Crossing Thresholds Prayer Guide

by Rev. Mark E. Tidsworth, Founder and Team Leader

Last week I began a series on the emerging Crossing Thresholds process, designed to assist churches toward breaking through invisible barriers into new seasons of missional movement. This past weekend I had the pleasure of being with a Crossing Thresholds Coordination Team in a Lutheran church who is excited about the process. This coming weekend I will be with a Baptist church, doing the same. I’m very encouraged with the excellent traction for churches so far as they work to cross thresholds.

This week we are completing the Crossing Thresholds Prayer Guide, forty days of prayer directly linked to the process itself. I hope the following devotional from that guide will strengthen us all for the journey, crossing thresholds into greater expressions of disciples and churches.

Comparison Is The Thief Of Joy

4 Each person should test their own work and be happy with doing a good job and not compare themselves with others. 5 Each person will have to carry their own load.

-Galatians 6:4-5

They were one of my first church consulting clients, starting our get-to-know-you conversation with “we are a small church.” Their body language clearly communicated their meaning… shrug of the shoulders, sad facial expression, looking down. After an inquiring question, they began a litany of the numerous ministries and activities they cannot do because of their limited people and organizational resources. Most every descriptive sentence began with, “We can’t….” It’s been twenty-two years, yet this interaction remains etched on my mind. Comparison was actively stealing their joy, their hope, and the possibility for missional engagement and movement. “We can’t….”

Looking around at other churches in their community, other “more successful” churches, this small church grew discouraged and then despairing. That belief from American folklore, “bigger is better,” was driving their self-evaluation as a church. This mindset was serving as a pinch point, creating an invisible barrier to missional progress, blocking them from crossing the threshold into a fresh season of church life.

So what happened? Something amazing, though not so sophisticated. I simply started asking questions about who they are and what they are doing. In a gathering after worship, the conversation rose from open-ended questions. One man in his fifties described how he nearly died of a heart attack, yet miraculously survived. Now he volunteers at the VA Hospital in his community three days a week in the heart unit. He visits patients, encouraging them, praying with them, sharing that God has purposes for their lives. I asked him why he does this, why he serves in this way. “Because I learned in this church that disciples of Jesus have a calling to serve, and this is how I serve.”

Later a family group of children and a young teen spoke up. They love soccer, holding a one-week soccer camp in their large yard each summer. They invite all the kids from their neighborhood, start with a devotional and prayer, and then teach soccer skills five days in a row, 9AM-Noon, one week every summer. All the kids in their neighborhood want to be there. “Why,” I asked? “Because our church told us we have gifts for making a difference in the world. We love soccer and are good at it, so we do soccer camps.”

And another, and another, and another told their stories of serving in the world. Tears were shed that day, as this church came to recognize itself as a body of Christ that forms disciples of Jesus. No, they don’t have big programs, nor massive choirs. But they have something even better. They are a disciple-forming power house. Gone were the shrugs, the downcast looks, and apologetic attitudes for who they are. This small church discovered they are a small church with a God-sized calling: to form disciples of Jesus who partner with God to transform this world.

So church, comparison is the thief of joy. While recognition of our identities, of who we are in Christ, ratchets up our joy through the roof.

Prayer Prompt – Please prayerfully reflect on what insights rise for you from this devotional, capturing them on the response page.