Are we there yet?

We are not the same. We are one in Christ, but we are different. As we seek the way and share the way, we are drawn to the cross and become more like Christ, and thus each other. The scriptures are plain from Revelation that people from every tribe, tongue and nation will be present, praising God with one voice. Different in ways, but alike each other in God.

What Christ looks like in each country and culture will look different in its particulars. Even the early Christians in Jerusalem said they'd not "bind" anything on "Gentile believers" except to abstain from immorality and from eating blood. Everything else? Up for grabs at that point.

While we give verbal nod to the 'space' we need to give each other across cultural lines, it's amazing to see how little space we give each other "up close" at times. I amazed to see in my life and others how much we limit other people who are believers by our lack of grace and faith in God's power to change people and to open their lives to better, greater things. For example...

• "I heard that guy sinned by _____ and so I will not trust him. He may serve God in some ways, but let's completely cut him off of anything beyond ______."


• "Don't you know what she was like when she was younger? Why she ______ and then she ______. I tell you what, you've got to handle people like that by ______."


• "I only want us to focus on reaching out to _____ because I don't believe we'll be effective in getting others and I really want to keep that "_____" feel in our church."


• "We need to plan around _____ and just move people and resources around them so that they'll be kept busy doing what we want them to do."


• "______ is the person we need to focus on for the future of our leadership. He's got what we need to get us where we need to go next. He's ______, ______, and ______ and I personally like what he does for me and my family."

Yeah, yeah, I know...maybe taken in context, each of these statements 'make sense'. But how many of them are Spirit-led and have any focus on faith in God to lead, shape, mold or direct things? Zip. Nada. Zilch. None of them do.

I know because I was there when all of them were said. Yes, I cannot read people's hearts to know how 'spiritual' their motivations were, but what was said and done before and after betray a very human, very political and even at times, a very selfish way of 'trusting God' in a way that they can control so the deck is stacked for them.

Some thoughts from The Word:

• Colossians 2:88 - "See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ."


• 1 Peter 4:7-9 - "be clear minded and self-controlled so that you can pray. 8 Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins."


• Ephesians 3:20 - "to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us..."
  

Romans reminds us that the spiritual mind thinks spiritually and vice versa. If that's case, perhaps it's a clear reflection to us that we, at times, are completely bought into a very human way of judging and dealing with people.

We're not very forgiving sometimes, unless we think others 'have proved themselves' within our narrow parameters.

We don't really expect God to work in any way that we cannot imagine. People must grow along our 'linear' and logical path of growth.

God doesn't really 'do' much people stuff, so we gotta figure it out on our own.

It might explain why people don't really pray much for people or things. It might explain why we give up on people so quickly. It might explain why we struggle and don't grow like we could; because we're trying to do it on our own power.

May it be the case that we can repent of this kind of thinking, this kind of way of life, when we run across it in our interactions with each other.

May we learn to love, forgive and see the best possibilities in people as God sees in us.

May we go beyond merely giving of our money and our volunteerism in service projects and may we ALSO give of ourselves to each other in ways we've needed to for a long time...as God has given to us.

What's in store for Central Church members in 2009?

A few months back we formally adopted the new vision/mission statement of seeking the way, sharing the way and our leadership agreed that we need to make things simpler for our members so that what we do and who we are is clear.

We want everyone at Central Church to be an active part of three specific environments: 1) Worship, 2) their own Life Stage Group and 3) a small group by the end of 2009.

Behind the scenes, those of us in leadership will pursue these five things listed below to make that happen:

1. Excellent worship services – well planned, well executed


2. Excellent hospitality/guest welcoming – from driving up to driving away, no one feels ignored, uninformed, etc and feel welcomed and wanted


3. Excellent Children’s/Youth ministry – ‘nuff said


4. Excellent small groups and other group environments (i.e. LSG’s) – continue to refine and shape our LSG’s and truly integrate a small group ministry into our congregation


5. Excellent stewardship or administration of ourselves - anything we are currently doing doesn’t fit into one of these areas, we begin to move resources and people away from that thing so that we can do a few things well in our pursuit of seeking the way, sharing the way.

These aren’t just platitudes, but real goals to work toward so that by the end of 2009, we can say that we have made these five things our way of life so that we can honor God, encourage one another, and reach those who don’t yet know Jesus.

So where do I start? Being plugged into your Life Stage Group every Sunday and in the activities your group plans to get to know each other, serve and reach out. Be at worship each week and bring all your worries and concerns and your praise and excitment and hold it up to God. Begin praying about which small group you'll be a part of (if you're not already) when they are opened up to the church soon.

Our goal as a church isn't just for us all to be busy doing 'church stuff', but so that we are seeking the way, sharing the way as our lifestyle. We want it to be the case that when our time comes, the Gates of Heaven open wide and we walk right in, confident of our salvation - not because we think we did enough, but because we gave ourselves to him in this life in such a way that we could see him leading us, all the way back home to him.