New Year’s Challenge: Learning to Ask Better Questions

 

 

 

 

 

We thought that we had the answers,
it was the questions we had wrong.
                                                          ~ Bono

It has been said that the answers we get are determined by the questions we ask.  Therefore, determining the proper questions is an important task for us as individuals and as congregations.    

Kingdom living poses different questions than posed by those living in the world… Kingdom questions seem counter-intuitive, incomprehensible or just plain foolish to those who are conformed to the ways of the world.  Jesus describes Kingdom thinking in Matthew when he says:  ‘… those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it.’  (Matthew 16:25) or ‘blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.’ (Matthew 5:4).  But as Paul said, “Hath not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?”  (I Cor 1:20b)

Communities of faith are not immune to “worldly creep” in our thinking and ministry.  This is especially true when we are experiencing times of stress, loss or financial difficulty.  Not surprisingly, because of our declining numbers and dollars, many Christian congregations have become consumed with how to stem the tide.  We ask the question “How can we get people to come to our church?” We scramble with advertising and marketing strategies; we add programs designed to draw newcomers into our midst. 

While I am not opposed to being culturally sensitive or relevant, I believe that these are the wrong questions.  Our questions need to be missional questions… questions that are shaped by God’s mission.  Instead of seeking to bring people in, a better question would be “how can we go out to serve?”  This is the question that God posed in Bethlehem.  At Christmas, God did not take out a display ad inviting us to come to heaven and hear the angels sing.  Rather, God deployed the angels to sing above the earth and the Word came to us, living amongt us so that we might experience heaven where we are. 

As we begin a new year, let us resolve to let our questions be shaped by the Kingdom of God and by gospel values rather than by the world.