I realize that such quick and simple correlation between life situations and biblical stories might also lead to erroneous decisions. The process certainly needs to be approached with humility and an awe that enables believers to listen with intensity as a community.
It also requires the church to be continuously aware of the presence of Christ in such deliberations. Does what the congregation is deciding correspond with what the people know of Christ? In what way is Christ addressing this church?
If the pattern of the relationship of the disciples, as reported in the Gospels, is similar to that of the church, we need to realize that we will also continually misunderstand what Christ is saying to us. We need to look at what the factors were in the disciples’ misunderstandings and ask if they are present in our deliberations.
There is no patterned formula that we can follow which eliminates the risk of our decision making in the church. Yet failure to believe that the living Christ can address us is to prevent the church from being the Body of Christ. The church devolves into being a religious organization which is trapped in its sociological framework. It has ceased to listen to that voice of truth which speaks to it from outside of its own limited perspective.
For help in the practice of discerning the will of God, I would recommend the work of Charles M. Olsen and Danny E. Morris. Their book, Discerning God’s Will Together: A Spiritual Practice for the Church; Alban Publication; Bethesda;, Md. 1997, is a helpful guide in this area.
