Exponential Part 1 of 3 - Move & Multiply

Katie and I spent the last week in Orlando at the Exponential Conference. It was amazing. There were more than 3,000 church planters present. What a joy to stand along side these men and women who are stepping out into cities across the nation to plant churches. It's a surreal feeling to be apart of such a family.

If I had to narrow it down to three things we heard more than any other during Exponential, here they are: (I'll post the first today and two and three later this week)...

1. Move and Multiply. You're running late. You finally found a parking spot. You're running with luggage in hand and stand in the long line to get your boarding pass. Finally, pass in hand, you step almost immediately into the next line, only this line is moving even slower. You're looking at your watch, hoping you'll catch a break and actually be able to board your flight on time. It's not looking good. The person in front of you sets off the alarm. Security is called. Everything is delayed. Clock ticking, you finally make it passed the security and continue running to the terminal. You've got less than 5 minutes before the plane is supposed to depart. You arrive at the terminal with just a minute to spare. You fear it's too late. You pause for a moment and notice that the room is quite full, actually packed, and no one seems to be rushing. You glance out the window and notice your plane is still sitting and no one seems to have boarded. Actually, the tarmac is full of planes. No planes are taking off. The terminal is getting more crowded by the minute. People are beginning to get angry. It's getting stuffy. Frustration swells. Every seat is taken. People are standing against the walls and in the isles. It's chaotic. You now wish you hadn't rushed. You're angry too.

An airport is not the destination. In this case though, it appears that they think they are. An airport is a means of getting people to where they want to go. When an airport becomes the destination, planes grounded and terminals full, people get angry.

What a picture of the church. The church is not the destination, yet it appears that many churches believe they are. All of the effort goes into attracting people to our churches, rather than sending them out. And even though the airport scenario plays out much more directly, people in churches that have become the destination will in time become just as frustrated, even if they are unable to pinpoint the exact reason. Why? Because we were made to multiply. It's deep inside the heart of every Christian, this thing that says, "It's not about us; it's about them." The disciples were called to take the gospel into Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and into all the earth. When they didn't, when they seemed to be content just sticking around Jerusalem - welcome persecution. That created movement. And guess what, no one looked back either. It's what we're called to do. Move & Multiply.

Things get ugly when we stop moving and multiplying. When our focus becomes centrally geared around attracting people to our church, more than making and sending out disciples, be ready for a holy shake up. Persecution is right around the corner. If we don't send out, God will stir things up and get the job done himself. Church split? What!

It's impossible to remain comfortable. We must be about the Father's business. It can't be about us. It has to be about them. Them, who are out there. Them, who must be reached by sending, not building bigger buildings and hoarding resources and gifts placed within our churches. Most likely, they were given us in the first place to give us the opportunity to join God in His movement and be apart of sending those gifts and resources into the world for His Kingdom's sake, not ours.

The Art of Suffering

Awkward? Just a bit. Francis Chan, the keynote speaker at the Exponential Church Plant Conference just resigned from his church days earlier. Yes, awkward. And everyone wanted to know the exact same thing. Why?

First, he quoted Amos 6:1. "Woe to you who are complacent in Zion, and to you who feel secure on Mount Samaria, you notable men of the foremost nation, to whom the people of Israel come."

Then he began to share the thing that was most stirring in his heart. The thought, the coming moment when each one of us will fall before God while He looks down upon us and says, "Well Done, my good and faithful servant".

Along with probably everyone else in the room, I'm still waiting for the answer. Why? Why walk away from sixteen years of leading a growing and successful church? Why walk away from a position of worldwide influence? Why now?

His answer didn't resonate with me until I returned home from the conference. I have to credit my 3 year old little girl for actually helping daddy see what Francis was trying to say. His answer - a lack of Suffering.

A lack of suffering? Anti-prosperity gospel?

Do we have to suffer to hear God say, "Well Done"?

The night I returned home, after having been away from my daughter for almost a week, the revelation of suffering captivated my heart. And it came most unexpected.

The night before we left Orlando for home, while getting ready for bed, I was moving a large industrial sized fan into the doorway of our bedroom to create the kind of white noise that helps Katie and I sleep well. To my dismay, the large, round, sharp, heavy base wasn't very well attached. And, at the most inappropriate time, most likely when the base was at the highest elevation possible above my bare and naked foot, it dismantled and dropped - right on my big toe. I'm still amazed at how well our bodies can respond to pain when inflicted on such a tiny extremity. It hurt. Bad.

After walking in the door and being greeted by my 3 year old, I felt it necessary to take off my shoes and socks and give my newly black and blue and bloodied big toe a bit of refreshing air. Morgan said she wanted to see what was underneath the bandaid. So I thought, sweet, she'll love this. Doesn't every kid love the sight of a big black bloodied toe? Um, NO!

She was mortified. She grabbed hold of me and wouldn't let go. She wept and wept and wept almost like I have never seen her weep before. She was shaken at the core. I was a bit surprised actually. She was in turmoil. She kept saying over and over, "Daddy, I don't want you to have a boo-boo". And no matter how much I tried to convince her that daddy was okay and that my boo-boo didn't hurt (even though it most definitely did), her concern only seemed to worsen.

All throughout the night, while reading a bed time book with mom, while enjoying a fun episode of Dora the Explorer with dad, she would look at me with an exaggerated quivering lip and pouty face and say, "Daddy, I don't want you to have a boo-boo". And then she'd cry. What in the world did I just do? I think I scarred her for life!

Then, some time late into the night, while I lay in bed, it hit me. I finally made the connection between comfort and suffering, between suffering and love.

I don't think the suffering Francis spoke of had much to do with success, money or good health. Suffering doesn't mean we have to be poor, afflicted or sick. It means we hurt. It means that in us, love and suffering are one and the same, they're connected.

My little three year old taught me for the first time in my life what it means to love and suffer because of love. Jesus, help us all if we don't get this! Woe to us who feel complacent and secure in Zion...

My daughter so loves me that even the thought of daddy hurting was enough to overwhelm her soul. For her, daddy's hurt was her hurt. Daddy's pain was her pain. For her, love and suffering are naturally connected. Even if she wanted to, she can't separate the two.

After a bit of reflecting, I took a deep hard look at my own heart, the heart of a church planter. When have I loved someone so deeply that I suffered because of it? Do I suffer because of the pain in my family, in my neighborhood, in my community, in my city?

Do I suffer for the lost, the broken, the hurting, the spiritually restless, the orphan, the widow, the abused, the addict, the hungry, the poor, the rich, the depressed, the outcast, the sick, the oppressed?

Could Jesus have endured the physical suffering that he had to endure on the cross without first enduring and embracing the spiritual suffering so intimately connected to his ever-abounding love for us?

Oh, that we could have faith like a child, eyes like a child, the heart of a child. Oh, that our hearts could break for the lost and the broken, hurt for the pain in our world so much so that out of our deep and gruesome suffering would rise a compelling and divine resolve to offer hope and healing, restoration and reconciliation with the Creator God.

Are you willing for God to break your heart? Are you willing to love so deeply that the rest of your life will be filled with the suffering that Jesus feels for every single man and woman, boy and girl?

There's a camel on the highway!

It is nearly impossible to put into words the sheer devastation and hopelessness that has gripped the poor nation of Haiti. Nearly every structure has been destroyed or severely damaged. Very few have been able to return to their homes. Most live in small shanties constructed by debris and scrap metal. Clean water is hard to come by. Food is even scarcer. The corruption of the government continues to cripple the people. Food and supplies donated and sent from around the world remain undistributed in mass storage units. Very little has reached the people. People fend for themselves. There is very little aid reaching the people. What the media portrays is not what we saw during our short stay. The need is simply too great and the workers, too few.

In a nation where voodoo devil worship clearly reigns, it is not surprising to see such oppression and affliction. Yet, there is hope. As we traveled through the ruin, we were captivated, as are many of the Haitians, by what we saw. Homes, schools, businesses, government buildings, the presidential palace...all lie in ruin. Block after block of broken concrete, most of the nation's infrastructure destroyed.

Yet, to see a church in ruin was like spotting a desert camel on a well-traveled Ohio interstate. Not every church survived, but most did. Clearly, among the structures that survived, churches are at the top of the list. It has been the church of Haiti, not the government, meeting the needs of the people. It has been the church of Haiti, not the international aids groups, providing medical care and treatment, food and clean water for the people.

The church we worked with is called Light Ministries. It's pastor and his wife have lived and ministered in Haiti for 28 years. Of the more than 1,200 members of their local church, only two people lost their lives to the earthquake, though most of their member's homes were leveled. Five days a week they hold worship gatherings at their home with several hundred participants. They have seen multiplied hundreds of new converts since the devastation took place. God is on the move. There is, in the midst of great despair and hopelessness, an unexplainable hopeful and healing current sweeping through the nation. The standing churches are offering hope. It is not difficult to see that God is at work and people are noticing.

Our project was to reinforce Light Ministries' worship center, which houses the free medical clinic and weekly worship gatherings, paving the way for even more Haitians to discover the hope of Jesus in a time when most hope seems permanently lost.

I'll leave you with one last thought. A thought I have carried with me since experiencing the raw, abandoned, pure praise and worship of a people who have lost what little they had -

Perhaps they are not the unfortunate ones. Maybe we are. Have we pushed God aside to the kingdom of our comfort? Is our worship pure, abandoned and exuberant or luke-warm, second-thought, filling a weekly time slot?

Our fortune has blinded. Their misfortune has enlightened.

Haiti has a unique opportunity. They have little to lose. Oh, how blessed they are, that God would shake their nation at its' core in order to draw their attention to Him. You say, "How can you say God caused such a terrible catastrophe?". I say, "How can you say He didn't?".

Either way, He is capturing the attention of a nation. There has begun an outpouring of His Spirit. A regeneration of a people.

Shall we even consider crying out to God,

"Oh God, would you shake America?"

"Would you bring us to our knees?"

"Would you get the attention of this people?"

"Would you restore what is lost and hopeless?"

How desperate are you?

Hello Criticism

Nehemiah had a vision - to rebuild the city walls. Nothing was going to distract Nehemiah from accomplishing that which God had called him to do. Nehemiah had a vision of broken walls restored; a city re-energized, re-focused and re-committed; the weak and vulnerable becoming strong and prosperous; a lost city becoming a city of light and hope.

Nehemiah was in the fight of his life. The critics hurled insults and threats. The distractions mounted. One such distraction came from a king hell bent on destroying Nehemiah and stopping him dead in his tracks. The king's name was Sanballat.

Listen to what Nehemiah 6:5-7 says - [emphasis added for personal interpretation]

"Then Sanballat sent his servant to me in the same manner a fifth time with an open letter in his hand. In it was written, 'It is reported [rumored] among the nations, and Gashmu says, that you and the Jews are planning to rebel [threaten my position and power]; therefore you are rebuilding the wall [trying to set yourself apart]. And you are to be their king [you are merely seeking power], according to reports [rumors].'"

Rumors were flying. Sanballat was ready to stop any progress Nehemiah and the Jews were making because it threatened his own power. Actually, Sanballat wanted Nehemiah dead. Yet, instead of wasting his time on rumors and critics, Nehemiah threw his focus back on the One who called him to this great work to begin with. And he kept on building.

Nothing brings out criticism like a vision.

"If you are passionate about something that is yet to be, eventually someone will criticize you and question your motives. People will not understand the intensity of your focus. In our society, we are not accustomed to leaders passing up good opportunities for the sake of something that is yet to be. There is a general distrust of those who are trying to do anything new or innovative, especially if they claim to be doing it for a reason other than personal gain." - Visioneering, Andy Stanley

Leadership is painful. Often, a person with a vision is accused of doing the very opposite of what their vision is all about. In Nehemiah's case, he had walked away from a very influential position at the right hand of the king. Then, he refused to exploit his position among the people he was working with to rebuild the city walls. He refused all of the perks and benefits associated with his position among the people and still found himself accused of being power hungry.

Criticism can kill a vision. Many visions are laid to rest because the person with the vision is unable to remain steadfast during periods of intense criticism. Yet, criticism, in fact, is often a great way to verify whether or not your vision is a "God Vision" or not. If it is a "God Vision", one thing you can be assured; there will always be more questions than there are answers. God visions will attract criticism because they threaten the status-quo. God visions will stir up critics who want to keep you in your place, who want to maintain their own power and status. God visions are hard to follow. They require total dependence on the One from whom the vision came.

There is also another dynamic at work - one that can be seen clearly in the life of Sanballat. Not only will you be accused of the very thing you are trying not to do, you will probably be accused of whatever it is your accusers are guilty of.

In the case of Sanballat, he was the power-hungry one. The reason he was so disgusted by Nehemiah's progress was because his own power was being threatened. And he did what so many critics do - He assumed of Nehemiah what was true of himself.

"People with impure motives question the motives of those around them. It's called projection. Since their actions are laced with their own selfish ambitions, they assume everyone else's are as well. These folks will examine your zeal through their self-serving lenses and assume the worst. You can't convince them otherwise. There is no use trying. Again, pour out your frustration to the Father and keep working". - Visioneering, Andy Stanley

The best way to silence your critics is by completing your task, following through with your vision. Don't let anger and bitterness pull you off course. Don't let hurtful critics side track you. To them, say what Nehemiah said to the king who wanted nothing but to criticize, distract and lure him into a death trap -

"I am doing a great work and I cannot come down."

Put your hope and trust and faith in the One who gave you your vision in the first place. You will never be without critics. You will never be without challenges and set backs, but there's a way that runs straight and leads to the fulfillment of your vision, your purpose.

Trust in the Lord your God with all of your heart, your soul and your strength; and lean not on your own understanding, but acknowledge Him in all your ways, and He will make your path straight.

The Great Sin

Having spent the last few weeks in Haiti, I've had more time than normal to be still and meditate on God's Word as well as to devour a list of reading material that would have normally taken me a month to finish.

Reading C.S. Lewis' Mere Christianity was a breath of fresh air. Not only does he do a great job talking through the basic tenants of the Christian faith as if he himself were the greatest skeptic, he unleashes a fresh perspective on so many topics that have in recent years eluded the Christian Church.

One such topic that caught my attention was of "the great sin".

"There is one vice of which no man in the world is free; which every one in the world loathes when he sees it in someone else; and of which hardly any people ever imagine they are guilty themselves". - C.S Lewis

It is a vice that perhaps none of us would accuse ourselves of, while at the same time would show the slightest mercy when we see it in others. It is the vice of pride. It is vice of Satan himself. And it is crippling the American Church.

It is through pride that Satan fell from beloved angel to despised among all generations and cursed to the ends of the earth. It is pride that leads us to every other vice. In essence, it is pride, the self-serving part of man that continues to feed himself and look out solely for his own interest that makes room for sin.

The more pride we have in ourselves, the more we despise it in others.

"Pride gets no pleasure out of having something, only out of having more of it than the next man. Greed may drive men into competition if there is not enough to go around; but the proud man, even when he has got more than he can possibly want, will try to get still more just to assert his power." -C.S. Lewis

There is nothing pride loves more than power.

How is it then that people who are quite obviously eaten up with pride can say they believe in God and appear themselves to be very religious?

[The following is an excerpt from Mere Christianity]

"I am afraid it means they are worshiping and imaginary God. They theoretically admit themselves to be nothing in the presence of God, but are really all the time imagining how He approves of them and thinks them far better than ordinary people; that is, they pay a pennyworth of imaginary humility to Him and get out of it a pound's worth of pride towards their fellow-men. I supposed it was of those people Christ was thinking when He said that some would preach about Him and cast out devils in His name, only to be told at the end of the world that He had never known them. And any of us may at any moment be in this death-trap. Luckily, we have a test. Whenever we find that our religious life is making us feel that we are good - above all, that we are better than someone else - I think we may be sure that we are being acted on, not by God, but by the devil...

...Pride can often be used to beat down the simpler vices. Teachers, in fact, often appeal to a boy's pride, or, as they call it, his self-respect, to make him behave decently: many a man has overcome cowardice or lust or ill-temper, by learning to think that they are beneath his dignity - that is pride. The devil laughs."

It appears that many of us, as Christians, have replaced one vice for an even greater one. The danger is that, in the name of self-help and "living our best life now", we've elevated ourselves to a height at which the only possibility of viewing others is "downward". Perhaps we no longer care what people think of us because they are so far beneath us. We are in danger.

The moment we think that certain "sins" are beneath us, we have foolishly elevated our standing. The devil laughs, for he has cured a small fault by replacing it with an even bigger one.

Crazy Love

I just finished reading a book called Crazy Love by Francis Chan, and I have to say, it's one of those unassuming books that packed more punch than I was expecting. The concept is simple; the ramifications are far from simple - they're crazy.

Here's what crazy means (dictionary.com):

• Mentally deranged, demented, insane
• Senseless, impractical, totally unsound
• Intensely enthusiastic, passionately excited
• Very enamored or infatuated
• Unusual, bizarre

I remember the moment at the Catalyst Conference last year when someone attempted to break the world record for highest dive into one foot of water. I watched, along with the more than 12,000 in attendance as Dana Kunze, who also held the world record for highest dive at 172 feet, prepared to make the head first plunge into 12 inches of water from 35 feet, right dead smack in the middle of the convention center.

I'm sure I can speak for just about everyone there that day - our stomachs were tightened, teeth clinched, all thinking the exact same thing - "This guy's crazy!".

Let's face it, no one was really expecting this experienced diver to fall to his death right in front of the main stage where worship was supposed to take place a half hour later. To his credit, it wasn't like this was the first time he had tried something so drastic, so crazy. He must have started practicing at 3 feet, 10 feet, 20 feet, 25 feet...and so on. No one decides one day, without any real experience that they're going to break such an insane record.

Yet there was still the thought - I'm sure everyone felt it - that said, "Oh my God, this guys about to die, right here, right now!". The thrill, the anticipation, the risk of failure...we were all clinched.

A world record was made that day. Dana Kunze was the first man in the world to dive head first from 35 feet into 12 inches of water. People cheered, and no doubt, some crazy person who witnessed the event or someone watching it on YouTube is going to try to do bigger and better.

That's why records are constantly being broken - every Olympics. It's in us, deep within us, to be great. It's in us, particularly in every man, to test the limits, to risk even our own personal safety just to see if we can do something that everyone else thought was, well crazy.

Yet, upon hearing Jesus words, "Whoever loses his life will gain it", "Sell everything you have and follow me", "Love your neighbor as yourself", most tend to respond in a similar fashion to the rich young ruler. Upon listening to Jesus tell him to sell all of his possessions and give everything to the poor and follow Him, the rich young ruler went away sad. He couldn't do it. There was too much to lose.

It's as if the drive in every human to be greater, to do more, to take risks and to challenge the status quo finds its end when it's no longer about achieving notoriety for oneself.

In his book, Francis Chan makes the following statement: "If one hundred people represented the world's population, fifty-three of those would live on less than $2 a day. Which is more messed up - that we have so much compared to everyone else, or that we don't think we're rich?"

Perhaps being born into the most powerful and wealthy superpower of all time has clouded our vision as to what's really normal and what's really not. For people around the world, what we spend at McDonald's on the dollar menu every week is crazy. And still, people starve, people die because of a lack of basic needs that we take for granted every day.

I remember sharing this story with a group of young people last year. There were about 500 of them and it was a cold December night. At the end of sharing the story of the rich young ruler I told them that I honestly believed that it was not the intention of any young person listening to my words to deny Jesus if He personally asked them to give up what they had in order to follow Him. I can't imagine anyone would think of themselves as walking in the shoes of the rich young ruler and not making the right decision.

Then, came the challenge. It was a test. I asked every one of the 500 plus young people to look down at their shoes and consider their value. I asked them to consider how much their shoes meant to them, how attached they were to something as trivial as their shoes, knowing full right that most of them probably had upwards of 10 or more pair sitting under their beds in their comfortably heated and fully furnished homes.

Then I asked them to do something that I knew would be gut-wrenching. And I hate to even acknowledge how gut-wrenching it actually is - but I asked them to take their shoes and socks off and leave them at the front of the stage so that we could give them to a homeless person in the community. For one night, all I asked was that this particular group of young people would go home cold and barefoot so that someone in the community who was without for 365 days a year could be blessed and walk in their shoes.

We had an overwhelming response - hundreds of shoes were heaped at the front of the stage. But after the night was over and I watched one after another leave the auditorium and head out into the cold, snow and ice covered parking lot, I noticed that though we had hundreds of shoes left for the homeless, there were still hundreds of shoes left on the feet of those who heard the message but failed to respond.

I talked with a few of them. Each had an answer. One young girl told me her parents would be angry. Come to think about it, I never got a call from an angry parent. If I had, I would have gladly bought their kid a new pair of shoes out of my own pocket. What's crazy? Me buying a kid a pair of shoes or parents complaining that their kid gave her shoes to a homeless person?

One young man told me that he didn't want to give out of obligation and because he felt pressured and his heart wasn't really in it, he concluded to keep his shoes until God spoke to him directly.

That explanation particularly angered me. Hasn't God already spoken? How much more clearly does he need to speak? How far from the truth have we gone? How blind are we? How deaf are we? How conditioned have we become toward the need and preservation of our great wealth.

The reality is, whether we acknowledge our wealth or not, being rich is a serious disadvantage spiritually. Jesus said that it would be as hard for a rich man to enter heaven as it is for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle. Not because the rich are bad people, but because it is so much easier for the rich to gain comfort in their wealth, to consider ways of preserving their wealth instead of ways of caring for the less fortunate, which is the message of Jesus. We are, in fact, the less fortunate, for which Jesus himself gave the most valuable and precious gift one could ever give - his very life. How much more then, can we willingly sacrifice for those who are without - without faith, without hope, without love, without the freedom of salvation in Christ?

Consider the priests of Malachi's day who thought that just because they were giving God something, it would be pleasing to Him. God rejected their offering. Why do we think it's okay to hand God our leftovers and feel no shame? We assume that God will be pleased because we give him something, yet we keep the best for our own personal gain.

Jesus doesn't say, "Come follow me and just do what you can"...No...

He tells us to dive in, head first, into seemingly 12 inches of water from a world record breaking height. He tells us to give him our best. Take risks, test Him, be crazy about it. Be intensely enthusiastic and passionately excited in what we give our lives to, what we spend our time and money on - holding nothing back.

There needs an awakening of Christianity in America. It's not going to come from people who just do what everyone else is doing. It's going to come through crazy people, people willing to challenge the status quo, take risks, dream big and follow Jesus with everything...

People with Crazy Love.

Stories from the Short North

We spent a few days in Columbus this week - Steve, Stephen, myself and a few friends and potential ministry partners...

We set up shop in the Polaris area at a really cool new hotel called Cambria Suites. If you're visiting Columbus, I'd recommend this place.

Anyway, we focused a lot of our time in the Short North arts district. It's situated between downtown Columbus and OSU. Just passing through, it's easy to overlook its glamor and appeal, but after parking our car and trekking through the snow we found it to be everything it's cracked up to be, and then some...

The Short North is overflowing with young, creative and innovative artistic types. Trendy and diverse dining opportunities, impressive art galleries, sweet coffee shops, local boutiques like What the Rock and Milk Bar...Let's just say, Stephen fell in love with the place and was wishing he had worn his blue mo-hawk! It's definitely the kind of place that's thriving with potential - a seemingly untapped market if you will.

As we walked along the street, appreciating the rich, dynamic culture that was oozing from everywhere, a friend of mine said, "Intelligent and creative people just don't like church - Church is just not smart and it's most definitely not creative".

It got me thinking. How can we, as a church, tap into the creativity and artistic passion of a place like the Short North? How can we engage the artistic community and provide outlets for them to use their talent within the church? How can the church partner with these people, these shops and support their creative passion? Maybe it's a lost cause. Maybe they're just not interested in church. Maybe it's like my friend said, church is just not smart or creative enough.

Then we met two guys that ran a sweet fashion boutique right in the heart of the district. As we combed through their unique selection and carried on a semi-casual conversation with the two owners, the question finally came up -

"So what are you all doing in Columbus?"

"We're starting a church", I said.
"What kind of church?", they asked.
"A different kind of church", I added.
"How's it going to be different?", they inquired.

We just kept it rolling. They were intrigued, interested, maybe even a bit inspired.

After a few minutes, one of the owners told us about a very prominent church in the area. He said at least 8 or 9 of his friends went there and that they all played instruments and were apart of bands and stuff in the church. I asked him if he ever went with them. His response -

"They never ask me."

"It's weird", he said. "They go to church all the time. And they're never like, yo, you doing anything tonight? You want to come to church with us? I'm always doing stuff, hanging out. Honestly, I'd go if they asked me to, but they don't. So I don't have any idea what that church has going on."

"We'll, I'm officially and personally inviting you to our church", I said.

I couldn't believe it. We left, I got their business cards. And I was at a loss for words.

For too many churches, community has become the mission. A bunch of people from this church or that church all get together and hang out, in community. They do things with each other, in community. When community becomes the mission, its easy to forget the people who are on the outside of your [church] community.

When community becomes the mission, we lose. They lose too.
We all lose.

Rather, community is a result of mission.

Mission is what drives community. Mission is what creates community. Community isn't then, a bunch of people who just want to hang out. Community is driven by people on a mission, the same mission, which brings them together, in community.

So what kind of church will we be?

Our mission is what drives us - to be a church for God, the city & the world.

Our mission is to see the lost and the hurting, the hopeless and the oppressed, the seeking and spiritually restless meet Jesus. That's our mission. And we should always be doing our mission.

The moment we just want to start hanging out together because its fun and safe, we need to hang it up, close the doors and not pretend to be a church.

A church is a community driven by mission, a mission to seek and save the lost. And the more we do the mission, the more our community will grow!