Challenges can be
met with hope

“We are hard pressed on every side but not crushed, perplexed but not in despair” (2 Corinthians 4:8 NIV).
Those words written by the Apostle Paul to the church in Corinth could describe what I have heard from you in the McAllen District. You, too, are facing great challenges, which press in on your congregations and perplex your best leaders. Still, there is life in you— life that God is using to transform your congregations and through them to transform your communities.
As I write this message, Mary and I are halfway through our visits to the district churches. I am listening to you as you tell me how you got to your church, what you like about it and what challenges press in on it.
Although it is too early in the visiting process for me to arrive at any hard conclusions, I am hearing from you that your churches are like close families in that warm compassion and active care characterize your relationship with one another. You desire that others outside your church family know of this compassion and care. Most of you have tried or are planning to try different strategies to communicate God’s care to the world.
You may perceive that those don’t always produce the results you would like or work as quickly as you would like. Yet you continue to work at finding ways to reach out to others. So you are frustrated but not despairing, challenged but not quitting.
Several of you have wisely remarked that if you maintain your trust in Christ, pray for God’s strength and wisdom, and live out your discipleship faithfully in the world, challenges, like more people in the pews, more hands and feet helping with the ministries and more money in the offering plate, will be met. I agree with you. However, God may ask you through that trust, prayer and discipleship to risk doing some things you have never done before.
Change is never easy, and we often resist it. Ron Heifetz in his book on leadership has said we don’t resist change but we do resist the loss that comes with change. Those words make sense to me. When we face change, we need to find hope that something greater will result.
I believe that God has something significant in store for our Valley congregations. I believe that as we face the challenges of ministry here and make the changes necessary to accomplish that ministry, God will redeem our fears and produce a transformation that exceeds our dreams.
That’s my hope, and it gives me the confidence to work for and expect something grand for our churches and our district. I invite you to join me in that hope—and in that work.