Death is a partner to Life
Last night both the current MRNA (Missionary Residency of North America of which I am blessed to be a part of,) and the previous year’s students got together for dinner and a time of prayer. It was great to just hear what is going on in the lives and hearts of other MRNA students like Miller Talbot and Steve Holt who are interested and practicing organic church planting here in Abilene. I respect both of these men a great deal and last night was a confirmation of that respect.
Towards the end of the evening, Steve told us that after a year and a half, their house church was at its end. You could hear that this was difficult for him to say, and all of us were hushed into silence as he told us about how painful it was for him to come to the end of his time in Abilene and not see a thriving faith community. It was while Steve was still speaking that Miller interrupted: “Why are you apologizing? You have nothing to be sorry for!”
Kent added, “Tell us some of the stories of the people who at one time were a part of your simple church.” Steve went into a long list of names, all of which had been touched by the gospel, and shortly after all had moved away. I watched as Steve’s eyes got wider, telling us how three individuals from his small group had moved to other cities, and had in their own way started a new community of faith, or a prayer group, or a small house church. One dies, three are born!
I think about cells. Their lifecycle is to grow to maturity, then multiply and die. I’ve been told that every seven months, we are completely new people biologically, because every day billions of cells are reproducing, and dying. Death is a part of life - they are not opposites, they are partners. Death is just a stage everything must go through, including churches. It is the fate of many large churches to continue to eek out an existence well after the life that was present at their birth has left them.
I hope to see a lot of churches die in my lifetime. That may seem strange, but it is actually a byproduct of my real desire - that the Holy Spirit would sustain a congregation, and nothing else; not programs or “ministries” or structures that suck the life from the people. If the Holy Spirit is not what is holding up a faith community, then I’ll pray that they dis ban and look for life elsewhere. Now how’s that for church growth???
Thank you Miller and Steve and Kent and others who were such a blessing to my wife and I last night. May God continue to bring us the life we so desperately are searching for.
Last 5 posts by Mark
- God is Wholly - October 2nd, 2008
- The Great Moderation - September 30th, 2008