Looking into the future for our church

Elders met together last Monday of summer, prayerfully considering what changes we dream for as the outgrowth of the revival.  This week Sabbath School affirms that true revival produces reformation.  This is how you know that a revival took place – things change for the better!  Consider stories in the Bible of kings who led the nation of Israel through the revival.  Things moved from bad to better, from good to great.  A revival and reformation moved people closer to God.

I listened to elders talk and jotted down notes, trying to capture the hope we all have that one day, soon and very soon, our church family will be the Body of Christ it was designed to be, filled with people who are:

-          compassionate for others

-           living to GIVE and not to GET

-          excited about this church family, united

-          genuinely caring for the Gospel mission

-          totally involved and invested in God’s Kingdom

-          relevant to community needs.

As we considered commonly used excuses from those who do not come around, like “I don’t need to go to church to have a relationship with God,” or “as long as you are a good person, you don’t need to belong to any denomination;” we wish that our following Christ, as leaders, as members of this church would be so evident, that people would want to belong to this Body of Christ, that people would see the benefit of church in developing and growing the relationship with God.

We understand that “the bare product” of our church is not programs or events, but genuine following Jesus. That’s what people want to see.  As we consider the new generation coming of age, we recognize that they want to see or journey, not hear our dogma.  So, we will endeavor in every meeting to create a space where people, young and old, can safely exploit their questions, doubts, concerns, without fear of ridicule or judgment.  We see our church becoming a place where no conversation is off limits, where we all listen, all are engaged in dialogue, before we attempt to give answers or teach.  And if we teach, we will teach what we learned from Jesus as we follow Him daily.

As we move into this new fiscal school year, as kids enroll in schools, let’s remember we are all students-disciples, we are all followers of Jesus.  His words were simple “follow Me!”