What if...? (pt. 2)

In a previous blog I wrote about how God was shifting my thinking from the question "God what do you want to do in my life and in Grace Church" to "God what do you want to do in Ventura."  The new question has several challenges for me.  The first challenge I talked about shifting my vision from several people to well over 100,000 people and the need to trust God and not my resources.  Today I want to write about the second reason.

The second reason penetrates a little deeper into my thinking.  If the primary questions shifts from, "God what do you want to do in the church" to "God what do you want to do in the city"; then my thinking has to shift.  I can not afford to spend my time thinking how to develop programs to grab peoples attention.  I have to stop thinking in the attractional model.  I have to let go of my obsession of trying to build an empire.  Instead I need to start thinking of being a part of the Kingdom.  I have been called to be a part of the Kingdom not an empire.  This means I have to think differently about the talents, gifts, and resources God has entrusted to me.  The talents, gifts, and resources are not intended for ministry to fellow believers but to all the unbelievers as well.  What I believe God is saying is that I am to invest, with intentionality, into the lives of those in our city.  This intentionality is to see the Kingdom of God expanded.

However the truth is I have been trained to think empire.  The truth is at the heart of building an empire is a strategy to develop a ministry plan that is better than what other churches are offering.  No matter what we tell ourselves the reality is when we think empire building the competition is other churches.

I have never seen a city where a church that grew to become a large church has not done so by attracting members from other churches in the city.  In other words the larger churches are built, at least at some degree, at the expense of the smaller churches.  As long as I continue to promote this process the churches in any city will always see sister churches as the competition.

What if my thinking were to change.  What if I invested my time and my resources into my neighbors life and they became a follower of Jesus yet chose to attend another church, would I be ok with that?  What if my thinking changed to believing people coming into the kingdom and choosing to attend another church should be celebrated as a win not mourned as a loss.   Just thought of this. . ., how cool would it be if once a year every church in the city celebrated each others baptisms for that year.  Celebrate anyone giving their life to Jesus is a win for the Kingdom and therefore a win for all of us.  In Kingdom thinking the competition is not sister churches but the kingdom of darkness.  Therefore when one of the sister churches of Ventura wins, Grace Church wins, God wins.  What if my thinking were to change from a limited vision of the four corners of a building to the four corners of a city or indeed the world?...

What if?

What if....? An important question. (pt. 1)

Recently God has been speaking to me about purpose. Now this is not a new subject that God has brought to my attention. For years the purpose God has for my life and the church I pastor has been constantly before me. I have tried to fully understand his purpose and then live my life accordingly. To accomplish this my prayer has been "God what do you want to do in my life and in Grace church". Recently God is showing me that it is time to ask the question differently. The question today is "God what do you want to do in Ventura".

The question is different for me in several reasons.  Frist, and most obvious, reasons is that my thinking has shifted from a limited view of a few people to over 100,000.  In considering this question I have asked myself do I really believe that God wants to use me to work in the lives of over 100,000 people?  That is a hard question because I do believe that God wants to work in Ventura, but I am not sure He wants to use me.  Our church does not have the resources of some the larger churches in town.  So I comfortably conclude "Surely God wants to use the larger churches to reach our city, after all they have the resources."  There it was!  The crux of my unbelief.  My faith is in the resources of man, and not in God.  My mind immediately went to different Bible passages that teach of trusting in God as opposed to what man deems important.  I think of David and his battle with Goliath where God requested David to trust him with a rock and a sling to defeat the giant, or Joshua at the battle of Jericho where God requested Joshua to trust Him with a choir to bring down the mighty walls of the city, or Jesus taking unschooled ordinary men to trust Him and they would help change the world.

What if I decided to trust God?  What if I decided to believe God that He can use me to help reach Ventura?  What if what God has already deposited into Grace Church is exactly what God needs to reach this city?  What if I were to stop trusting in the resources and abilities of men (me), and start trusting in God?  What if I had kingdom thinking, then instead of a few rocks I would see a giant killing weapons?  What if instead of seeing a few voices singing I would see hearts filled with praise that will bring down walls of separation in our city?  What if instead of seeing ordinary men I would see that God can change our city as we surrender to Him?

What would you see if your thinking were to shift from the limited to the limitless possibilities of God?

What if...?

(to be continued)