ethical concerns about the research to Tyndale’s Research Ethics Board at REB@tyndale.ca. I have read the above statements and freely consent to participate in this research. Researcher Signature: Date: Participant Signature: Date: 169 Appendix C: Pre-Post Session Survey [ Please contact repository@tyndale.ca for the Pre-Post Session Survey details. ] I appreciate you taking the time to complete this survey. 1. On a scale of 1 - 10, do you believe that there are obstacles that prevent a person from seeing God at work? 2. On a scale of 1 - 10, do you believe that there are obstacles that prevent a person from joining God in the work God is doing? 3. On a scale of 1 - 10, how would you describe your practice for fully and freely engaging Scripture for spiritual transformation? 170 4. List the things you believe would help you to wholeheartedly embrace discernment as a way of life. 5. On a scale of 1 - 10, how important do you believe it is for you to move beyond teamwork to spiritual community as part of the WOTWM leadership team? 6. As a leader within the WOTWM family, what values and principles do you believe are necessary for you to engage fully and freely? 7. What practices resonate with your own heart’s desire for opening to God in the midst of your leadership with this group? 8. What do I need to let go of or ask God to remove from my life so that his will can be accomplished? 171 Appendix D: Project Session Schedule Session Series 1 7:00 pm - Casual conversation/interaction 7:05 pm - Welcome and prayer 7:10 pm - Recap of main points from previous session, presentation and group discussion of session material, personal reflection and questions 7:55 pm - Casual conversation 8:00 pm - Conclusion and prayer Session Series 2 8:00 pm - Casual conversation/interaction 8:05 pm - Welcome and prayer 8:10 pm - Recap of main points from previous session, presentation and group discussion of session material, personal reflection and questions 9:25 pm - Casual conversation 9:30 pm - Conclusion and prayer 172 Appendix E: Ministerial Code of Ethics for Credential Holders of The Pentecostal Assemblies of Canada PERSONAL STANDARD 1. The minister should be ever conscious of their high and sacred calling. (2 Tim 4:1-5) 2. The minister should give diligent attention to the personal practice of biblical disciplines (1Tim. 6:11-12) and to the personal development of the fruit of the Spirit. (Gal 5:22-23) 3. The minister should give adequate time to develop and maintain a spiritual readiness for faithfully discharging their ministerial responsibilities. (2 Tim. 2:15) 4. The minister should be diligent in prayer and in the reading of the Scriptures, and in personal development that would enhance effectiveness in ministry. 5. The minister should fulfill their ministerial duties using their God-given abilities and skills. (1Tim. 4:12-16) 6. The minister should maintain a high moral standard in both speech and conduct. (1Tim. 6:1-10) 7. The minister should strive to ever be commendable in manners and modest in appearance. (1Tim. 3:1-7; 4:12) 8. The minister should always conduct financial and business transactions in a manner that is above reproach. 9. The minister should strive to give leadership in discipline and conduct in their home and manage their family with consistency. (1Tim. 3:8-13) 10. The minister should adequately care for their own physical, emotional and psychological well-being. PARTNERSHIP STANDARD 1. The minister is a representative of The Pentecostal Assemblies of Canada and should seek to reflect and enhance its good reputation at all times. 2. The minister should respect the offices of the fellowship’s district and national leadership and seek to cooperate with district and national initiatives. 3. The minister should seek to enhance, and not disparage, the work of both their predecessors and successors. 4. The minister should seek to enhance, support and not disparage, the work of fellow staff members and colleagues. 5. The minister should endorse principally those global workers and 173 initiatives of The Pentecostal Assemblies of Canada and, subsequently, agencies and partnerships that have been so approved. 6. The minister should steadfastly keep guard over their congregation and refrain from giving ministry privileges to any questionable persons. 7. The minister should seek to be engaged in community activities that serve to enhance their good testimony and not interfere with other essential ministerial duties. (Acts 6:1-4) 8. The minister should refrain from any form of interference in the affairs of another assembly. 9. The minister should actively engage in methods of evangelism and outreach that would honour the Lord and the core values of The Pentecostal Assemblies of Canada, also respecting the ministry of neighbouring assembly. PASTORAL STANDARD 1. The minister should accept their calling as a sacred obligation and faithfully perform those duties. 2. The minister should recognize their responsibility as a spiritual shepherd to all their flock and to those who have no shepherd. (1 Pet. 5:1-4) 3. The minister should regard service and ministry as primary and remuneration and rewards as secondary 4. The minister should never violate the confidence of those who seek help, except where disclosure is mandated by law. 5. The minister should seek to guard their church's good reputation in the community and its testimony to unbelievers. 6. The minister should take a leading interest in the local church property, seeing that it is kept in proper repair without creating burdensome financial obligations. 7. The minister should see that true and accurate church records are kept at all times. 8. The minister should be actively involved in mission activities, locally, nationally and internationally. (Acts 1:8) https://paoc.org/docs/default-source/fellowship-services-documents/ministerial- code-of-ethics.pdf?sfvrsn=fa351d6a 2. Approval for use of this document was obtained on February 20, 2020, from Joel Spiridigliozzi, Regional Director PAOC Western Ontario District, South-East Region. 174 Appendix F: Walking on the Water Ministries Leadership Covenant • I covenant to seek to discern and do the will of God in my personal life, and as a leader at Walking on the Water Ministries (WOTWM). • I covenant to support the congregational DNA of WOTWM (Vision, Mission & Values). • I covenant to support WOTWM with my time, talent, treasure, testimony, and attendance. • I covenant to honour the responsibilities due to my leadership position at WOTWM: attend leadership meetings, events, etc. that my leadership position requires. • I covenant to confidentiality and to being a leadership team player at WOTWM - no parking lot, after session, email, or telephone meetings that undermine a leadership team decision. • I covenant to step down if I am unable to keep my leadership covenants due to decision or life circumstances, with the understanding that if I do not step down, I can be removed for my own good, the good of any ministry I may be involved in, and the good of WOTWM. Name: Signature Date: 175 Appendix G: Project Session Attendance Log [ Please contact repository@tyndale.ca for Appendix G details ] 176 Appendix H: Pre-Session Survey - Questions 1-3, 5 [ Please contact repository@tyndale.ca for Appendix H details ] Categories and Themes 177 Appendix I: Post-Session Survey - Questions 1-3, 5 [ Please contact repository@tyndale.ca for Appendix I details ] Categories and Themes 178 179 Appendix J: Categories and Themes Session Series 1 - Sessions 1-6 [ Please contact repository@tyndale.ca for Appendix J details ] 180 Appendix K: Comparison of Pre and Post Session Survey [ Please contact repository@tyndale.ca for Appendix K table details ] 181 182 183 184 Appendix L: Categories and Themes [ Please contact repository@tyndale.ca for Appendix L details ] Session Series 2 - Sessions 1-5 185 Appendix M: Categories and Themes [ Please contact repository@tyndale.ca for Appendix M details ] Session Series 2 - Sessions 6-11 186 Appendix N: Grouping of Themes into Categories Session Series 1 - Sessions 1-6 [Please contact repository@tyndale.ca for Appendix N table details ] 187 Appendix O: Grouping of Themes into Categories Session Series 2 - Sessions 1-5 [Please contact repository@tyndale.ca for Appendix O table details ] 188 Appendix P: Grouping of Themes into Categories Session Series 2 - Sessions 6-11 [Please contact repository@tyndale.ca for Appendix O table details ] 189 Appendix Q: Discussion Questions - Session Series 1 • How do you respond to the idea that discernment is what distinguishes spiritual leadership from other kinds of leadership? (Barton 2012, 12) • “How would you describe the way your leadership group makes decisions currently?” (Barton 2012, 12) • How do we find God in all things? • How do we respond to finding God in each other? • How does the experience of the disciples relate to us today as leaders discerning what God is doing? • How does God speak? • What constitutes silence, and what does not, and what would one describe as God not speaking? • How would one deal with the experience of feeling like you are not hearing from God? 190 Appendix R: Discussion Questions - Session Series 2 • “How do you respond to the building blocks for discernment described by Barton?” (Barton 2012, 56) • “Which of the building blocks is not firmly placed as a foundation for your own discernment?” (Barton 2012, 56) • “Is there anything else that would help you to wholeheartedly embrace discernment as a way of life?” (Barton 2012, 56) • “Which question (coming out of the building blocks) is most compelling or most helpful relative to a decision you are facing?” (Barton 2012, 69) • “How do you respond to the idea of moving beyond teamwork to spiritual community in your current leadership group?” (Barton 2012, 79) We continued our discussion facilitated by the following questions and instruction using Barton’s reflection questions: • “As a leader in your community context, what values and principles are necessary for you to engage fully and freely?” (Barton 2012, 105) • “Take some time to notice (without judging) and reflect on the places in this chapter where you felt resistance (this could be feelings of disagreement, questions, impossibility) and also feelings of resonance or longing” (Barton 2012, 124). • “What practices resonated with your own heart’s desire for opening to God amid your leadership with this group?” (Barton 2012, 124) 191 • “What seemed possible or impossible?” (Barton 2012, 124) • “What are your questions or concerns?” (Barton 2012, 124) • “Do you have a rule of life? If not, begin sketching a few core commitments that will help you to practice transformation” (Barton 2012, 133). • “What actions and behavior help you feel loved and valued in a group?” (Barton 2012, 135) 192 REFERENCES Adelman, Clem. 1993. “Kurt Lewin and The Origins of Action Research.” Educational Action Research 1, no. 1: 7-24. Accessed February 11, 2019. Auerbach, Carl, and Louise B. Silverstein. 2003. Qualitative Data: An Introduction to Coding and Analysis. New York, NY: New York University Press. Barton, Ruth Hailey. 2012. Pursuing God’s Will Together: A Discernment Practice for Leadership Groups. Downers Grove, IL: Inter Varsity Press. Barton, Ruth Haley. 2006. Sacred Rhythms: Arranging Our Lives for Spiritual Transformation. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2006. Bell, Judith. 2010. Doing Your Research Project. 5th ed. Maidenhead, Berkshire, England: Open University Press. Bruce, F. F. 1984. The Epistles to the Colossians, to Philemon, and to the Ephesians. 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Discerning God’s Will Together: A Spiritual Practice for the Church. Nashville, TN: Upper Room Books. Kindle edition. ———. 2012. Discerning God's Will Together: A Spiritual Practice for the Church. Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. Kindle edition. Morris, Leon. 1995. The Gospel According to John: The New International Commentary on the New Testament, edited by Joel B. Green. Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co. Olsen, Charles M. 1995. Transforming Church Boards into Communities of Spiritual Leaders. Herndon, VA: The Alban Institute. Kindle edition. Stringer, Ernest T. 2007. Action Research. 3rd ed. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications. Swindoll, Charles R. 1999. The Mystery of God's Will. Nashville, TN: Word Publishing. Kindle edition. Waltke, Bruce K. 1995. Finding the Will of God. Vancouver, BC: Regent College Publishers. Kindle edition. Wolf, Pierre. 1970. Discernment: The Art of Choosing Well. Rev. ed. Liguori, MO: Liguori/Triumph Pub. Kindle edition. The Pentecostal Assemblies of Canada. 2018. Local Church Constitution and By- Laws. Mississauga, ON: The Pentecostal Assemblies of Canada The Pentecostal assemblies of Canada. Ministerial Code of Ethics: For Credential Holders of The Pentecostal Assemblies of Canada. Mississauga, ON: The Pentecostal Assemblies of Canada 194 ***** This is the end of the e-text. This e-text was brought to you by Tyndale University, J. William Horsey Library - Tyndale Digital Collections *****