Good Call: Learning to make decisions with God

Have you ever experienced conflict between what your head and your heart were telling you to do? Have you struggled to reach agreement with others when making a group decision, or regretted a major decision and had to live with the consequences? Have you ever found it difficult to be sure of God’s will in a particular situation? If so, you’re in very good company.

Everybody makes decisions – all the time. Are there ‘5 simple steps’ to the right decision? No, there aren’t. Should you stop thinking about it and ‘just do something’? No, you shouldn’t. But could you expect God to share with you his will and purpose, giving you clues and directions in a way you can understand? Yes, you could. Iain Dunbar and Peter Wilkinson share their own decision-making history (even the dodgy stuff) and encourage you to look honestly at yours. Borrowing from the world of coaching, they help you evaluate your decision-making to date and develop new and better habits and practices with God at the centre.

‘In a world where we are faced with daily, seemingly relentless, pressures
to make potentially life-changing decisions, this timely volume places a
strong emphasis on the importance of hearing from God and personal
self-reflection – rather than offering a formulaic ‘system’ that can often lead
to discouragement and feelings of failure through poor decision-making.
I have been privileged to know Iain and Pete as friends, mentors and church
co-leaders during the past 40-plus years and can testify to their authenticity,
integrity and godly wisdom that will be evident throughout this book.
Whether you are facing important decisions now, or at any time in the future
(which is a certainty!), I would strongly commend their work to you.’
Andrew Marriott, executive director, Missionary Ventures [MotiVate] NZ

‘I have known Iain and Pete for the best part of 45 years. As I read this book,
I hear their voices; the intonation, the stress on certain words, the pain and
joys of being who and what they are. We are all different people yet, beneath
the differences, our hearts find their resting place in God and one can sense
their earnest ‘desires of the heart’ as they engage with the professional and
personal frustrations they have encountered. Here are two blokes, wrestling
with the transcendent God of Jacob. Their scientific/ engineering/ managerial
nature comes through in recounted personal and corporate experiences.
Their stories are honest and illustrative and heart meets head as we are
taken through the chapters. Iain’s use of scriptural narrative – the ‘story’
written for a reason and with passion by a passionate, storytelling Jewish
people – is lively. His plain reading of this story, sitting on top of the exegesis,
‘lives’ and he applies it brilliantly. Pete brings a different felt experience. His
methodical, engineering approach is like a strong but gentle hand coming
in, guiding the apprentice’s hand at the lathe – ‘Here, let me help you... Just
a bit more pressure there… That’s right, see what you can do? Now, try it
on your own.’ This book is pastoral in nature, aiming for practical, clear and
godly outcomes at all levels of decision-making, accompanied by the peace
of God to rule in our hearts and minds.’
Revd J. Andrew Dodd, Baptist minister (retired) and president of Churches
Together in Cumbria

Transforming Ministry January 2024. Review by Howard Rowe

Having worked in project management in industry, I’ve studied ‘decision-making’, and was unsure I wanted to read another book about it. But I was pleasantly surprised by this book, which is bright, interesting and full of great examples. Having made some good but many poor decisions in life, it was good to discover that the authors had too. They do not propose a canned methodology, but commend a process based on data, analytical skill, and discernment that comes from God. Chapters on developing our spiritual senses and discernment are particularly strong. The book considers decision-making in families and in church councils. Will I make only good decisions from here on? Sadly, no! But I will be more aware of the resources available to me as a person of faith! The book is written with imagination and should be read cover-to-cover, but you could dip into it and still benefit. I commend it to leaders, church members, parents, teachers and businesspeople.
Reviewed by Howard Rowe

Church Times 04.08.23. Review by Dr Eve Poole 

When wrestling with a knotty problem, many Christians have experienced trying God on the metaphorical white phone, only to find a rather puzzling buzz on the line. The businessmen Iain Dunbar and Peter Wilkinson share your frustration and have written a book to try to help.

Good Call: Learning to make decisions with God is deliberately accessible in style, as the two of them take it in turns to workshop you through a better process. They start by asking you to learn from your own history, by recalling your past decisions and charting them on a timeline, good and bad. Reflecting on them will teach you your own tendencies under pressure. The authors remind you that good decisions, even hard ones with difficult consequences, will always give you a sense of peace, while the less good ones will tend to prey on your mind and feel somehow unresolved.

Using examples from the Bible and from their own careers, they set out a process for learning how to discern God’s voice in the noise. It requires patience to develop what they liken to ‘good taste’, and the hallmark of a bad decision will often be that it was rushed. But starting to make every decision with God, no matter how small, trains you in the way. This habit holds you in relationship and teaches you to listen. The accumulation of all your decisions hones in you the development of a settled conscience, which be- comes over time an ever more reliable guide as you learn to discern the path God wants you to take. And if you are ever really stuck? They remind you to cry to the Lord, and sleep on it. Joy will come in the morning, and you will always feel peaceful when you have got it right.

Dr Eve Poole writes on theology, economics, and leadership.