What might happen if every church issue we faced, we faced with a missionary attitude? What might happen if for every church decision we made we first asked the question, “How will this help make my neighbors part of Christ’s chosen family?”
What might happen? I think we’d come alive with purpose.
There’s an exciting feeling of belonging to a group with purpose. It’s not that life gets any easier, but each decision made has a sense of destiny. It’s not that hardships vanish, but they are borne with a sense of destination. Character is formed into the image of God’s character. Hearts are changed and reflect Christ’s heart. Lives are slowly changed to look more and more like Christ’s life. Every step has meaning. Every challenge is an obstacle waiting to be overcome.
When a church group lives with purpose, the stories they tell start to reflect that purpose. Stories like the new member here at Our Saviour thanking and praising God for finding her a church to call home. Stories like the man who heard about Christ here at Our Saviour and wanted to know more about the difference He could make in a person’s life. Stories like the family that brought ALL of their children to the waters of baptism, desiring the Spirit’s work of calling and enlightening through the Gospel to be visible in their lives.
When a church group lives with purpose, it spends far less time worrying about what it doesn’t have and can’t do and more time looking for opportunities to go where God is leading and use what He is giving. Like having a 2-day “VBS” at the Bean Creek Heritage Festival instead of a week-long summer program. Like tackling the effects of raging unemployment by instructing families on how to have true financial peace.
What might happen if every church issue we faced, we faced with a missionary attitude?
We’d become the church that we already are. A church where Christ is active. A church that knows His forgiveness and His redemption. A church that looks to the community’s needs and looks to God and says, “Use us for your purpose. Use us to make our neighbors family.”
And let me tell you, it is exciting to belong to a group with purpose.
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