the church!

I have been a student of church all my life. As a child we would often play church. One of us would lead singing and then one would preach and then I always got saved. I didn’t want to get saved but being the baby I didn’t have a choice. Of course there was a baptism that followed so …I should be one of the best people alive I have been converted over and over, baptized without number!

Ok, let me push on. Being a student of church I have observed that we have lost our way. Somewhere along the way we forgot about the great commandment and the great commission. Jesus told us to love God and love each other. He also told us to go into the entire world and tell people about the great love of God. But we have gotten lost in caring for our wants and needs, retreating into isolation, managing our sins and fighting over the color of the carpet. I know this was not what God had in mind when He said “I will build my church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it.”

We must return to God desire and I think there are some steps back. Here are my thoughts.

We must personally renew our commitment to the Lordship of Jesus Christ. The most powerful prayer we can pray is Jesus I am yours. I believe that that level of renewal must begin in the hearts of pastors. Leaders must move for isolation, personal parking places, and a spirit of entitlement back to servant leadership based on Christ like character.

Next we must be relationally renewed. Jesus said they will know we are His by our love, not doctrine, structure, buildings, or denominations. Disunity and division are sinful. We need each other.

Next is missional renewal. We can then rediscover why we are here as the church and how we should live.

Then structures and cultural renewal will evolve as a result of God’s movement. I think God is launching this type of movement in North America. I know He is doing this in the rest of the world. This is the heart of the church I am leading in Tallahassee. It is time to let God renew us!