lifeasmission

God has done some kind of number on me.  In days gone by I would have described me (and I am pretty sure others would have as well) as a guy who primarily loves to talk.  While that may still be true, I am way more interested in listening these days.  Wednesday night, therefore, was an unbelievable time.

Once upon a time there was a small group of friends that began to grow.  Over time that group has become three (probably soon to be more).  On Wednesday, those groups got together for an evening of sharing stories and praying with one another.

For several hours people talked about what God has been doing in their life, what challenges they are facing, what some of their hopes and dreams for the future are, and prayed with and for one another.  I shared in this time from 2 points of view.  First and foremost, I am a part of one of these groups and I was overjoyed to count myself among these people who are trying to follow God in their lives.  Secondly, I am a pastor on staff with the church community all these friends are a part of.  It is really this 2nd perspective that I want to comment on briefly.

Most of my undergraduate education, internships, and church experience has taught me that the paid pastors/professionals are charged with the task of developing vision for a church community and then laboring to help those who comprise the body get on board.  Ugh.  This is a methodology I have been happy to wave bye-bye to.  Instead, I would rather spend my time listening to peoples hearts and stories as we, together, try to get a handle on what God is doing and saying in our midst.  This is intrinsic to how I have come to understand what it means to be a truly missional church community.  It drastically changes how we go about being the body of Christ and I am all for it.  Here’s to the journey my friends - allelon!