Mission Marker #1 - Living The Jesus Way

For the next six weeks The Overflow will follow along with the Mission Edge Church journey Faith Baptist Church is taking. I've already described what that's all about here and we began the process by studying the first "Mission Marker", which is Living The Jesus Way When Gathered And Scattered. You can watch or listen to the message for week 1 if you missed it. Rather than re-hashing any of that here I wanted to share a bit of the background of the Mission Edge content and how it has been shaped by care for the future of Atlantic Baptist Churches. Below is an excerpt from Rev. Dr. Greg Jones' Mission Edge Congregational Guide.

It was a picture-perfect spring evening. Brand new in my role as a Regional Minister with the Canadian Baptists of Atlantic Canada (then known as the Convention of Atlantic Baptists Churches). I was driving along enjoying the unspoiled beauty of the Belleisle Bay of New Brunswick. Although this province had been my home for all but three years of my life, at the time this was new territory for me.

Belleisle Bay

I was on my way to meet with a Pastoral Search Committee of one of our congregations, and had given myself extra time as I wasn’t exactly sure how long the drive might take. I remember thinking that although this was a spectacularly beautiful area, it sure felt like I was in the ‘boonies’ (I later realized it wasn’t nearly as remote as I initially thought). At one point I caught a glimpse of a little white church. I knew it wasn’t the church I was heading to, but was curious about its denomination so I turned around and drove back to check it out. This is when it happened.

Now, before I go further I will tell you that I’m typically a bit of a skeptic whenever I hear claims from those who say they have heard a direct message from God. I think it sounds either a bit hokey (as if it’s from the script of ‘The Blues Brothers’) or at least a bit presumptuous; a claiming for oneself some form of spiritual superiority. It seems like a manipulative way to say “You can’t question what I’m saying.”

And yet even owning my own baggage, all that I can tell you is I sensed that God met me there as I pulled in to that little church yard. It was a place of epiphany for me.

Whatever it was, I know I wasn’t expecting it. Up until that moment I was merely driving along, kind of minding my own business, enjoying the beauty around me, not thinking any deep thoughts in particular.

So what happened?

As I pulled into the parking area, I saw that the church was one of ours ... meaning it was a church that was of our denominational family. I knew of the church by name, but because this was a new area to me I hadn’t known where it was located. Sitting there looking at that picturesque but rustic church building, my head dropped and these words seemed to spontaneously well up within me ... “Oh God, why have you brought me here into this role now? So many of these little churches are not going to make it!”

That was not a particularly faith-filled or optimistic sentiment, especially for one who had just come into the denominational role of working with such churches to encourage them towards Kingdom flourishing. And yet, this was the gist of what I was feeling.

Immediately I heard (though admittedly not with my ears) the words “that’s not my purpose for them.” My initial thought was, “Wow, where did that come from?” But then a whole jumble of impressions erupted. I don’t know if they came in a micro-second, or over the next couple minutes. Regardless, here’s what I felt I heard God say.

First of all – and this is important – I didn’t sense God say that it wouldn’t happen; that a number of such churches wouldn’t close. In fact, I felt I was hearing that there was real danger and even likelihood it would happen to too many, and not just in rural or other areas coping with out-migration or community decline.

I believed I did hear, however, that these closures weren’t what God was purposing for churches, and needn’t be inevitable. In other words, it would be wrong for us to blame God if churches closed, thinking He pulled the plug on them or that it was inevitable as they had lived out their natural life. We also shouldn’t chalk it up to the demographics of the area or the spiritual lethargy of these times.

I also sensed God saying: “If my people – this church and all churches – will be the people I call them to be for this place and this time, then they will have a future." The clear point of all this was that the future of these churches would rest on whether they were willing to be obedient to whatever – and I mean whatever! – God was calling them to.

Back to me. I've heard pastors claim that the Halifax area is hard soil for church ministry - that this just isn't a place where people take to Christian faith and church participation easily. I don't know if that's true compared to other places or not. But I do believe that the right people can transform any place.

I think that's what Jesus is getting at in Matthew 5:13: “You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot."

Salt, even in very small amounts, purifies and preserves. It was exceptionally valuable in Jesus' day as a result. Disciples of Jesus are meant to have this quality of saltiness, where we change the environments we enter. Christians should make things better wherever they go - bringing more of God's love and the positive example of Jesus' way of living into those places.

And, as Jesus also points out, salt that loses its saltiness is of no value at all. That's a sermon unto itself, though it has me thinking of the ways that Christians can fail to transform the world either through apathy and lack of effort, or because they try to do things exactly the world does thing rather than seeking to resemble Jesus first and foremost.

But where there is salty salt (true apprentices of Jesus), there is a good future. No church full of "salty" Christians has anything to fear. So as we begin the Mission Edge journey by considering what it means to "Live the Jesus Way" let me challenge anyone reading this to remember that the future of Faith Baptist Church, or any other church, doesn't ultimately depend on its specific plans or goals or ministries. What will matter most of all is how much the people of any church are willing to live the Jesus way - to be salt. Or, to return to Greg Jones' sense of God's leading "If my people - this church and all churches - will be the people I call them to be for this place and this time, then they will have a future."

This journey is as much about how each of us is willing to be formed as a disciple of Jesus as it is about what our church should do next. Please keep that clearly in mind as we continue through the other Mission Markers.

A prayer to be salt today:

Father, I want the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart to be pleasing to You this day. I pray that my conversation is uplifting so that I build others up rather than tear them down. Just as salt is tasty to food making it more pleasant to eat, I pray that my dialogue is wholesome making conversation pleasant and beneficial to those who listen. Because of Your redemptive work in my life I am blessed and highly flavored with the preserving salt of Your holy Word. I want to spread the message of Your salvation to others so that they are snatched from the evil one and their lives are preserved for this life and the next. We pray this in the name of Jesus. Amen.