Not about you.

Chris Conrad, who serves as the Director of Church Planter Development for the Evangelism & Church Growth Department, sends out a regular e-mail called CP Nexus. [Note: If you don’t receive it, I encourage you to sign up for it by clicking here.] Not long ago, he sent out the following challenge, which I believe impacts planters and established church leaders alike. Enjoy!

John Bishop, pastor of Living Hope Church in Vancouver, WA (www.livinghopechurch.org) made a statement recently that caught my attention:

All the people that go to your church…you didn’t have anything to do with it. Don’t somehow think it’s about you. It’s not. It’s all about God. Only God, period.

To me this statement doesn’t give us an excuse to be lazy when it comes to our missional objectives or initiatives – whether we are planning a community outreach event, rolling up our sleeves in community based ministries or planning weekend services. But what it DOES mean is that Jesus is already at work in the lives of individuals and we are simply joining Him in what He’s already doing.

WHAT DIFFERENCE DOES THIS MAKE TO YOU?

Well, what I hope it does is increase your confidence level and cause you to have some better Mondays and be more consistent at taking a regular Sabbath rest. If He is indeed, already there, already working in people’s lives, then

Yes, we need to roll up our sleeves and work hard;

Yes, we need to engage our culture;

Yes, we need to be out in the community;

Yes, we need to put on the best services or raising up leaders for the best house-churches we can;

Yes, we need to be sensitive to His Spirit guiding and directing us on how to effectively minister to those outside a relationship with Christ;

Yes, people outside a relationship with Him MUST be our focus;

Yes, we MUST be willing to take a bullet for the sake of the unchurched – making courageous decisions and continuing to take risks for the sake of the unchurched;

BUT…

We can also rest securely in the knowledge that the God of the universe is going before us;

We can take time off – following the example He set for us during creation;

We can live with a soul that is well-rested and more clearly focused on Him as opposed to what we are doing for Him.

Thanks, Chris!

Keep pressing on.