Looking for a New Day (Part 3)
This is part three in a series of blog posts sharing what I have learned through our season of discernment and seeking God for renewal in the life of 938 Church. The first two posts detailed four things that God is teaching me personally. These two lessons draw upon what I believe God is showing me as the Lead Pastor of 938 Church.
We are invisible. Even though I sort of knew this before, it took a few winter Sundays with zero visitors to get my attention. As a church plant without a facility, we are physically invisible to our community–unless we do something about it. One of the main ways God renews a church is that He brings new people to it. Matthew 9:35-38 teaches us that a harvest is plentiful. That means, as we begin planning for next year, we must do more to help people know that we are here and that we want people to join with us in our mission.
We must reach out. Our next year will be characterized by 938 Church extending ourselves towards those that don't have a church. This must move beyond advertising and personal invitations, though they are essential. Rather we must find ways to tangibly meet the felt needs of our community. If you want to help with this, reach out to me personally at marcl@938.church.
Additionally, each of us will need to reach out to take steps to grow our faith, joining a small group, finding a way to serve our Spiritual family through a ministry team or just trusting God to talk to someone about our junk.
“He who has begun a good work among us…” Two years after the onset of the pandemic, we have reestablished ourselves and that is very good, but the question remains, “for what?” Our goal has never been to have a regular worship gathering that we can afford. Don’t get me wrong, proper worship of God is life changing and is central to releasing a community of people to love Christ in our various callings and endeavors. But why us? And why has God brought us together now? As our little LIFE board game car gets some momentum and begins moving again, it is time to return to our calling as a church, you might even say our niche or our particular task given to us in service of Jesus’ Kingdom. In particular, we must commit ourselves to the following priorities of Jesus.
● Investing deeply in one another to make disciples that can make disciples
● Leading one another to the margins of life and our community where the transformation of the gospel can have its most powerful effect.
Thank you for praying with us as a church. We can be confident that “the one who has begun a good work among us will carry it on to completion.” (Phil 1:6). I genuinely believe that we are just beginning, again, and with the power of God blowing from our backs, we can expect to experience His power and see His hand at work in our lives and among us.
-Marc
