Yes, you read that right – our new year’s revolution, not resolution. We all know what new year’s resolutions are. Those are our noble intentions to “move mountains” – or at least enroll at the local Fitness Planet to re-move a mountain of corpulence. New Year’s Revolutions – not to be confused with political mutinies – are what I personally experience in the soon-aftermath of my every Thanksgiving through New Year’s Day unwind. Throughout this beloved season, I’m but a blurred figurine on a yuletide Merry-go-round that ministry demands have pressed the pedal to the metal such that it’s now spinning at Mach 2.
But now that the holy-day merry-go-round has decelerated and my head has stopped spinning, I’d like to share our church’s 2017 New Year’s Aspirations as unveiled by our three elders this past Sunday morning. In a panel-styled format in lieu of the sermon, each elder addressed this question: What one area of ministry do you believe God wants us (FFF) to concentrate on for this year?
Glenn spoke first and voiced his passion to see a more purposeful game plan to team up (language in keeping with the upcoming NFL playoffs) with local sister churches to reach out to the greater community as “The Church.” There exists far too much individualism and competition between churches today. The culture needs to see that we are essentially one, sharing the same mission that points people to Jesus. In this coming year, we hope to unite many churches together in hosting several events that steer persons and families, not to our separate church driveways, but to the Gate of Heaven.
Rob then shared his longing. His heart beats for each of FFF’s members to recognize the integral role each of us plays in the ministry. He referenced 1 Corinthians 12 that trumpets the indispensability of us all. Every person has value to the overall effectiveness of our church’s spiritual productivity. This passage illustrates our individual importance by likening the church to the human body. So picture for a moment that the human body is but an eye – a 6 ft. and 185 lb. eyeball. This “body” really sees things well; never misses anything. But when it wishes to voice its opinion, it remains mute. No mouth. Then one day someone rolls this eyeball to the top of a hill so it can take in a more panoramic view of the world around it. It’s “seeing” the world like it never had before. But then a passerby, listening on his headset to the golden-oldie, “Keep the Ball Rolling,” spontaneously does just this – in the twinkling of this eye, he gives it an inertia-negating nudge. Down, down, down it rolls, picking up speed the whole way. No feet to stop the momentum. No mouth to cry out, “Help!” No hands to fold in frenzied prayer. Finally the eyeball comes to an abrupt halt when it broadsides an apple tree (leading to the expression, “he’s the ‘apple of my eye.'”). Immediately, we’re left with one big black eye. Now image a church where one person does it all. He/She can’t. It results in disaster if he/she tries to do it alone. It takes all of us to do it well – to do it right.
I shared last, advocating for personal mentoring. As we scrutinize this relational interaction, we readily see it’s just a contemporary term for what Jesus commanded His followers to routinely do, “make disciples.” But how do we do this? The same way He did when He walked this earth. He called 12 interested followers to spend extra time with Him, interact with Him and engage in ministry alongside of Him. And just in case any one of us looks for the out-excuse, “I can’t so that,” I want you to know that even Jesus wasn’t perfectly successful. After He met His appointment with His foreordained death, 11 of his disciples scattered, 1 denied even knowing Him and 1 had already sold Him out. Yet, look how far Christianity has come after so precarious a beginning. Another excuse is, “I don’t know enough.” Who determines how much is enough? I promise you, there’s only one person on the face of the globe who can honestly say, “I know less than everybody else.” That person may not even live in our beloved land; point being, we all know more than somebody else and probably more than we realize. So let’s get to the task of “making disciples.”
So our church family’s new year’s aspiration encompasses these three effectual features: 1) shared ministry with sister churches, 2) purposeful exercise of our unique giftedness, and 3) resolute obedience to the command to “make disciples.” In order to keep these objectives ever before us – and anticipatively, within us – we composed this all-church motto for 2017: “On earth as in Heaven, God’s Will for 1-7.”
If you wish to know more about who we are and what we’re all about, why not visit with us this Sunday morning as we launch into our winter/spring sermon series on a study of Proverbs? There’s no better book of the Bible that discloses God’s blueprint for living wisely – certainly a subject that should interest us all.
