I keep coming back to this Jen Hatmaker blog post I found on the "Exponential Website"
http://blog.exponential.org/2013/11/a-new-measurement-of-success/
It hit me where I am right now and many of the things I am struggling with. I have listed some of the phrases and ideas below that really stuck out to me:
Sometimes all the talking outpaces real life.
a
new measurement of “success.”
talk
transitions to practice
margin
widen
the definition of what counts
We
hope to see an increase in shared responsibility, a rotation of teachers, a
decentralization of power, and a less polished type of pastor making headway in
the next 10 years.
“Outreach”
has been reduced to inviting someone to church, which the numbers assure us is
no longer working.
Rather
than imagining church attendance as the bulls-eye, we are more likely to
connect with an unchurched or dechurched friend through justice and community.
We
are going to have to live prophetic lives in our communities, not relegate the
heavy spiritual lifting to pastors on Sunday mornings.
authenticity,
justice, flexibility, kindness and grace, simplicity and community
we
must adopt a missional posture in our neighborhoods, schools, workplaces, real
lives.
If people fear or distrust the church, it is our responsibility to show
them a fresh representation of Jesus, a flesh and blood demonstration.
For
the lifers, this might require jettisoning the Christian lingo and setting
aside the talking points for a while. Let us secure a longer relational runway
to earn a hearing for the gospel. Folks may be rejecting organized religion,
but they are no less hungry for meaning and truth. We must become
trustworthy friends, advocates for our neighbors and safe recipients of their
questions. Judgment belongs to Jesus; we need not take that mantle. This may
take two months or 12 years. We go the distance. Our homes become sanctuaries,
our porches altars.
We
are the church
Who do I say Jesus is?
And how do I live in
response to that?
real
obedience, real lives transformed through Jesus
