I went home this weekend. My home church; Holy Cross Lutheran in Lake Mary, FL; has been incredibly supportive of my work with the World Race over the last couple years. They have been the vehicle of God’s supernatural provision. This weekend I was home with a focus toward raising support and, as usual, everyone was warmly receptive.
As long as my church has been around it has been community-focused. At the forefront of the vision has been the question, “How can we be an agent of change in our community?” Although the last two years have taken me around the world twice I continue to feel as though I am an integral part of my home community. When I am there my conviction is renewed that I am sent and commissioned by that community. I truly feel as though the work I am doing with the World Race is an extension of the community focus that was born and fostered at Holy Cross.
I think we need our churches to be producing more folks who feel that way. When you worship on Sunday morning do you feel as though you carry the anointing of your home church community into your daily work? Do you feel as though the passion you carry to your world was sparked and fanned into flame in a community of believers passionate to see a change in the world?
I believe our churches need to be Apostolic communities. Intrinsic to Apostolic community are the notions of training, equipping, and sending. We need to be training people to live in the Kingdom as they encounter the world. We need to be equipping them to live the Kingdom as catalysts of change wherever they go. And we need to be sending them out to pursue their passion in a Kingdom context.
This is bigger than evangelism. As I’ve mentioned before, most people have heard the story of Jesus. Where the Church can grow is in sending people out to live the results of that story beyond its own four walls.
We need to recognize that we are not discipling people so they can be rockstar Christians inside our own churches. Rather the climax of discipleship can be the moment when an individual leaves our church to pursue a passion she has received from the Lord and to build a new community around that. We need to be focused on building His Kingdom OUT THERE, rather than our own Kingdom IN HERE.
We can assist people in applying the Gospel in their lives until the fruit becomes the overflow that carries them into the corners of the world most in need of the light. As our churches grow stronger, they will be birthing disciples that can strike out on their own to build new communities to replicate the process.
What do you think? How can your church grow in training, equipping, and sending disciples to manifest the Kingdom of God in the world? How would you like to see your church tend toward the character of an Apostolic community? How can you help?
