You may have noticed that Tim Challies has been doing a "blog tour" for his new book The Discipline of Spiritual Discernment (Crossway; a wonderfully not-for-profit publisher) which contends that discernment is the call of every believer. We are honored that the tour bus would pull in for a final stop here at Church Matters. Here is the tour thus far:  

Jan 7: Evangelical Outpost

Jan 8: Tall Skinny Kiwi

Jan 9: A-Team

Jan 10: Sharper Iron

Jan 11: Gender Blog

Jan 14: Jollyblogger

Jan 15: Between Two Worlds

Jan 16: Team Pyro

Jan 17: Internet Monk

Tim has a good discussion in the chapter on developing discernment about how discernment is best developed in the context of the local church. One of the biggest challenges for pastors must be the exercise of discernment amidst all the complex ethical, personal, and spiritual situations thrown at them. So talk about a good topic for pastors! We asked Tim a couple of question, which he answers below one at a time.

Tim, from your perspective as a layperson, what steps would you like to see more pastors taking to grow in discernment?

Though The Discipline of Spiritual Discernment was not written specifically for pastors, I do hope that pastors will read it as I think there is much there that can benefit them. I would be thrilled to hear in the coming months or years that this book assisted pastors in understand that spiritual discernment cannot be separated from spiritual growth. It is easy for any us to leave the discernment for the experts and to then follow along simply trusting others to discern what is good from what is evil on our behalf. Laypersons are prone to rely on their pastors and elders while pastors and elders seem often to rely on “experts”—perhaps their favorite author or conference speaker. But when we read Hebrews 5:14 we see that the author of that letter firmly sets discernment in the realm of maturity. “Solid food,” he says, “is for the mature.” And who are the mature? They are those who have had their “powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil.” So discernment cannot be set apart from maturity. And since we are to be constantly striving towards spiritual maturity, we must also be striving for an increased measure of discernment. All maturity, it seems, must pass through discernment. Interestingly, discernment is not a skill that is developed on its own. Rather, it is developed as we dedicate ourselves to the Christian disciplines—reading the Bible, meditation, prayer, and so on. Those pastors who live their lives in the Word, studying it so they can then pass along what they’ve learned to their congregations—those pastors will be equipping themselves to be more discerning and will, in turn, be equipping their congregations through the preaching of the Word. 

All this to say, that I hope to see pastors redoubling their efforts to grow in spiritual maturity so they can in turn help their churches grow in maturity. In this way we’ll all grow in discernment and bring glory to God by knowing Him as He really is and worshiping Him in the way He requires.

Are there specific areas of church life and pastoring in which you find yourself wishing pastors would exercise greater discernment?

I acknowledge that pastoring is, in all likelihood, the most difficult job in the world. I can’t think of another job where so much is required and so much is expected. Knowing the burdens they face, I always hesitate to critique men who accept the call to do this work. However, if there is an area where I wish pastors would exercise greater discernment I would suggest it is in the temptation to gauge their ministry by standards other than the ones God gives us in the Bible.

Nobody knows a church like that church’s pastor (or nobody should know a church like that church’s pastor). God has charged this man with the care for that group of people. So many pastors lack confidence in their own ability to do this and this may tempt them to turn to other people to do the difficult work for them. This almost inevitably means that they turn to experts and the programs they offer. The 40 Days of Purpose program was a highly-publicized example where pastors were essentially told, “If you give me your church for 40 days, I’ll give it back to you bigger and better and stronger.” But in accepting this many pastors showed a lack of confidence in their own ability to speak the words their congregation needs to hear. Not confident in their own ability to pastor their people, they outsourced this aspect of their ministry. Other pastors do this by preaching sermons that are not theirs or by entering the pulpit unprepared, having determined that they cannot speak to the people in a way that will benefit them.

A pastor’s primary duty is to be faithful to the Word. But faithfulness may not always bring about the results we might like (Every pastor will need to read D.A. Carson’s biography of his father, Memoirs of an Ordinary Pastor, when it becomes available in February!). When that happens, pastors may look to others and be tempted to involve their churches in programs that are unbiblical or pseudo-biblical or even perfectly biblical but just not right for that church. I would love to see pastors better discern how the Word can best speak to their congregations and how they can serve their people by being a pastor to them. 

Very helpful. Thanks, Tim.