Four Ways Forward in 2020

It was nice to be back home after traveling for almost 2 weeks for the annual "Christmas in Kentucky" tour. The kids got spoiled from Santa and the grandparents (we counted 4 Christmases total) and we got to spend time with our families, including my new niece!

Yesterday we spent time in Philippians 3 and I couldn't escape the phrase from Paul "forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead." Out of that came four particular ways for us as a church to strain forward.

1. A commitment to regular time in the Word - A few years ago a massive study group was formed to understand the back door in the SBC, where we would see thousands baptized but our numbers shrink. The realization was that it wasn't an evangelism issue a discipleship. Out of that group came the observation that regular Bible engagement was the top way to grow. Our regular time in the Word is nourishment to our soul, and we would be hard pressed to grow spiritually apart from a steady diet of what God has said to us. For Emmanuel, my prayer is that we would be a church who feasts on the Word, and doesn't settle for getting one meal a week. How you define regular is up for grabs. It can be daily or 3-5 times a week, and it can be a short or long reading. The point is to be regularly in the Word.​

2. A commitment to finding where God is working now - In 1985 Bruce Springsteen had a hit with the song Glory Days, where he sings about people whose best days were long behind them and they still lived in that moment. Churches fall victim to that when they fail to see where God is at work now. They do things the way they always had, and get frustrated that the results aren't the same. Our message doesn't change, but the means do. And it's up to us to find out where God is working and join him there (thanks Blackaby for that one in Experiencing God). History is invaluable as a testimony of past faithfulness, but idolizing the past can lead to both resentment and a distraction from mission. My prayer for Emmanuel is that we'd see where God is working around us, we'd see the neighbors He has given, and we'd love our community.

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3. A commitment to engaging people who don't know Christ - One of the snares that churches and Christians can fall into is what Emma Green in the Atlantic calls "cultural secession." In essence, rather than engage the culture, the Church and Christians withdraws from culture and creates its own, self-sustaining community. In the Atlantic article, it talks about the pros and cons of a very conservative sect of Catholicism and its impact on the surrounding community (including the "townies" who aren't part of the SSPX majority). When Churches and Christians engage in cultural secession, we're withdrawing from the very people we have been placed alongside for. We have been given our neighbors, coworkers, friends, gym members, and the guy who walks his dog every morning by your house for a reason: to be salt and light. As the Church moves into a cultural minority, it's imperative for us to be intentional about our witness and mission. For Emmanuel, my prayer is that we'd each find our "One" to pray for and share Jesus with.

4. A commitment to be an agent of unity in the Church - In this passage, I saw an implicit connection between maturity and unity. Maturity lends itself towards living out Colossians 3:13 to bear and forgive. In any church, uniformity is dangerous. We're made to be different. We're uniquely gifted, called, experienced, and come from a variety of backgrounds. Unlike any other institution, the Church brings together people from all walks of life for an eternal purpose. A baseball game will bring together thousands of diverse people together, but their purpose is to cheer on the home team. For the church, our diversity is a way of engaging the nations and our neighbors. That's why unity is so important. Unity keeps a church going in the same direction, focused on mission, clear on vision, and freed from divisions or cliques or drama. My prayer is that Emmanuel would be a church that continues to stay together as we reach out.

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