In the book The Transformational Church, I read this: "There can be no renewal, revival, or rebuilding without a vision for an an experience of the all-consuming, all-illuminating presence of God." That's the message of the a book written much earlier, the book of Zechariah, a prophet of Israel.
Church, whether evangelical, mainline, Catholic or whattheheckother, must be, seems to me, about God.
As I've walked this path of ministry lo these many 13 years or so, I've done so at small churches. I'll finish this ministry in, oh, seven to 12 years, at a small church. It seems to me, however, that doesn't mean a church that isn't transformational.
In the eighth chapter of the prophet Zechariah's writings about the rebirth and rebuilding of the Temple, you read this: "Old men and old women will come back to Jerusalem, sit on benches on the streets and spin tales, move around safely with their canes -- a good city to be old in. And boys and girls will fill the public parks, laughing and playing -- a good city to grow up in. ...Do the problems of returning and rebuilding by just a few survivors seem too much? But is anything too much for me? Not if I have my say."
It must be about God, no us. We are small at our churches (if the criteria is anything less than 100 is small) and we don't have enough money it seems. Does that mean this is the end of all things? Not by a long stretch.
Is anything too much for God?
God continues in that chapter with "...things have changed. I'm taking the side of my core of surviving people. Sowing and harvesting will resume. Vines will grow grapes, gardens will flourish, dew and rain will make everything green. ... From now on, you're the good-news people. Don't be afraid. Keep a firm grip on what I'm doing."
Small? Yeah. Capable? Yeah.
Be the good-news people out there.
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