Finding the Serendipities
A leader's role: making "accidental" discoveries.
Lee Eclov
January 1, 2006
A reporter for the local newspaper was doing a story on our church's building plans. Offhandedly he asked if we were doing anything to connect with the enormous new retirement center being built in our community. It hit me. "You've asked exactly the question I should've asked a long time ago," I said, feeling rather foolish, "but it never occurred to me." A few weeks later, I was visiting with a seminary student in our church about what kind of ministry he might be seeking. "I know it sounds kind of strange," he said, "but I'd either like to work with youth or senior adults." I mentioned that conversation to one of our elders, an executive working with retirement communities. "Senior adults are the forgotten ministry," he said, with enormous passion. "It's a big lie that everyone comes to Christ before they're 18. We've seen 30 or 40 senior adults converted in the last year in our facilities." As pastor, I began to realize something was afoot, and almost blurted out "coincidence" before I realized this was a case of a serendipity spotting. Serendipity is "an apparent aptitude for making fortunate discoveries accidentally." Pastors have an inside track on serendipities. It might look like we make fortunate ministry discoveries accidentally, but the fact is, Someone is sending us signals. Some ministries we begin out of careful planning and long consideration. But God also has a way of setting a church up for a ministry we never saw coming. Often these unexpected ministries are a source of special delight for a congregation; they are often unique, something a little different from what any other church is doing. Pastors are often better situated to see the serendipities than anyone else. Why is that? People share their ministry ideas ...
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