With the handful of families we are developing a relationship with, we are being told that we should put a name to what we are doing and call it something and that we need to think about leadership structure etc, etc. We are told that our church should look like this or that.
It feels like there are two paths to go down. One path is called church and it makes you want to have a meeting, set up structures and a church name and define who is in and who is out…
A friend who has planted a church phoned me the other day and basically told me that unless I make what we are doing like every other form of Church (get a name, write a big vision document and see who is in and out) then what we are doing will fritter out and accomplish nothing…
Everyone around us is looking to what kind of meeting we are having and how many people come to it. We are sick of meetings and longing to share our lives with people......So it is hard not to slip into the meeting=success idea and get discouraged.
So where we are at is looking to share and love people. We open our home at every opportunity and it is all about sharing our lives with people… We are planting the gospel and believing that Jesus will grow the church…
All we want to do is follow the Spirit's direction, live by the word of God, and love people. We are always asked about how many people come to our meeting on a Sunday! It kind of doesn't register because we are asking ourselves the question, "Lord who do you want us to share our lives with?” Discipleship means sharing your life with people - not an hour here or there while we sit and sing songs with our eyes closed.
Yes we believe in the church, leadership, and the fivefold ministry but how we get there is not as simple as just appointing, planning and programming. I told one friend, during a conversation, that I wasn't really too bothered about seeing who is a leader as we just want to help people be obedient to Jesus. I told him I believed that my heart (and more importantly God's heart) to see leaders raised up will be realized as people grow in their obedience to Jesus not as a result of our plans or programs.
It feels like I want to totally let go of trying to build something and just do what we love - build up people. But everyone is saying that we need to have meetings and structures… The Spirit is saying build people, pour yourself out into people, and love people…
Today I feel encouraged again because I genuinely think that Jesus would be doing what we are doing. And that is all we seek - not a big church - just to be doing what we see the Father is doing every day...
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