The Mission Continues

Sunday September 9 begins my forth year here at Little Paint.  It is hard to believe how quickly these three years have passed.  I am reminded of a leadership saying I once heard that says after three years, all the problems are your problems--no more blaming past administrations and the way it used to be.  There is a great bit of truth to that, for every endeavor rises and falls on leadership.  Leadership is the ability to influence people to achieve what within themselves they cannot see. That leadership can produce positive or negative results.

In any organization, leadership is vital if it is going to succeed.  This is especially true in any volunteer organization such as the church.  Volunteers don’t have to be there.  Therefore, they must work from an intrinsic motivation to stay faithful.  In the church, this motivation has to come from a personal relationship with Jesus Christ and a desire to walk in obedience to his mission for our lives.  Any motivation that comes from personal desire or need will wane when feelings of being unappreciated or unnoticed for work done creep in.

In simple terms Jesus outlines for church’s message and mission.  The message is found in Matthew 22:36-40.  “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment.  And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself. All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”  Our foundation for existence is to passionately love God and sacrificially serve others.  Everything we do must come from this mandate.  Out of this command we are to” go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.” (Matthew 28:19-20)

The mission is unchanging.  No person, congregation, or movement established the mission.  God established the mission through Christ when He sent Him to reach and win those lost in their sins.  Our task in the church is to make more and better followers of Christ.  It is that simple.

The scorecard for a successful church is based on two factors.

1. How many people are we leading to a personal relationship with Christ?  How many new believers are being born into the family of God? 
2. Are we seeing believers grow deeper in their commitment and service to the Lord?  Are believers growing more like Christ than a year ago? Are they using their spiritual gifts for the up building of the body of Christ and the success of the mission to reach others for Christ?   It’s not about buildings, budgets, and numbers on Sunday morning.  If we are successful with the message and mission, those will take care of themselves.

The message and the mission never change.  What must change are our ministries and methods to fulfill Christ’s commands in community.   Someone once said, “He who thinks he’s leading and has no one following is taking a walk.”  As year four of my ministry begins with you, I‘m believing you want to walk with me to see God change lives in our community.

Pastor Jeff