Since moving to Fairfield, I’ve done a few things right and a few things wrong.
So what have I done right?
1. About six or seven years ago I started consistently taking my Fridays off and taking a short ride over to Napa with Joy. Getting out of town and spending time with Joy helped me detach from the ministry and focus on deepening our marriage. Now my Fridays with Joy are the most treasured part of my week.
2. About four or five years ago we challenged the people of our church to transition away from being primarily a Sunday-morning event to become a seven-day-a-week, 24-hour-a-day disciple-making church that is reaching our community and our world one person at a time. It hasn’t been easy. A lot of people left the church. But we saw a lot of other people grow in a heart-deep commitment to Christ.
3. About three years ago we were facing some financial challenges. It didn’t look like we were going to be able to meet all of our commitments in the coming months. I felt like the unstated mission of our church had become survival instead of seeking and saving the lost…instead serving others with a sacrificial spirit. So we decided to do something reckless. We decided if we were going to crash and burn, we might as well crash and burn doing something we believed in. So we gave away an entire week’s offering to help plant a new church. Three years have passed, the economy hasn’t been the greatest, but we’re still paying our bills and we still haven’t crashed and burned.
So what would I do differently?
1. I would have spent less time watching TV and playing computer games for relaxation and more time reading, reflecting, writing, bike-riding, hiking, or just sitting in the backyard enjoying a cup of coffee with Joy!
2. I would have been less concerned with attracting a crowd and more concerned with serving – really serving – a community!
3. I would have spent less energy trying to please people and more energy on challenging people to follow Christ and bring others to Him!
4. I would have been less concerned with the survival of our church and more concerned with multiplying new churches!
In some ways I grieve because we still haven’t become what God wants us to be as a church. I believe, in part, because of many of the things that I have done and haven’t done mentioned above. I want to invest what is left of my life in leading our church in making disciples, making disciples that plant churches, and planting churches to reach our world!
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The other day I was wiriting a few thoughts about what the church is. So what does Jesus say to us about the church and being the church in the world?
“…I will build My church; and the gates of Hades will not overpower it.” Matthew 16:18
“Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.” Matthew 5:16
“…but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth.” Acts 1:8
“All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Matthew 28:18-20
So what is a disciple?
- Disciples aren’t just a bunch of pewsitters wanting to be “fed!” Nor are they people who live in a bubble of religious activity trying to hide from the world! A disciple is someone who abandons everything dear in this life to follow Christ, only to find that nothing on this side of heaven can compare with what we find in Him!
Jesus said,
“The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in the field, which a man found and hid again; and from joy over it he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.” Matthew 13:44
- A disciple is someone who follows Christ and brings others to Him!
Jesus said,
“Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men.” Matthew 4:19
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