Are We a Pioneering Church? Pt Two
07 Jul 2009
Being a church on mission should be at the very core of all that we are and all that we do.
We are all called to be salt and light in our communities, to bring restoration where there is rot and decay and to bring light where there is darkness and despair. The church in Acts was genuinely a pioneering church, proclaiming the radical story of Jesus with great power in the city streets and synagogues of Jerusalem. Perhaps most remarkable of all was the authentic change in peoples’ lives. To list a few, they became a community that was filled with the Spirit (Acts 2:4), that had everything in common (Acts 2:44), that feared God (Acts 9:31), and that grew daily through salvation (Acts 2:47). God by His Spirit is working the same changes in us.
Moving back to our building in Station Road and going to two services are decisions driven by a longing to pioneer. As Steve Tibbert challenged us, this will involve cost and change, but this is necessary if we are to prioritise the agenda of the gospel, there can be no alternative. A pioneering church is one that is filled with individuals who are not passive and who do not sulk and whinge, but who resolve to give God everything. It is a church like the one in Jerusalem, filled with the Spirit, that fears God above all other things and which at the core is a community united in purpose and mission. Are we a pioneering church? Well that question is not answered by how many services we put on, where we meet or what condition our spire is in, it is answered by looking at the people: the microscope is on us. In what ways do I, do you, show to the onlooking world that we are a church on mission, that we are a pioneering church? How does our attitude to serving, to our neighbours, to our work colleagues, to friends and family display the inner activity of the Spirit, the life changing work of Christ in our lives? I believe in many ways we are a church on mission, in many ways we are pioneering, however we know there is a long way to go, there are many battles still to fight and many victories yet to be won.
Our prayer is that as a church we would see restoration beyond pigeon ridden church spires. We are on mission and as John Piper puts it, “mission fuels worship’s flame”. We exist to see the name of Jesus glorified!
Tim
 
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