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!”
