Managing the Tension Between Formation and Mission
Scripture
Moses said to the Lord, “You have been telling me, ‘Lead these people,’ but you have not let me know whom you will send with me. You have said, ‘I know you by name and you have found favor with me.’ If you are pleased with me, teach me your ways so I may know you and continue to find favor with you. Remember that this nation is your people.”Exodus 33:12-13 (NIV)
Observation
Much has been said and written about Moses’ request of God in this story in Exodus 33. The deliverer of God’s people, the one whose name was his mission (“Moses”=“to pull or draw out”), requests of Yahweh, “Now show me your glory” (vs. 18). It is a powerful and profound prayer. What I had not noticed until this morning is Moses’ prayer before this prayer in verses 12-13. It gets behind his motive, his “why” for this appeal. Moses had a missional need for God’s presence. He reminds God that this “Deliver the Hebrews from Egypt’s bondage and take them to the Promised Land” plan was God’s idea. I love his ruthless honest before God. “You have been telling me, ‘Lead these people…’ Embedded in this supplication is a profound self-awareness in Moses. He cannot do this alone. This is Moses’ step 1: “We admitted we were powerless to lead these stiff-necked people alone - that this task was unmanageable.” Or, as John Ortberg who shortens this step says, “I can’t.” Moses is letting God know, “I cannot do this.” This next line in his prayerful plea is wise and mature for any leader. “If you are pleased with me, teach me your ways so I may know you and continue to find favor with you” (Vs. 13a). Moses knows that he does not have what it takes to lead this wandering mass and mess of humanity and that it will require ongoing instruction from heaven’s throne room. Moses will need to regularly go to school throughout the journey. Or as Rick Warren famously said, “All leaders are learners. The moment you stop learning, you stop leading.” Moses desperately needed God to day-by-day apprentice him for his Kingdom assignment of leading the people. This ongoing instruction from Yahweh would help Moses live into his “favor” with God. His rooted identity in God’s favor would give him wings for God’s mission. But I also noticed this morning Moses last statement in his prayer. “Remember that this nation is your people.” At the end of the day, Moses knew that the people he was leading were not “his” but God’s. This was God’s ministry not his!
Application
I have been giving a lot of thought to the tension between a spiritual leaders formation and mission. Just yesterday as I was reading “Practicing the Way” by John Mark Comer, I wrote in a blank space at the end of a chapter these two columns:
Be Do
Formation Mission
Inward Outward
Contemplative Active
Walk Work
Abide Abound
Faithfulness Fruitfulness
I’ve argued that that if you are only formational, you become self-absorbed and if you are only missional, you become mean and bitter. This, in the words of Andy Stanley, is “a tension we manage, not a problem we solve.” John Mark Comer writes in “Practicing the Way”, “…by far the hardest option but the most life-giving path forward is a life of contemplative action or active contemplation. A life of both-and, where all we are is integrated into apprenticing Jesus, our center, our life (p. 155). Moses knew that for the mission to advance, he had to stay connected to and learn from God regularly. Most of the spiritual leaders that I know and the one I know the best, myself, have a propensity to lean heavy into the mission and neglect the formation. The lure to more “butts, bucks, and buildings” is strong for pastors and church leaders. The “tyranny of the urgent” stuff like the sermon next Sunday and the youth lock in this weekend swallow up the “important/not urgent” stuff like solitude, stillness, silence and Sabbath. What gets rewarded and applauded is the increase in productivity. The applause of followers can drown out the applause of heaven. I recently heard an interview with theologian and pastor Glenn Packiam where he says that we have confused productivity with fruitfulness. He said that productivity is fast and fruitfulness is slow. Learning from Jesus, sitting at his feet as a student cannot happen in a 18 minute TED talk. No one sees me when I spend an hour in reflection and journaling. I know all too well this sad existence. All work and no play not only makes Johnny a dull boy but an empty one. I lose my identity as God’s favored son, as a COGPOW in the hustle and bustle of ministry activity. I become “the walking dead,” a Zombie leader. Maybe worse yet is that I begin to believe the lie that the people I lead are mine and not God’s. Yes, the drift towards a mission-driven life void of deep calm is my unchecked propensity. So, my prayer this morning borrowing from Moses is simple:
Prayer
God, if you are pleased with me, teach me your ways so I may know you and continue to find favor with you. Amen.
