The Discernment Of A Leader

When I was studying in the U.S. for a Doctor of Ministry, we were privileged to have the late Dr. Dale Galloway as our mentor. He was a very senior and established church planter and senior pastor who had grown a church plant to 8000.

I once asked him, “what are the traits that are needed to be a good Senior Pastor?” He cited his list, “vision, communication, leadership…. discernment…” amongst a few others. That last one stuck with me. While the rest were common listed traits, I felt that discernment was unusual for a Senior Pastor list. Galloway went on to elaborate the number of times he was faced with multiple options in which he had to know which was truth, which was better, and which was on God’s heart.

Discernment is a special ability to sense the truth of things, to sense which is right or wrong. It can lead you to God’s will in many situations, and it is a gift that God will grow in us if we will ask it of Him.

We often tire of diligence in discernment and use a short cut: “God please show me a sign. Please close the doors and open the right one”. While this approach has its uses, it may make us lazy to grow in discernment. I also assure you from experience that being a pastor, you can never fully rely on a sign-open-close door approach due to the myriads of circumstances faced.

Look at the apostle Paul, on an occasion when he had a sign from God.

[6] Paul and his companions traveled throughout the region of Phrygia and Galatia, having been kept by the Holy Spirit from preaching the word in the province of Asia. [7] When they came to the border of Mysia, they tried to enter Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus would not allow them to. [8] So they passed by Mysia and went down to Troas. [9] During the night Paul had a vision of a man of Macedonia standing and begging him, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.” [10] After Paul had seen the vision, we got ready at once to leave for Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them. (Acts 16:6-10)

“Discernment is a special ability to sense the truth of things, to sense which is right or wrong. It can lead you to God’s will in many situations, and it is a gift that God will grow in us if we will ask it of Him.”

The Bible tells us that Paul’s life purpose was to bring the gospel to the non-Jews. In that light, he was going around Asia in the East but turned course to Macedonia instead. This was very significant in the light of God’s plans in retrospect and in history, because it led the preaching of Christianity from Asia towards Rome and the West instead. Because of that, 300 years later in church history the whole Roman Empire superpower nation became Christian. It set the foundation for Christianity in the West until today!

This change was critical and was a divinely significant strategy. However, I submit to you that the dream played only one part of the redirection for Paul, and it was a discernment of patterns that led to Pauls conclusion.

Beyond signs & “open/closed doors”, discernment & interpretation is key.

A story was told of a visit to a doctor because a girl felt unwell. The doctor said to her, “Follow my instructions exactly: take the red pill, with full glass of water, the blue pill at lunch with a full glass of water, the yellow pill with a full glass of water”.

After one week, the doctor sees her again and says, “You look much better. Do it for one more week”.

She senses something amiss, and asks, “What is wrong? Why is it that I need to take the colors in that order? Why do I always need a full glass to drink?

The doctor replies, “Nothing is wrong and there is nothing in the tablets, what you actually need is to drink more water.”

The girl in the story asked good questions: what is wrong that I must continue, why this order of pills, why do I need a full cup? Because of her questions, she got to the truth of it, while others may have just followed doctor’s advice without asking.

Discernment is the ability to ask the right questions about something you see, and to draw out what God is doing from a pattern of what happens.

What you actually see in a single sign, or the event itself may or may not be as crucial as your discernment and interpretation of what it means.

[6] Paul and his companions traveled throughout the region of Phrygia and Galatia, having been kept by the Holy Spirit from preaching the word in the province of Asia. [7] When they came to the border of Mysia, they tried to enter Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus would not allow them to. (Acts 16:6-7)

The Bible doesn’t describe the circumstance of that last statement. What actually happened that made them conclude the Spirit kept them from Asia? Was it a missing boat, the wrong tide, an official that prevented them, plans that feel through? It was not described, and we don’t know. However, whatever it was, it led to a discerned conclusion—that was most important.

With signs & “open/closed doors”, discernment looks for patterns of agreement with other indicators

What are some other possible indicators?

“God often uses signs and open/closed doors to open our minds to another possibility that may not have occurred to us.”

• Biblical Principles validate the tracks / patterns observed
• Circumstances act as a beckoning sign
• Personal Resonance in your heart indicates your readiness
• Godly Check of counsel reduces huge risks

The above are some possible indicators that map a pattern which may lead to a discerned conclusion.

I submit to you that to be open to the Holy Spirit, allow signs & “open/closed doors” to open you to explore new possibilities.

These signs and circumstances led Paul to be open to new possibilities. At that point when he had a dream it was a final indicator that led him to conclude a new, out-of-the-box new direction.

As a result of the change in course, Paul went into the city of Philippi. He was jailed for preaching the gospel and met a jailor. There, while singing hymns and songs and coincidentally an earthquake happened that broke the prison doors to set him free. Paul also met Silas there, who later became a devoted helper to the Gospel cause. There were miracles that occurred, as well a new person added to Paul’s team!

God often uses signs and open/closed doors to open our minds to another possibility that may not have occurred to us. We can let signs or open or closed doors not be a conclusive indicator in themselves but rather lead us to start investigating it with all your normal ways of finding the indicators.

Discernment is key for senior leadership in church. How can we grow in it?

Ask God for it! Plead with Him, “God I want the ability to discern where you are leading and what is from you. In every situation, I desire to be able to tell truth from lies, good from bad, right from wrong”.

And God will grow us to discern and open our minds to new possibilities, because with God all things are possible!