Journey Inward, Journey Outward
In this Loose Canon column, I work with subjects of congregational development. Too often, this topic is considered in isolation and far too often the thinking is isolated to numeric church growth. But churches do not and should not simply grow in terms of more people sitting in pews on a Sunday. If we only go about being the church for the sake of better statistics, then God can not and should not bless that effort. We may be successful, but that success will not be from God’s blessing.
Rather, we are to be faithful to that which God has called us and we know that faithfulness bears fruit. Often that fruit is growth that can be charted with statistics. Yet, the growth always starts with the work of the Holy Spirit in human hearts and this slips through the cracks when we get solely data driven.
In her now out of print book Journey Inward, Journey Outward (Harper and Row, 1968), Elizabeth O’Conner shared the way The Church of Our Savior in Washington, DC went about being church. She noted that churches had become so concerned about numbers that concern for each individual soul with whom the church came in contact was being lost. She made the case that the renewal of of the church “cannot come to the church unless its people are on an inward journey” while holding “with equal emphasis that renewal cannot come to the church unless its people are on an outward journey.”
To simplify her text, on the journey inward, one comes to see onesself, God and others. This self-knowledge seen through relationship with God and lived into in community with others builds up a person into a disciple of Jesus Christ. In this engagement one’s God-given gifts are called forward. The disciple then continues on an outward journey in which one is truly present to others. There is not an either/or with discipleship and mission or ministry. Without gaining a deeper connection to God as revealed in Jesus Christ, we cannot know ourselves and so can not really see others and be present to them. The inward journey is required. Yet, if we only take the journey inward, we can become like the Dead Sea (pictured above), which is continually noursished, but has no outlet and so is rich in minerals and devoid of life.
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This simple concept of churches helping nourish and sustain people on their journeys inward and outward adds to the missional emphasis I have placed in my recent Loose Canon writings. A missional outlook is essential for the church as God did not come among us as Jesus to teach, heal, deliver, and then suffer, die and physically rise never to die again in order to start and institution. God came in Jesus to bring us into relationship, a life giving and life changing relationship. And this relationship needs both the journey inward and the journey outward to grow and flourish.
As we near the “program year” for your congregation, how do you see that balance in your church’s schedule of events? Is the inward journey of discipleship being supported and parishioners thereby challenged in helpful ways? Is the journey of service to God through ministry to others just as evident? How is your congregation doing at this balance of the journey inward, journey outward? Should you add more ways to engage in mission or discipleship? To grow disciples, you need to foster both journeys.
The Rev. Canon Frank Logue
Canon to the Ordinary
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