“Be still and know that I am God!” declares Psalm 46:10. Why is this so difficult for modern Americans? We seem to have lost the concept of stillness. Few seek stillness or expect it; most people have never known it. Many of us do not know what we are missing.

In my work as a Director of Christian Education, I worry a lot about the frenzy of our culture, our churches, and my own life and job. What is it really all about? Are we achieving anything worthwhile in all the program ministries pursued feverishly by modern congregations and their staff? Are we growing? My own professional experience in three mainline Protestant American denominations leaves me feeling a bit discouraged.

Church leaders spend an inordinate amount of time and energy massaging mechanics of their program ministries and of worship, trying to find that new alluring angle or the loophole in the schedule that surely must be there. Church leaders, both professional and lay, seem willing to accept endless meetings as their lot, creating much work with little result. How can we tempt people to participate in the life of the church? How can we be more compelling than soccer? I find a weary resignation in many congregations.

The church is in deeper crisis than it realizes. We continue to band-aid symptoms, trying the latest “miracle cures” rather than looking at the real disease. The church as a body no longer knows how to be still. It would seem that the church no longer knows that God is God.

Pastors, educators, and musicians are valued and considered to be successful when they excel at administration, personnel management, money-raising, and running a clean ship. Whether these goals are accomplished in a theologically informed framework is irrelevant, and in my observation, those that aim to do so actually seem to be feared.

The element of spiritual leadership appears to be less and less valued in ministry today. For example, I have heard of one instance where professional ministry staff members were asked to write goals for the year. The sad story is that their goals for spiritual discernment were dropped by the personnel committee because they weren’t measurable.

Most church educators, pastors, and musicians could earn much more money by running companies, being school principals, or playing in the symphony. But, we are in ministry because we want to work in pursuit of God and help others in that quest. Yet the church is stifling its own leaders by demanding that we conform to a business model rather than a more faith-based model, focused on listening for and to God. We need to pay attention to the spiritual needs of our members, staff, and the faith-seekers, and move forward into a new type of ministry for life and growth!

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