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Commentary
COMMENTARY: Don’t let worry win over faith Bishop Robert Schnase, Nov 4, 2008
Bishop Robert Schnase
By Bishop Robert Schnase Special Contributor
While serving as a pastor, I learned that I usually make my biggest mistakes when I’m tired. When I don’t attend to rest, sleep, exercise and time away, I become more likely to say things I wish I could take back, make decisions that aren’t constructive and foster an atmosphere that isn’t conducive to fruitfulness.
In a similar way, I think organizations make their biggest mistakes when they make decisions based on fear. Leaders gripped by fear tend to lose focus and forget purpose. If we’re not careful, community and trust become brittle, tempers intensify and we become reactive rather than thoughtful and intentional.
Fear stifles creativity and closes the door to the Spirit’s wisdom.
Perhaps that is why so many scriptural passages repeat a common refrain, “Do not be afraid.” That’s what the angel said to Mary at the annunciation, what the heralds of Christ’s coming told the shepherds in the field, what Jesus said to the disciples on the stormy sea and what the risen Christ said to the women at the tomb.
That’s the message the disciples—huddled together in fear after the death of Jesus—had trouble hearing.
“Have no fear” does not mean we avoid legitimate concern. It means “Don’t let worry win.” When worry wins, we lose. When worry wins, the purpose and ministry of Christ gets hijacked, derailed, ignored and avoided. Don’t let worry win.
Financial spiral
Like everyone else, I’ve cringed during the last couple weeks to hear of the downward spiral of the financial markets.
I think of people losing jobs, closing businesses, anxious about their houses, fearful for their retirements and wondering about their college savings funds.
I think of the churches we serve and their fall pledge campaigns, budgeting for next year, the missions they support, the ministries they offer and the building projects under way.
I think of funds and ministries at the conference level: insurance issues, pension funds, the new church starts, the recruitment and training of pastors, and youth and camping ministries.
I think of my own personal and family issues: our own pension fund, our kids’ college expenses, investments that will hopefully help purchase a home at retirement someday.
It’s hard to keep all these in our hearts without feeling a little jittery. It takes work not to let worry win. It’s hard to feed faith, and it’s easy to succumb to fear.
As you lead in your church as pastor or layperson, I think this season requires a special steadiness of hand. How you respond shapes your congregation’s response. If a congregation is driven by fear rather than faith, then it falls to us to keep the focus where it belongs—the ministry of Jesus Christ.
First, don’t rush to make permanent decisions based on temporary setbacks. We don’t know how long and how deep this troubling time may last. Make prudent decisions rather than panicked ones.
Fearful mistakes
When gripped by fear, sometimes we feel we must act, that we must do something, because that gives us a sense of control. But this has caused countless people to sell stocks at incredible losses, leaving investments that will one day rebound.
This same fear may cause churches impulsively to reduce budgets, eliminate good and fruitful ministries and cut staff. These might be good and necessary steps at times, but check the motivation: Is it fear or faith? Reactive or purpose-driven? Impulsive or deliberately and prayerfully considered?
Second, remember that organizations take their cue from the attitudes and responses of their leaders. If the pastor and lay leadership push the panic button, everyone else will respond accordingly.
Letters and communications that report conscientious concern, report honest trends and invite prayerful support generate a far more positive response than those that imply the church is facing catastrophe, calamity and crisis. Appeal to peoples’ highest motives, not their fears. We’re followers of the Christ who calmed the seas and walked forward amidst the tempests of the time. He invites us into his way, promising to be with us in every step we take.
A radio news story reminded parents of young children to be careful about how they describe family finances because children take things literally. If Mom and Dad say in exaggerated exasperation, “We’re going broke. We’re losing everything.” it can leave children sleepless thinking about the homeless life to come!
Lead steadily
Picture a congregation as concentric circles moving out from the center. If the leaders at the center use language carelessly and with unrestrained hyperbole, those further out from the center may take it literally since they don’t know the details the way the leaders do. So use a steady hand. Practice faith rather than fear.
Finally, pastors and the lay leadership do well to keep the focus on the purpose of the church, even and especially during stressful times. Challenging times do not relieve us of the joyful obligation of worshipping God with glad and generous hearts; of serving others with compassion, mercy and justice; of studying God’s word and teaching the children; and of inviting others into Christ.
Challenging times do not relieve congregations of the calling to be generous and giving. Many of the ministries our congregations support—relief and assistance, women’s shelters, feeding and homebuilding ministries, ministries that help children and the poor, scholarships—need us more now than ever.
Generosity is not seasonal, temporary or only for smooth and easy times. Rather, generosity is our way of being in the world as followers of Christ, because it’s the way God works in the world.
As Paul writes of the church of Macedonia, “for during a severe ordeal of affliction, their abundant joy and their extreme poverty have overflowed in a wealth of generosity on their part. For, as I can testify, they voluntarily gave according to their means, and even beyond their means, begging us earnestly for the privileges of sharing in this ministry... ” (II Corinthians 8:2-5)
These early Christians did not let worry win. May we learn from them in our following of Christ.
Bishop Robert Schnase
