We're All Flawed Missionaries
Thank you for the Sunday away. Elisa, the kids, and myself all enjoyed spending time with her parents and siblings at a cabin in Cle Elum.
<--- The grandparents & cousins
On Sunday we visited our sister church, Resonate: Ellensburg, and their group of 40-50 believers. I was struck by two things: the clarity of their mission and their imperfections.
FIRST Their mission is "to connect the Gospel to people, people to community, and community to mission" and everything they did was designed around that mission. The Gospel of Jesus was clearly shared, they encouraged people to join a "Village" (Small Group), and the call to missions was clear throughout their building and bulletin. SECOND I've been looking up to Resonate for years for how they do things - especially Small Groups. In fact, a lot of the way we do Small Groups here is influenced by their thinking. However, their church wasn't perfect. There were small flaws throughout - and it was so reassuring. I often see the flaws in our own church because I want us to be excellent at how we do things and we must see what's wrong before being able to make corrections. And yet, here was a church that is reaching and discipling college students (very successfully) and yet it has many of the same flaws we do!
So let's continue nurturing individuals in grace - our mission statement - and let's continue to work on the flaws... but let's do both while recognizing the perfection of Jesus. Let's nurture individuals in grace by telling each individual about our wonderful Savior. Let's dedicate ourselves to serving God with excellence while thanking Him that its on Jesus' perfection our hope rests and not on our own. Let's DO THIS!
