THE JOURNEY TO BEING AN OUTWARD FOCUSED CHURCH

Late in 2001 and early in 2002, the people of the Church of God of Landisville began to sense a fresh wind of the Spirit blowing in their midst. There is an excitement and a momentum in such a stirring that generates a vision and dreams about really being the Church of God rather than simply being a church.

During this time, my leadership had begun to explore these questions: "What does it mean to say that the church is led by the Holy Spirit?" "What would that church look like?" "What would it do?"

A clue to the answers to those general questions can be found in the apostle Paul's wondrous benediction,"Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power at work within us, to him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus ..." (Ephesians 3:20-21a).

Who among us would not pray for that to be the reality of the local church, especially those ministering in traditional churches whose flame seems to have been reduced to weak embers lying under a layer of ash form old fires that once burned brightly? What would we do if we sensed the Holy Spirit beginning to blow across those embers in an attempt to fan them into flame?

A whole lot of contemporary adjectives apply to this journey - organic, missional, reconciling, servant. This blog is dedicated to unwrapping the stories, the learnings, the dynamics of the journey from inward focus to outward focus--from being concerned with your congregation to focusing on the Kingdom. I invite you to connect with this blog, to offer your insights and experiences.