Renewal, Revitalization and Mission First!
This past week we encountered Jesus with the woman at the well in worship. This passage is often used to emphasize the fact that Jesus met people where they were…he meets us where we are. We are called to do no less, but to meet people precisely where they are…which should lead us to ask ourselves where we must go to accomplish this calling.
For the past several months many individuals in our church have met frequently to discuss church renewal and revitalization, not out of fear for the church’s future, but out of excitement for what God continues to call us towards! We’ve experienced renewed efforts in adding more individuals and more creativity into our regular Sunday worship services and into our special, holiday services. We’ve experience revitalization efforts in the formation and continuation of many small groups such as: Disciples Knitters, Soul Sisters, the Juliette’s, a Men’s Group and renewed interest in the Disciples’ Women’s Fellowships. Just as the earth is renewed with each change of the seasons, so, too, the church is renewed by the power of the Holy Spirit at work within and among us.
Our latest renewal efforts include investigation into how we greet, welcome and include all those who come to our doors, whether to worship with us or in seeking aide. This process was born out of the Evangelism and Outreach sub-group of the Renewal Team. Again, these efforts do not come from a sense of things being ‘wrong,’ but from the sense of asking ourselves, “Are we doing our best?” Our mission statement for quite some time has been, “Welcoming All God’s People.” While a great deal of work and study went into creating that vision for the church, more work and study goes into living into it in our everyday life and church culture.
At the denominational level, the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in the United States and Canada embarked upon a one-year journey called, “Mission First!” This journey was to address the need to find a new shared focus in what God is doing in the world through Disciples of Christ. Mission First! sought to help Disciples identify the next mission priorities God has for us as we move toward the year 2020 and beyond. Through Mission First! gatherings held in every region in the United States and Canada, probing questions were brought before respondents about where God is calling the church. All the information garnered from those gatherings has been compiled into a Mission First! priority which says, “God calls us to work with and for children, youth and young adults so together we may share and receive the good news of Jesus Christ by creating communities of healing, learning and transformation.” For the first time in Disciples’ history the words, “children, youth and young adults” appears in a denominational statement of priority. This is significant!
As we continue our work towards church renewal and revitalization, I wonder how the Holy Spirit will work the denominational priority into our congregation’s priority as we seek to discern where God calls us in this very near future.
Blessings,
Tracy