Great Adventure
The Great Adventure
Intro
There is a great shift in the world today.
While Churches today focus on committee meetings, Potlucks, and what type of music to play, the Global church is going forward. For the past 100 years the face of the average Christian was WASP. That is quickly becoming a thing of the past. The center of global Christianity was typically America, and Europe. Now the center of Christianity is shifting to Africa, South America and Asia. The church is growing at an exponential pace. A common prayer of some bishops, pastors, overseers is “please God do not send any more converts today…we just can’t handle them!” In church buildings that we would typically seat just over 100 people in…they will squeeze close to 2000 people in.
Miracles are common place. Healings happen all the time. Deliverance from demons is also a common occurrence. What does this remind you of? The Bible! In the midst of terrible suffering, poverty, persecution and even martyrdom, the Church is thriving.
True story…an ordained minister was visiting a church in Africa. When he arrived to the overcrowded building the person in charge said “you are an ordained minister? Truly?” Then announced that they had a special guest from America who was an ordained minister, and that he would be handling the exorcisms tonight.
So what do we do with this?
Pastors all over the place are getting frustrated. They see that there has to be more but they don’t know what to do.
People are tired of church that is irrelevant to them.
Something has to give.
I came across something recently. I believe it to be a pattern on how to do church:
Isaiah 58:6-12 (NKJV) "“Is this not the fast that I have chosen: To loose the bonds of wickedness, To undo the heavy burdens, To let the oppressed go free, And that you break every yoke? Is it not to share your bread with the hungry, And that you bring to your house the poor who are cast out; When you see the naked, that you cover him, And not hide yourself from your own flesh? Then your light shall break forth like the morning, Your healing shall spring forth speedily, And your righteousness shall go before you; The glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard. Then you shall call, and the Lord will answer; You shall cry, and He will say, ‘Here I am.’ “If you take away the yoke from your midst, The pointing of the finger, and speaking wickedness, If you extend your soul to the hungry And satisfy the afflicted soul, Then your light shall dawn in the darkness, And your darkness shall be as the noonday. The Lord will guide you continually, And satisfy your soul in drought, And strengthen your bones; You shall be like a watered garden, And like a spring of water, whose waters do not fail. Those from among you Shall build the old waste places; You shall raise up the foundations of many generations; And you shall be called the Repairer of the Breach, The Restorer of Streets to Dwell In. "
It’s time to realize that following after Jesus will lead us to places we never expected. It’s time to look once again at our life of faith as an adventure. We are about to go rafting, and one of the coolest things is the element of danger. We like to have our adrenaline pumping, but yet we draw back from a life of faith at times.
The western church of yesterday in large part has dropped the ball. In Europe old churches are turned into warehouses, museums, etc. Darlene story. Here in the u.s. at least, old irrelevant churches close their doors and new ones open in their place. Usually ethnic churches like Korean, or Nigerian.
There will be some drastic change in Forerunner soon, as we attempt to build according to the plan. Our model of ministry needs to be adapted and changed. There will be a lot more ministry that happens outside of these doors.
We will place ourselves in positions of complete faith, where if God doesn’t come through we will utterly fail.
God is looking for heroes of faith. We will answer that call.