I have had the privilege of coaching four churches in the Great Lakes Conference through year one of the Thriving Congregations Initiative. Though we begin the process together as veritable strangers, a year and five sessions later, meeting with them feels like I’m reuniting with friends.
At our third meeting, we go through what is called The Story Session during which I lead the group through an exercise that invites them to consider their congregation’s journey: its inception, growth periods, crises, and how all of that has shaped the current context. This is a pivotal session that is intended to remind the congregation of God’s faithfulness in their midst and to invite them to receive God’s healing and restoration for anything that may be an obstacle to the Holy Spirit’s movement.
Sweet celebrations, exciting wins, painful narratives, and even shameful valleys are all examined as part of the congregation’s story.
As one congregation spent time charting and identifying some painful moments over the past few years, a lightbulb went off for the pastor. He realized the fatigue and heaviness he’d been carrying – and had assumed to be burnout – was actually a sense of betrayal. They had invested in people who ended up hurting or leaving the congregation, and bitterness formed.
As the pastor bravely named that pain and chose to surrender it to God, he began to experience freedom and a renewed sense of energy for the work God had called him to do in that congregation.
What an honor to be part of such a redemptive moment in that pastor’s and church’s journey!
The Story Session touches tender places. Sweet celebrations, exciting wins, painful narratives, and even shameful valleys are all examined as part of the congregation’s story. The vulnerability it takes to reveal and reflect on such moments, especially ones that feel painful and shameful, takes courage. Yet each congregation has risen to the occasion.
And God has met them with his grace and faithfulness.
This article was originally published in Thriving Together, a newsletter for the Thriving Congregations Initiative.
Kerry Hoke is a licensed Brethren in Christ pastor and a coach for the Thriving Congregations Initiative. She has served in unique ministry settings for 13+ years, including with the BIC denomination, on a college campus, and in a senior living facility. Today, she owns and operates Integritas Development, an organization focused on developing non-profit and church leaders.
