Input/Output
Finding God’s Will Together
What spiritual transformation means as a team
Many of us have a vague idea that there should be something different about our leadership as Christians. But that difference usually gets reduced to a perfunctory prayer at the beginning of a meeting. What is it, then, that distinguishes spiritual leadership from other kinds of leadership?
At the heart of spiritual leadership is discernment–the capacity to recognize and respond to the presence and the activity of God both personally and in community. The Israelite journey was really a story of ongoing discernment, of learning to recognize the presence of God and then following that presence wherever it went (Numbers 9).
Moses pointed out that discernment is about intimacy with God–an intimacy that other nations did not have with their gods and would marvel at: “You will show your wisdom and discernment to the peoples, who will say, ’Surely this great nation is a wise and discerning people!’ For what other great nation has a god so near to it as the Lord our God is whenever we call on Him?” (Deuteronomy 4:6-7, New Revised Standard Version).
Discernment requires us to move beyond our reliance on cognition and intellectual hard work to a place of deep listening and response to the Spirit of God within us and among us. It is one thing to rely on what feels like such a subjective approach when it pertains to our personal life; but it’s much riskier when our decisions involve large budgets, other people’s financial investments, multiple staff and high-powered boards.
The spiritual leader is distinguished by his or her commitment and ability to guide the discernment process1, so that everyone can affirm together a shared sense of God’s desire for them and move forward on that basis. The practice of community discernment, like any other Christian discipline, is a means of creating space for God’s activity in our lives.
Romans 12:1-2 establishes a causal (not casual) relationship between the journey of spiritual transformation and the ability to discern God’s will both personally and in community: “Be not conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may discern what is the will of God–what is good and acceptable and perfect” (NRSV, emphasis added).
The discernment process involves a commitment to listening with love and attention to our experiences, to the inner promptings of the Holy Spirit, to Scripture and Christian tradition, to pertinent facts, to those who will be affected most deeply by our decisions, and to that place in us where God’s Spirit witnesses with our spirit about those things that are true.
When the gift of discernment has been given, this is the time when spiritual leaders look at each other and say, “To the best of our ability, we agree that this particular path is God’s will for us, so this is the direction we will go.” Then we rest in God, thanking Him for His presence with us. 
Ruth Haley Barton is founder of the Transforming Center. A spiritual director, teacher and retreat leader, she is the author of numerous books and articles on the spiritual life.
Finding God's Will Together
Many of us have a vague idea that there should be something different about our leadership as Christians. But that difference usually gets reduced to a perfunctory prayer at the beginning of a meeting. What is it, then, that distinguishes spiritual leadership from other kinds of leadership?
At the heart of spiritual leadership is discernment–the capacity to recognize and respond to the presence and the activity of God both personally and in community. The Israelite journey was really a story of ongoing discernment, of learning to recognize the presence of God and then following that presence wherever it went (Numbers 9).
Moses pointed out that discernment is about intimacy with God–an intimacy that other nations did not have with their gods and would marvel at: “You will show your wisdom and discernment to the peoples, who will say, ’Surely this great nation is a wise and discerning people!’ For what other great nation has a god so near to it as the Lord our God is whenever we call on Him?” (Deuteronomy 4:6-7, New Revised Standard Version).
Discernment requires us to move beyond our reliance on cognition and intellectual hard work to a place of deep listening and response to the Spirit of God within us and among us. It is one thing to rely on what feels like such a subjective approach when it pertains to our personal life; but it’s much riskier when our decisions involve large budgets, other people’s financial investments, multiple staff and high-powered boards.
The spiritual leader is distinguished by his or her commitment and ability to guide the discernment process1, so that everyone can affirm together a shared sense of God’s desire for them and move forward on that basis. The practice of community discernment, like any other Christian discipline, is a means of creating space for God’s activity in our lives.
Romans 12:1-2 establishes a causal (not casual) relationship between the journey of spiritual transformation and the ability to discern God’s will both personally and in community: “Be not conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may discern what is the will of God–what is good and acceptable and perfect” (NRSV, emphasis added).
The discernment process involves a commitment to listening with love and attention to our experiences, to the inner promptings of the Holy Spirit, to Scripture and Christian tradition, to pertinent facts, to those who will be affected most deeply by our decisions, and to that place in us where God’s Spirit witnesses with our spirit about those things that are true.
When the gift of discernment has been given, this is the time when spiritual leaders look at each other and say, “To the best of our ability, we agree that this particular path is God’s will for us, so this is the direction we will go.” Then we rest in God, thanking Him for His presence with us.
- Dr. Barton has written extensively about steps in the leadership-discernment process in Chapter 12 of Strengthening the Soul of Your Leadership: Seeking God in the crucible of ministry, copyright 2007, from which this article is adapted with permission.
Ruth Haley Barton is founder of the Transforming Center. A spiritual director, teacher and retreat leader, she is the author of numerous books and articles on the spiritual life.