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Introduction

Spiritual discernment is a prayerful, informed, and intentional effort to distinguish God's voice from other voices that influence us.

Thy will be done on earth. Jesus gave these words to the disciples, and his followers have been praying them ever since. Spiritual discernment is the quest to discover God's will for us so that we can live into these words of the Lord's Prayer and all that they imply. Discernment was central in the life of Jesus, who came into the world to do the work of God. Jesus expressed it this way: “I can do nothing on my own…I seek to do not my own will but the will of [the one] who sent me” (Jn. 5:30). Doing God's work provided Jesus’ very sustenance: “Doing the will of the one who sent me and bringing this work to completion is my food” (Jn. 4:34 INT).

Jesus did not act alone but remained in close personal contact with God: “…I do nothing on my own, but I speak these things as [God] instructed me. And the one who sent me is with me; [and] has not left me alone….” (Jn. 8:28–29).

Jesus directed his followers to continue God's work in the world: “As you have sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world” (Jn. 17:18), and “You did not choose me but I chose you. And I appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last….” (Jn. 15:16).

Jesus warned his followers that they would be unable to do God's work without the closest mutual indwelling: “I am the vine, you are the branches. Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing” (Jn. 15:5).

Jesus then promised to impart the Holy Spirit to us and to remain with us always: “…the Holy Spirit, whom [God] will send in my name, will teach you everything…” (Jn. 14:26), and “And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age” (Mt. 28:20).

Just hours before he was crucified, Jesus prayed that those who were to follow his first disciples might all be one: “…as you, [God], are in me and I am in you, may they also be in us…!” (Jn. 17:21).

We are the body of Christ in today's world. It is thus both our call and our fulfillment to permit God to act in us and through us as we do business as the church. This book has been written to provide a resource for church groups that would like to approach their deliberations in the spirit of discernment. The authors have been working with various church bodies over the past several years, developing ways to make the practice of spiritual discernment a widespread reality. They hope that this book will provide insight and inspiration to people active in the affairs of the church. In this way the people of God can both enact their faith and deepen their love and trust¹ while working out community decisions that they face as the body of Christ. The Appendices offer practical suggestions for those who want to implement the ideas discussed in this book.

Let the Lord your God show us where we should go and what we should do. –Jer. 42:3