Wednesday 9 March 2011

Behind the hoardings


It seems a long time since our old town centre building was hidden behind billboards and superficially it can appear that not much is happening.The appearance is very  misleading
 The contractors are on site every working day & lots of meetings  with builders, architects  and others are taking place to ensure that, when the new building is open, we have  the attractive, accessible ,flexible building we need in order to serve the the community as God has called us to do.
We are very keen to get away from the idea that the space the church building occupies is uniquely sacrosanct.As far as we are concerned the great gospel challenge therefore  is not to build the building but to build the Kingdom. The church is not there to serve the building, the building is there to serve the church and The Kingdom .
I feel passionate about this!

The ongoing task that the church leaders and others have been engaged on for some time is discerning through prayer and discussion what kind of ministries will happen in our new building.We hope to partner with other Christians in this venture and already have loads of exciting possibilities! As for which ones we will embark on;  watch this space!
Meanwhile Reggie McNeals words ring true

So, how do we do it? How do we the Church reach a world that doesn’t care about Sunday? 
First, we must understand that Church is a who, not a what; an organism, not an organization; a 
celebration, not an institution. The purpose of the Church is to  be a movement of God that 
introduces people to the King and His Kingdom? He intentionally calls a people to partner with Him to reach the world with His love and blessing. 
This is the purpose of the Church. We are called to be a people of blessing in the community 
where we live and beyond. Like Jesus the church is here to serve, not rule or seek privilege. When we act out being the people of God we will be a blessing and be blessed and God  will receive the Glory. This is our calling and  our mission: to glorify God by introducing Him to others (Matthew 28:16-20)


Missional Renaissance




2 comments:

  1. Is there a difference between an individual Christians role/calling and a churches role then?

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  2. Hi Rob
    I would say the churches general calling is pretty much as Reggie McNeal describes it in the quote from his book Missional Renaissance
    Individual Christians discern what our individual and specific role to play in that greater plan should be

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