Maintenance or Mission?

I am someone who naturally falls into fairly stable rhythms of activity - most of us do that. Not that my life becomes predictable or boring - far from it. Yet I am not someone who actively pursues new dreams.

Part of what's happening for us at the moment is the fact that we believe God has called us to conclude our ministry here in Narembeen at the end of 2009. It's been a pretty big decision to grapple with, and we've only just told the church over the last week. We don't have much of an idea of where God is calling us to go to, but that's not something we need to focus on just yet.

There's lots of reasons why we believe that this is what God is leading us toward, but that doesn't make the decision any easier. We genuinely care about the people in the church and the region. We will miss the people and the place when the time comes to leave. We also genuinely believe in the future of the church here - we don't believe that it is just going down the same track of so many churches in rural areas. There is a huge challenge ahead of us, but God has opened up lot's of wonderful opportunities.

One thing that this deadline has done for me is to help me be much more mission-minded in how I approach my role. This is not a new thing, we've actually been pretty creative and committed to the whole concept of the mission of the church. We've worked on connecting with the community in various different ways, of presenting the message of the gospel in lots of different forums and investing in projects further afield in order to build up the Church.

But I've also allowed certain things to just drift along. I've carried too many responsibilities that should have been delegated to others, but I am not someone who naturally pushes people to get things done. I've also allowed some regular activities to dwindle in effectiveness as they cruised along in a comfortable routine. I've operated within boundaries that needed to be challenged more.

Something I have been excited about over recent weeks is to see how some people are responding to the challenge to step up and do something different because of what they believe. As we do that together it builds a sense of optimism and unity. It also brings a sense of freedom as people are energised to dream new dreams, and are supported in making those dreams a reality. When I talk about dreams I'm talking about the inspiration that comes from the Holy Spirit bringing the Bible to life in our thinking. They are the answers to the question "What will it mean for us to live this out today?"

We have a long way to go. It's going to be a very interesting 18 months or so. I believe though that the church here is entering into a new phase of life and mission. The only ones who can prevent this are ourselves!