Two years ago when I started this blog I had every intention of using it as a means of sharing our life in ministry more so than a simple blog on theological matters. I realize it has now become more of a blog centered on the theological ramblings of a young follower of Jesus. However, I would like to get back to the original intention of this blog and begin a series of posts that will shed light on our life of ministry here in Nashville and how it connects to our future work of planting a church in Seattle.
For the past couple years we have been a part of a remarkable work of God in the city of Nashville. I am not sure if you realize this but "the Church" is simply a group of people in love with God, being used BY God, to fulfill His purpose of filling the earth with His glory. I know that was a mouthful. But it is so important as we talk about the "work" we are involved with here, in Nashville, as well as in Seattle. Because the moment we make this work about US...about ME....about my ability to do amazing things in the Kingdom of God, we lose everything God intended to come from our time and energy. Namely, we lose the focus on Jesus.
And so for the last two years we have been a part of the working of God in Nashville through a church called Ethos. And we have had two tasks this entire time. To love God and to love people. The story of the gospels is so undeniably simple. To love God, by loving Jesus, and to love people, by showing them the way to Jesus. Pretty simple. But so often we try to complicate everything to the point that we forget what we were supposed to be doing in the first place. In Luke 10:27 Jesus says that the greatest commands are to Love God and Love Others. And if we do this well...if we can get this part down, the rest will begin to fall into place.
Now, certainly there is complexity to starting a church. There is complexity in building ministries. There is complexity in the fabric and DNA of humanity. It is complex to start teams of people and to lead them with a singular focus. It is a lot of work to train leaders to lead House Churches, to lead Regional House Churches, to lead a complex music ministry, to pastor people in the midst of their life baggage, to constantly be casting vision and moving forward, to discipling people who are discipling people who are discipling people, to fund raise, to plan and build strategies for the future, to communicate with thousands of people, to maintain administrative upkeep, to.....on and on and on.
But the complexity must always flow out of the simple reality that this is Jesus' church, it is by God's initiative, and it is the grace of God that made the first move on behalf of the world. There is not an ounce of power in my bones that has the ability to save one human being from anything. But there is someone within me who has the power to redeem not just me but the entire world through me. And it is my job to point people to him and him alone.
These last two years I have been on a tremendous journey. Learning more than I could possible write about here. But the most important thing I have learned has nothing to do with some complex strategy or theory for planting a successful church in Seattle. Instead, the most important thing I have learned has been simply to rest in the presence of Jesus because I am loved, beyond measure, by him.
The next few posts will unwrap this further, shedding light into what this means as we build a foundation for our church plant in Seattle.
