Try to describe what you would want from a church that would continually feed you even as you were guiding it in ministry.
I would like a church that wasn’t afraid to consider the challenges of ministry to the greater community. Because I believe that God is Lord of history, I believe that what happens outside the church is part of God’s compassionate concern and we, as the called people of God, are invited to share in that ministry. Like individuals, no congregation can do everything, so they have to consider what their niche is. However, I want a church that doesn’t choose that niche because it makes them comfortable but because they hear God’s call.
I would like a church that invites me to wrestle theologically with what is happening in our society and understands that won’t always be comfortable. I want them to understand that I don’t have perfect insight and that I need their perspective even as they need mine but that I have a privilege of a theological background that they need to draw upon as they are thinking about these issues as well.
I want a church that accepts their role as a called people of God and continually seeks to mature in that journey through prayer and scriptural study. Their question should always be how do we listen to what God is calling us to be and do.
I want a church that does not expect perfection from themselves, their pastors, or society but speaks the truth in love to each other and focuses on how they might embody the power of grace that God offers to the church and the world. When we know that grace is the center of our lives, it shifts our response to each other and to the world. I would be thrilled to have a church I served be known for how their understanding of God’s grace challenged the judgmental and fault finding nature of too much of our society.
I want a church that continually seeks to demonstrate their love for each other. I want visitors to that church to be so impressed by that demonstrated mutual love that they will want to know more about this church.
Ok, how would you describe the larger themes of the church you would like to be part of?
