This past March we invited God to AWAKEN us as a church, and we asked Him to help us identify areas of ministry or weaknesses that we needed to address in order to be wiser stewards as a church. Through this process it was revealed to us some things we already knew and had grown lazy about... and it also revealed things to us that we had never considered.
One of the biggest barriers for all of our ministries was our current facilities.
The "church" as an entity was God's Big Idea as it was revealed through Jesus Christ. Many times Jesus spoke of this movement... this gathering of people that would be birthed following the arrival of His Holy Spirit. And Jesus' prediction became reality on the day of Pentecost. The church was born.
The church wasn't for Christians on the day of Pentecost, because only a handful of Christians even existed... the first sermon ever preached by Paul on that Sunday morning, was not addressing people who were saved, rather it was addressing those who were lost, and far from God...
The church of Jesus Christ was never meant to be a building, it was never originally conceived to be an institution, it was never designed to be defined as a location... but rather as a movement, a congregation, a gathering of people who were practicing THE WAY of Jesus in their daily lives. The "church" was to be a collection of various people from different backgrounds, races, experiences, and traditions all coming together EVERY Sunday morning for one BIG resurrection celebration.
And every Sunday they would share the GOOD NEWS that God came to earth in the form of a man, Jesus Christ, and He gave His life so we might know His Father... then on the 3rd day He was raised from the grave conquering death.
But, as so often is the case... throughout the course of history, something about the life of the church changed:
In about the 4th century the idea of the church began to be redefined as a specific "location"...
Later the church became a specific "location" with a recognizable "building"...
And as time went on further, during the Middle Ages, the church became the ruling authority in the known world and many things were done in the name of Jesus and the church that are still embarrassing today.
The church will always be made up of broken people in a broken world, and most days I feel like the MOST broken individual of anyone! As a result of this brokeness, the church... this movement, this gathering of believers, this congregation of people... is capable of inflicting a lot of harm...
However, on its best days... on the days when we "die" to ourselves, the "church" is capable of witnessing and instagating incredible miraculous acts of God! We get to be the ordained hands and feet of a Holy God at work in our world. And through this awakening process we learned that our "location", our "building" is the lid to our ability to see God transform this valley and beyond.
If you know our building well at all it is 40 feet wide by 80 feet long and as great as it is, there are many limitations. We are limited in our sanctuary & children's ministry area plus we are VERY limited in our nursery space, our foyer (or lack thereof) and in parking.
However, on its best days... on the days when we "die" to ourselves, the "church" is capable of witnessing and instagating incredible miraculous acts of God! We get to be the ordained hands and feet of a Holy God at work in our world. And through this awakening process we learned that our "location", our "building" is the lid to our ability to see God transform this valley and beyond.
If you know our building well at all it is 40 feet wide by 80 feet long and as great as it is, there are many limitations. We are limited in our sanctuary & children's ministry area plus we are VERY limited in our nursery space, our foyer (or lack thereof) and in parking.
As a result of all these limitations we have begun the process of submitting the paperwork to the Cobleskill-Richmondville High School to begin utilizing their auditorium and cafeteria to "gather together as the church" every single Sunday.
Our current church "building" still has a lot of life left for us to utilize during the week, but we have outgrown the limits of this building long term for Sunday mornings. We can still utilize it for LIFEgroups, seminars, church events and outreach, as well as for our offices, but our Sunday morning worship experiences need to move to an area that has more space in every way, shape, and form… for worship, parking, for children, for nursery, and for fellowship (especially in the winter months Sep-May: LOL).
Our current church "building" still has a lot of life left for us to utilize during the week, but we have outgrown the limits of this building long term for Sunday mornings. We can still utilize it for LIFEgroups, seminars, church events and outreach, as well as for our offices, but our Sunday morning worship experiences need to move to an area that has more space in every way, shape, and form… for worship, parking, for children, for nursery, and for fellowship (especially in the winter months Sep-May: LOL).
What does this mean? It means that we will need more people serving more often in order to accomplish the feat of setting up and tearing down every single Sunday. We are going to find out how serious we are about...
"REACHING ONE MORE AT ANY COST!"
and we will discover if that is just a catchy slogan on a wall, or if, like our SAVIOR, it is our true LIFEBLOOD and PURPOSE!
One of the benefits of this new beginning is that we will begin partnering together to build a new relationship with one of our local high schools, and you will hear about new opportunities for us to serve our local teachers & administrators. We truly feel that this is a Divine Door that God has opened to expand our commitment to our mission and to expand our faith in our Savior, and I am asking everyone who calls Cobleskill Wesleyan Church, "HOME", to partner with me to carry this GOOD NEWS to one more person... who might come to the High School a lot faster than to a church "building."
"REACHING ONE MORE AT ANY COST!"
and we will discover if that is just a catchy slogan on a wall, or if, like our SAVIOR, it is our true LIFEBLOOD and PURPOSE!
One of the benefits of this new beginning is that we will begin partnering together to build a new relationship with one of our local high schools, and you will hear about new opportunities for us to serve our local teachers & administrators. We truly feel that this is a Divine Door that God has opened to expand our commitment to our mission and to expand our faith in our Savior, and I am asking everyone who calls Cobleskill Wesleyan Church, "HOME", to partner with me to carry this GOOD NEWS to one more person... who might come to the High School a lot faster than to a church "building."
No comments:
Post a Comment