John the Baptist and us
Why are we doing church? Why at unit 11? These questions have been bouncing around consistently in my head from the word ‘go’: why are we doing this? What is our ultimate vision? We’ve spoken about this as a leadership team, and the answers can be organised, I think, into two headings: Global reasons and specific reasons.
Global reasons:
Hebrews 10 v24-25
“And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. Let us not give up the habit of meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another – and all the more as you see the Day approaching”
And so, we aim to have a “church of God that will bring Christ to people and people to Christ by developing relationships, intellectual preaching and experiential worship in an authentic way. To deliver raw truth to people, remembering that the ultimate raw, authentic truth is God’s love for them.”
Specific reasons:
Of course, the above are global truths, and relevant to all churches of God. Why, specifically, church at unit 11? We have recently had two prophetic words spoken to us that I feel have affirmed and helped to answer that question. One was from Eloise who had a very simple word for us: “John the Baptist”. This was brought up again by someone praying over unit 11 the next night at the prayer meeting. It has affirmed what I have been wrestling with for a few weeks now, that one of our main reasons for doing this is quite simple:
To remove obstacles.
We are a construction team, looking at the lay of the land in Durban, and finding ways to level the ground for a new Kingdom to be built, for a new Person to enter in. Check out Mark Chapter 1. No seriously, go check it out, read it through a few times. God spoke of John the Baptist in Isaiah and Malachi when he said:
“ I will send my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way – a voice of one calling in the desert, ‘Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for Him’.
We are called in Durban, to call out to the people of Durban to make straight paths for Jesus to come. And that starts by us making paths straight and clearing a way for God to come to Durban. And so, we are removing obstacles. We are identifying boulders standing between people and the church: We have seen that some people may not feel comfortable being in a classic church setting singing classic Hillsong songs.
Boulder. We have seen that some people are open to God but (due to past hurts or misinformation) are closed to the idea of ‘going to church’. Boulder. On a simpler note, we have seen that some people can’t make it on a Sunday morning but might make it in the evening. Boulder.
And we are hoping, by God’s grace and guidance, to clear those boulders away. It is only by God’s grace and loving call on our own lives that we were not stopped by certain ‘boulders’ when we first stepped into a church and met with God. For this reason, because of the infinite blessings given to us, we want to put on our construction hats and bulldoze as many obstacles as we can so that these people who we know and love to know in Durban can come and meet with our God in church. In doing so, we are hoping to complete the final purpose of the church which is evangelism and mercy.
"Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervour, serving the Lord. Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.”
Romans 12 verse 11-12
Stuart
