FEATURE I Candidates Sunday
Territorial Envoy Kim Whyard Willing to listen, learn and be led The final article in a series in which different Salvationists explain what the Candidates Sunday theme Be Willing means to them
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N my experience there is often tension between doing the right thing and what I think is best. Sometimes they are the same, but when they are not, how do I choose? I suppose that discernment comes when we pledge to be willing to obey God rather than to do what everyone asks or expects. I have always been someone who, rather than having a clear skillset or gift to be used in the Church, looks for gaps that need to be filled and offers to fill them. I don’t like gaps. I don’t like things not getting done. And while I draw the line at anything to do with catering – be grateful that you have never tasted my cooking! – I will throw myself into almost anything that needs doing. However, there has been a niggle over many years, a feeling that God had a Kim-shaped hole that no one else could fill. Rather than be willing to do anything my fellow Christians asked of me, I really needed to be willing to do what God was asking of me. I didn’t have a clear picture of what that was, so I demonstrated my willingness by seeking advice from people I trust, opening myself up through prayer and looking for signs that would point me in
the direction God wanted me to go. God honoured that willingness and now, in my fifties, I am in full-time ministry. I see evidence that the skills and experience I have gained during my life can be used by God in this new role, and I feel better equipped to face the challenges that inevitably come my way. I have discovered that when I am willing and open to God’s leading, he often surprises me. Like many, I have not found the past 13 months easy. I had only been a full-time leader for five months, was just starting to find my feet, and was plunged into a scary and confusing world of Zoom meetings, video creation and publishing worship meetings on YouTube. The corps building was closed – no sounds of toddlers playing or people singing – and I wondered how God was going to use this time in any positive way. But he has! Over the past year I have been working with another church in the town to develop a partnership that combines our resources so that we can be stronger together. We have each been willing to make compromises, knowing that God is at the centre and that, when we fully trust him, he can do much more than we ever imagined.
Despite having acquired useful skills and experience in previous roles, I know I have to guard against believing that I have all the answers. I certainly don’t, so I have to be willing to learn. Gone are the days when teaching came from elders and was passed on to younger people. Now, we have to acknowledge and accept that younger generations have much to teach us – not only about technology and social media but also about social conscience and global issues that have been ignored for far too long. One of the biggest challenges for me is to be willing to listen – especially to people who have very different life experiences from my own. I need to listen to people of colour, to understand how overt and subconscious racism has affected and is affecting them. I need to listen to people from the LGBTQ+ community, to understand their feelings, including, for some, their disappointment with the Church. I need to listen to people with different belief systems, to understand the values they build their lives on and perhaps why they have rejected Christianity. I need to listen to young people growing up in a very different world – understand their concerns, worries and fears, but also their hopes, drive and determination to build a better world. Mostly, I must be willing to listen to God because he is the reason that I am who I am, and his love and grace have shown me a Kim-shaped hole in his plan. I never expected it to be easy. Being willing can come at a cost. But even after this difficult past year, I can testify to the joy and peace it brings, knowing that no one else can fill that hole and that God is with me all the way.
TERRITORIAL ENVOY WHYARD IS CORPS LEADER, CIRENCESTER Salvationist 22 May 2021
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