Over the last few months the Elders and I have journeyed together through the book “Grace to Lead.” The book is especially good for thinking broadly about what it means to be a Christian, a Church, or a ministry. My hope was that the book would set our sites in the right direction as we think about Living Water’s direction in the years to come.
My hope as a Pastor is to “contend for the faith which was once and for all entrusted to the saints” (Jude 3). This verse is speaking about the contents of the faith. Every Church better be clear that we are representing the Biblical faith. The faith that was infused with the work of the Holy Spirit. An example of this is Martin Luther’s and John Calvin’s own perception of the Reformation in the 1500’s. Both of them thought they were doing nothing new, but rather calling the Church universal to be more faithful to ‘The (original) Faith.’
Anyway, for any ‘visioning’ process, we have to be infused with Scripture, prayer, and a cosmic vision of Christ to the whole world. “For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD as the waters cover the sea” (Hab. 2:14 NIV).
The priority of the Church in every age is taking part in contending for the Faith, making disciples, loving the broken, and bringing forth kingdom clarity in a confused world. We best not forget these things in our own visioning.
In part 2 I will go into more details on our Elder Retreat and the lessons we have learned.
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