Lift Him Up

When we were in MS we had a massive garden.  I still remember David as young child toddling his way down our two rows of green beans and eating raw beans off the bush.  We have a little bit less acreage now than we did in MS but still have a garden.  Hallie has put a ton of work into our lettuce, squash, melons, and tomatoes.  Joseph is growing strawberries and raspberries.  Time will tell what this year's harvest will yield.

Jesus frequently used agrarian imagery to describe individual and church growth.  It fit so well because both our own souls and our church as a whole have more in common with living flora than business models, machines, and programs.  I've been thinking on these analogies recently and wanted to encourage you with them. 

We're making a significant change in what kind of fruit we're looking for. 

Leading up to launch we were looking for low hanging, ripe fruit.  Fruit like that is easy to pick and ready to eat.  And as far as the analogy goes, we are that fruit.  We all had a vision to see a church planted in Culpeper to the glory of God.  Most of us have a firm rooting in a healthy church background.  Most of us have understood the gospel for years and have sought to incorporate it into our lives.  And here we are—harvested. 

Now we transition to looking for flowers and buds.  The next wave of people who join our church are the people that I address every morning in the greeting.

The first group are people who are confessing Christians but for a variety of reasons have stopped attending a local church.  The second group are people who are not confessing Christians and for a variety of reasons have no desire to attend a local church.  These are buds and flowers.  They may be low, ripe fruit one day but aren't now.  They need tending, care, befriending and love. 

How do you do this kind of ministry?  Simply put, its a two part process.  First, preach to yourself about what God has done for you.  You were lost, lonely, and condemned.  God sought you, loved you, and redeemed you.  Second, understanding what God has done for you, show others that same kind of love.  Very practically it looks like inviting people who aren't Christians into your home for meals and friendship.  It looks like having intentional conversations on the youth sport sideline.  It looks like serving in community and civic groups.  It looks like attending festivals and "fests" to meet people and learn more about Culpeper.  It looks like offering a simple invitation to church on Sunday.

And be patient.  Folks like I'm talking about aren't going to be comfortable coming to church for a good long while and we shouldn't exepct them to be.  Churches as institutions can be scary, uninviting, and cold places to someone who hasn't been in a long time or hasn't been...ever.  We have to earn their attendance.  And that takes time.  Our next big wave of visitors won't start coming for 8 to 10 months. 

It's time to go after buds and flowers, not just low, ripe fruit. 

Great Cookout

I wanted to thank the Lezcano's for hosting our cookout this past Sunday afternoon.  I know my family thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.  That afternoon was a large scale of what I hope will happen often on a smaller scale in our church family.  Invite your brothers and sisters in Christ into your homes and lives.  Email one another and encourage one another.  We are a family, lets act like one. 

Communication

Communication is starting to get a little unwieldy.  Between email, Facebook, and Twitter our congregation is spread out in terms of how we communicate to one another.  I know many of you have desired a church directory with names and numbers of our Sunday crew.  I'm also beginning to struggle with how best to communicate internal/private messages (like prayer requests) and stuff I don't mind going on the website. 

Through talking to some other fast growing church plants we've found a solution.  We're going to implement it very soon.  So hold tight.  We are going to keep working to make sure that we are effectively communicating with one another personally about our lives and broadly about the direction of the  church. 

Parting Quote

This quote is by Clement of Alexandria writing in the late first century.  He personally knew some of the apostles.  He reflects here on how humility works itself into the life of a Christian.  I thought it fit well with our sermon last week.

Let a man be faithful: let him be powerful in utterance of knowledge; let him be wise in judging of words; let him be pure in all his deeds; yet the more he seems to be superior to others, the more humble-minded ought he to be, and to seek the common good of all, and not merely his own advantage.