as we began speaking with this congregation years ago about the possibilty of leading them as their pastor, i began trying to seek what the Lord what have me to teach, to lead, what vision did He have for me to impart to the people. the Lord's reply within the stillness of my heart and mind was not a new mission/vision, just to help them accomplish the one they had--to help the congregation engage the world in a way as if Christ were moving through them.
as i prayed and thought, wrote and dreamed, the verse from Micah 6:8 continually came to my heart, "He has shown you, o man, what is good. and what does the Lord require of you? but to act justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God."
as i medidated on these three godly requirements, it became increasingly clear to me that these would become the strategy, the means to which every member could commit themselves individually to fulfill the mission, and the framework around which we could focus our existing ministries or build new minsitries. the challenge became, how can we communicate these godly requirements strategically, creatively, simply so that anyone could remember them, but also in a way that it reminded them to act on them. so i summarized those three requirements in these three words, serve love pray
i never thought that these three words would make such a mark on my life -- i wanted them to mark our congregation, and be embraced by them to fulfill them, and thus fulfill our mission. i never anticipated how the linking of these three terms would resonate with others and become a source of inspiration and conviction. i never imagined simply typing these three words in a search engine would lead to our ministries. those things weren't on my radar -- i simply wanted a plan to help the congregation know how to do the thing they felt the Lord impressing on them to do.
to act justly means to bring about justice (equity, fairness, righteousness) in an area which lacks or is suffering from injustice. to do this means to get involved--to serve the need. but when you get involved in injustice, you're getting into a mess. you're getting involved in some "stuff." you're not going to be able to walk out clean -- you'll get dirty, you'll get challenged, you'll get broken. you can't make a checklist of injustices and start planning your palm and calendar around how long it will take to correct or bring it to justice. it's a day-to-day, relational, involved process -- often 2 steps forward and 1 step back. Just as God sent the Son out of glory to step into our mess, so we as his ambassadors with his servant-heart ought to likewise step into areas of injustice. acting justly may best be imagined through muddy feet.
to love mercy is to love completely. it's easy to love with grace--many believers and churches exel at love with grace, but fail in the area of mercy. as i've written on this blog before, grace begins the relationship. grace says i'll accept you with a clean slate and begin relating to you. but when there's a wrong, an error, a mistake, an abuse, or the mundane, routine -- mercy steps in and keeps you in relationship. mercy doesn't write you off, but it doesn't excuse away the wrong, either. mercy says, 'you're valued, this relationship is valued--let's begin again, but figure out how we can continue better than before." our God is rich in mercy, according to the Scriptures; so when we, His church/His people, are called to love as He loves us, then it ought to be a complete love, including both grace and mercy. if acting justly is best depicted by muddy feet, then loving mercy may be the extension of warm hands.
to walk humbly with your God, is perhaps the most beautiful and complete Scriptural imagery. i love the idea of walking with God -- that we're not just sitting on a hillside, basking in the sunlight. no, God has places to go, people to see and love, and we get to go along and participate--we're moving with Him. humbly--that is, not defiantly, not proud, not independently--when we recognize who God is, and who we are in relation to him, the result is humility. as i've said before, i say again, "if our relationship with God can be likened to a walk, then prayer is the road." prayer is communicating with the Lord to know where He's going, what He desires, what He's up to -- prayer is also the humble recognition that we need God. to not pray is a proud and defiant posture to His presence, that's why it should become a natural expression, as Paul wrote to the church at Thessalonica, 'pray continually' (1 Thessalonians 5:17). the final imagery then is with calloused knees.
God's instructions are always so complete--these Godly requirements that have formed our ministry strategy, also form the beginning of core values. we value service to the needs of others. we value loving one another in accountable relationships. we value prayer--individually, corporately, for others and with others--prayer of all types for all seasons.
so, we've seen the mission give way to the vision. we've seen the ministry strategy and the core values--but that's not it. if it were, it would still be just good intentions. there are other levels that have to be fleshed out so that the intention becomes practice and the practice become reality. the next level is the tactical level -- what tactics go along with each strategy to help create the reality. the tactics become the filters -- what are we doing, how does it fit through the filter? if it does, keep it--if it doesn't, tweak it or toss it.
over the next several weeks, we're gonna lay the foundation of tactics for the love strategy--specifically, how do we move people into deeper, accountable relationships with each other and with God. we could easily lay out all kinds of tactical projects/programs/services/events for the serve strategy -- we have many, and many are talked about each week. but how do we move folks into relatiohship, because that's what the love of God desires and what the church should facilitate. if we can begin laying this foundation, and begin filtering our ministries and our efforts, then as we serve we can also take the few that come in and want to know more, who want to connect, and help them know our Lord and one another.
these tactical strategies wll be based upon a home--they're loosely based upon the imagery of the Northpoint (GA) Church's assimilation strategy known as "foyer, living room, kitchen." the serve tactics will be under the "welcome mat" category once we start elaborating on those. the love tactics will be "front door, dining room, family room," and we'll start speaking on these next weekend.
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