…Some dear friends of yours are part of a tight knit bible study group in their church, one that has met regularly for years. It's small, just a handful of families, and they've been through everything together: weddings, baby showers, funerals, divorces…everything. And not only do they share years and years of history, they've also been truly vulnerable with one another, telling each other things about themselves and about their stories that few others know.

It's a group I'm sure many of us would like to have, no?

But something strange happens…

We’ve never experienced anything like this.

All over the country schools and businesses have closed. You can’t go out to eat. Churches have moved online. Professional sports are cancelled for the foreseeable future. And tens of millions have lost or are losing their jobs.

And, of course, Covid-19.

We’re still at the tip of the spear, so to speak, which makes it hard to say what is going to come of all of this. But…

Just a few weeks ago my wife and I were stressing over what the summer was going to look like: budgeting for our annual visit to see family in Seattle, whether to sign up for this camp or that camp, and wondering how we’d survive yet another summer with kids bouncing off every solid object in our house.

Feels like a thousand years ago.

Everything has changed, hasn’t it? We’re in Minnesota where…

So few grains of happiness measured against all the dark and still the scales balance,” Jane Hirshfield

I came across the above quote in one of my favorite blogs, https://www.brainpickings.org/, and I wanted to share it because I think it’s a well needed word of hope in the midst of a dark and trying time for the church. Mega church scandals, denominational splits, and falling attendance…it seems inevitable that the church in the United States will quickly resemble the church in Europe: a collection of empty buildings. If you’re leading a congregation in one way or another, I wouldn’t blame you for having feelings of hopelessness as you try what you can in the face of all of these challenges.

But if you’re leading a church, or just someone who loves and believes in the potential of Christ’s body in the world, I think the above quote is more than just wishful thinking. I think it’s prophetic. Here’s why…

One of my favorite things to do in ministry was guide our members in choosing their lay leaders. Our leadership consisted of me as pastor, and a separate group of lay leaders chosen out of the congregation by their peers over months of discernment and seeking the Holy Spirit together. I probably treasured the process even more than the result, since it afforded very busy people a reason to pull out of the daily grind and seek the Spirit of Jesus together over the course of months. But the result wasn’t too shabby either: every year as we rolled part of the Board off and brought a new class of Board Members on to take their places, I was perpetually amazed at the imperfectly perfect mix of broken saints God was able to assemble to lead their brothers and sisters.

We always tried to give ourselves plenty of time to discern and pray together as a leadership nominating team, but the goal was to have a new leadership board in place for the beginning of the year. And for many churches and congregations out there, I know that new leaders are probably being nominated as we speak, and old leaders are being called back to take the helm on behalf of their brothers and sisters once again.

It is to those of you in that boat that I write this today…