Getting Assessed: 1 Thessalonians 1:1-3

Our denomination, the Evangelical Congregational Church (ECC), has something called the Pastoral Assessment Center (PAC). The PAC is one of the early steps a pastoral couple or single attends on the road to becoming a licensed pastor in the ECC. When Michelle and I started at Faith Church in October 2002, I was hired as Youth/Associate Pastor. But I was not a pastor in the ECC. I was solely a Faith Church employee.
A few months later, January 2003, Michelle and I attended PAC. At PAC, there are assessors and assessees. In 2003, we were assessees, and the assessors were assessing us, to see if we were pastoral material. Many years later, Michelle and I would serve as assessors for a few years at PAC.
The PAC environment is quite fascinating, as the assessees know they are being watched and evaluated. And not just in the formal interview sessions. Assessors observe assessees when they are eating, relaxing, and talking in the hallway. Assessors only have a few days, so they want to glean as much information as they can about the assessees. Assessors have a big decision to make. Will this person be given the green light to move forward in the process of becoming an EC pastor, or not?
As you can imagine, then, PAC is an intense environment. When you know you are being watched, it feels heavy, emotional, like you can’t let down. What if you say the wrong thing? Will you not be allowed to become a pastor? Your mind is racing. That high stakes environment can be exhausting. Maybe it is because we got a good result from PAC, but when Michelle and I were being assessed in 2003, we came away from the event feeling cared for. I know that is not always the case, especially when a person doesn’t get the result they want.
I tell you about PAC to ask you how you might feel if you were being assessed. Not to become a pastor. But how would you feel if your pattern of discipleship to Jesus was being assessed? What result would you get in your discipleship evaluation?
In this video, we’ll all be assessed, kind of. This sermon marks a new preaching series through the New Testament book of 1st Thessalonians. In chapter 1, verses 1 through 3, Paul gives the Christians in the town of Thessalonica the result of a discipleship assessment. Is it good news? Bad news? How are the Thessalonian Christians doing as disciples of Jesus? Check it now and see for yourself. Then join us here, as Paul’s words will help us have an evaluation of our practice of discipleship to Jesus.