I am currently working on a project that is due Saturday for my second Leadership Class in the Beeson Pastor Program. Our prof had me serve as consultant to a local church in the area. While, initially, I wasn't very excited about the assignment (to say the least… I thought our time would be better spent focussed on our own churches), it's growing on me.
One very positive outcome, as I get to know some of the ins and outs of a neighboring church, is the ability to look afresh at the minsitry of Christ Church. It's real easy to miss the forest for the trees in ministry. There are immediate needs staring you in the face every day… legitimate needs that, as a pastor, you need to spend time and energy addressing. However, those seemingly more urgent tasks can sometimes draw your attention away from God's big picture plan.
Why is the church here? What purpose is it serving? If it were to disappear overnight would anyone but our members notice? Who is God calling us to reach? Who lives in our neighborhood who doesn't know Christ? How can we "do church" in such a way that our members see themselves as missionaries right here in Lexington, Kentucky? If all the churches in Fayette County were filled on Sunday (or Saturday), there would be a couple of hundred thousand people still outside the churches.
God is on a mission, the Missio Dei, "Mission of God." That mission was and is expressed by the sending of Jesus Christ into the world. It is also expressed by sending the Church, the Body of Christ, into the world. Too many churches are in institutional survival mode. God wants churches, including Christ Church, to be about his mission. I'm feeling some fresh energy and a fresh breeze of the Spirit of God moving in and through my life and the people at Christ Church. It's an exciting time to be their pastor.
Flourishing Life 
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