LEADERSHIP LETTER ARCHIVES

 

A MONTHLY READING

FOR ALL ARC LEADERS
July 2007

 

Repentance and Renewal

 

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

 

Over the past ten years the leadership team of Christ Community has been called to account for various deficiencies and dysfunctions in our life together.  It has been like Jesus coming to the seven churches in Asia Minor (Revelation 2-3) and shepherding them into better posture by informing them of His likes, His serious concerns and future rewards for repentance and obedience.  We have never felt afflicted by these encounters, but rather a holy sobriety and divine impelling to change our ways.  And the God who described Himself to Moses as “a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin. . . (Ex. 34:6-7) has been all of that to us.

 

Some of the larger issues we’ve repented for include:

 

  • Foreign Missions — in 1997 we were rather lame and unfocused in this area.  But God connected us to Poland and we repented and obeyed and move ahead into further areas.  Getting the right person in position was crucial.  And God has helped us.

 

  • Corporate Prayer – We were rather lackluster here and noted it all the more as we related to another church (Bethel Christian Fellowship: Jim Olsen, Pastor).  We asked Jim to come and talk to our team and then we changed our ways.  God helped us. We pray better now.

 

  • Charismatic Expression -- This area had become dulled over the years for a variety of reasons—genuinely trying to avoid the aberrational elements and seeking to be very deliberate about expositional teaching.  But as we thought through I Corinthians for two years we decided to really slow the pace through chapter 12 and 14 and open our hearts to this very important dimension of corporate life and worship.  And God has helped us.

 

  • Gospel Centrality and Expositional Preaching – We don’t think that preaching through a book is the only legitimate route to take, but it is a healthy corrective to random pastoral insight.  We spent two years in I Corinthians and are now working our way through Genesis.  The Sonship series has also been a significant pastoral element for us.

 

We are presently repenting and taking faith for our very flaccid approach to evangelism.  One of our elders has been ringing this gong for a while.  But we are just now getting on board.  My own repentance here is noteworthy.  I was asked by a woman in our church to take over her international student Bible study while she was out of the country for four weeks.  I agreed and taught on four conversion stories – Nicodemus, Saul of Tarsus, the Samaritan woman and Zacchaeus.  As I taught those Chinese scholars, my own heart was softened and penetrated by the Spirit regarding the sober determination of Jesus to connect to not only the poor and hungry, but also to the desperately lost.  The last verse I shared in the fourth Bible study was Luke 19:10, “For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”  Very simply, over the next week, I saw with increasing clarity and conviction that I was not seeking the lost.  This is not the first time I’ve gotten here.  And I have “great” excuses.  I’m busy with many other things—good things, God things.  But this simple statement has genuinely gripped my soul—Jesus came seeking lost folk.  Like me.  And you.  And even if a great majority of my time is spent in leadership development and related areas, I must be compelled by the most primary concerns of Jesus.  And seeking the lost is clearly at the top of the chart.

 

So, I’m repenting and believing and God is helping me.  And us.  Our folks are now praying with some fervor (we’ve set aside the summer for this posture) and many are finding grace to take steps “out of the boat” and into the lives of people for whom Jesus died.  He’s giving us some creative perspectives on how to seek the lost.  Rather unsurprising, isn’t it?  Why wouldn’t He be entirely disposed to help us continue in the mission He began?  So repentance is not to be a morose, guilt-soaked exercise where we feel bad about ourselves for a few weeks and then dutifully do what we ought to do.  But it certainly does mean that we open our souls to the kind of prophetic and pastoral insight into our individual and corporate lives that invites a change of heart, a redirection of energies and a deep confidence in God the Helper who longs to bear His fruit through our lives.

 

In Jesus,

 

Ned

 

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