Thinking BIG or small?

On the day before I left for Australia I was at a meeting in Durban. During one of the lunch sessions Bishop Taylor, Pete Grassow, Peter Woods, Yvette Moses, Jonathan Anderson, and I, went for a walk in the city. As we rounded the corner we saw a HUGE building which was being renovated! It reminded me a lot of a massive historical landmark somewhere in Rome. The building stood about 6 stories tall with the largest columns I have ever seen!

The building was being renovated for use by the Universal Church of the Kingdom of God - I believe they are a charismatic movement that started in Brazil. We peeped into the sanctuary. It looked like it could probably seat about 5000 or so people. It is huge! As our group of Methodist Ministers walked out of that building we all commented on how BIG that vision is! To buy a huge building in the centre of the city and fill it with people who long to discover what it means to be alive; what it means to spend your life doing something worthwhile; what it means to be completely loved by God and what it means to love God and God's world in return. Now that is a big vision. That is worth living for!

We came to the conclusion that our Church is in trouble! It has been decades since we have had a single Methodist church with a big enough vision to do something even close to this! We debate the payment of our ministers, whether Deacons should be allowed to wear clerical shirts (for goodness sakes!), how to keep people out of the Church and its ministry (like gay people, refugees, black people, young people - in fact any person who is not quite like us, whether in appearance or in perspective). We are in trouble!

As I write this I am sitting in the Sydney Olympic stadium with over 40 000 Christians from all over the world, from thousands of different churches (Catholic to Pentecostal, and everything in between). This conference was arranged by a local church to encourage, inspire, train, and develop big thinking leaders.

I am inspired! I have one of the most privileged places in the Methodist Church of Southern Africa. I train her ministers. The question is what will I do with that great privilege?

Do you remember the question that God asked of Moses in Exodus 4:2? "What's in your hand?" Moses answers "It's my staff". That simple question and answer challenged me. God always asks what is in our hands. Moses answer gives us a clue to the answer God longs for. Moses' staff represents his wealth (it was a crook to manage his sheep, that which he owns), it represents his identity (he is a shepherd), it represents his influence (as one who guides, protects, cares for and takes that which is under his care to good places - he shepherds his sheep).

I have been challenged to ask the question, "what's in my hands?" What I am I doing with what I have? Am I dreaming big, or thinking small? What can I do for God and God's world with my income, my identity, and my influence?

Check out 1 Peter 4:10, and see what you're doing with what God has placed in your hands! Let's not waste what God has given us, let's use it well!

PS. Believe it or not, internet access is not easy to come by. So, this post comes from my palmtop (so also excuse typos and spellos!)

Comments

[Arthur]

Hi! You are indeed a worthy recipient of this act of generosity as you enjoy the sights and sounds of Sydney and the conference. I am so pleased you have been able to attend.

I have had the privilege of travelling to Saddleback and the Willow Creek Community Church on many occassions. I have also travelled extensively across our beautiful country visting a wide variety of churches teaching about children's ministry and have visited a few growing churches in Zurich.

Whenever I have these opportunities I very often come back with a deepened sense of sadness at the smallness of the thinking of our broader church. While fortunate to serve in a forward thinking local church with for the most part, forward-thinking leaders, it is apparent that our denomination is indeed in trouble. When I listen to the pettiness expressed at various gatherings and hear the arguments over really small things, I wonder what Jesus would say if He could spend some time with our leaders.

I think that, while praising the broader mission work of our church, He would challenge a mindset of clergy exclusivity, the desire of some to develop their own egos rather than the development of their people's walk with Him and the way in which in so many ways our church has taken its collective eyes off Him in the guise of "doing the right thing". I believe that He would have harsh words for some of our Church leaders whose actions seem to show a desire to build ego rather than His Kingdom. Likewise He would not mince his words to congregation members whose faith consists of simply having their "spiritual injection" each Sunday and not taking Him to their "real" world.

Yes, our Church is in trouble - I pray that by God's grace, our Church will begin to see Jesus more and be prepared to learn from those who are making huge strides in Kingdom building instead of feeling threatened by them.

May the Lord use your time in the Land of Oz to strengthen your resolve to be part of the solution. I would love to chat more about this with you when you get home!

'Bye for now, my friend!