Choice Points

Choice Points:
def. A point on a software decision tree. Points at which implementation decisions are made.

Bill Sullivan writes that choice points may be points in time when a formal or informal, and sometimes unconscious, decision is made regarding a value, preference, attitude or response. They arise at times of opportunity, crisis, events (personal, local or global), issues, transition and change, just to name a few. We come upon choice points daily, almost moment by moment

Churches face choice points. Here are a few to think about:

"To be or not to be." There is actually a choice to be made in regard to existence. Will a group of beleivers respond to the call to be the body of Christ?

"To do or not to do." To put it another way, it's the decsion to do something, or just keep talking about it. There's an old expression, "Starting- the job's half done." Deciding to be might be the first half. Then deciding to do something could very well be the second. But be warned- doing something changes something. We may say we love growth, we love change, we love to shake things up. Really? We may love the idea of change, but in reality, we resist it. We hate it. We get hostile in the face of change. We surprise ourselves by how tenaciously we hold onto the way things are. And yes, I'm most guilty of saying I love change, then hating the reality of change.

"Comfort or Change." Here's another old saying, "Jesus will comfort the afflicted, and afflict the comfortable." When we decide to change things, we must be willing to go through the uncomfortable process that change requires.
And yes, it's almost always worth it.

"Fish or Cut-Bait." Ok, who is willing to admit you're a control freak? You try to control everything. You wish you could control the weather. (I heard the Chinese government have been doing this recently.) Churches must learn what it means to manage control and release. Most often the real question is, "When is it time to release?" When do you trust a ministry or the person running it?

"Spend or Save." This is the investment issue. When we spend money, we are investing in someone, something, some program, some whatever. I tend toward the save side. I need to grow in my faith to trust spending is investing in the growth of God's kingdom work.

"Watch or Get-in-the-game." It's a choice point for many people that we must help them with. Actually, we might want to just kick their butts off the bench and throw them in game. I suppose we could call this the "sink or swim" choice point, but that seems a bit harsh. So we'll just throw them in the game and let them figure out how to play and what their skills are.

Finally, the "I'm not the pastor" choice point. For too long folks that grow up in the church somehow come to see the role of minsitry as the job of the pastor. Too many churches have sadly perpetuated this error. The role of staff in a church must be to empower the people to do the ministry. Paul calls ministers to be enablers and catalysts for the work of God. The reformers called this "the presthood of all beleivers." The truth is that there is not division between the clergy and the laity. The truth is that in Christ there is no laity- we are all called and gifted to serve.

What choice points have you faced lately?