Traveling Gathering

Luke 3:3-4

3 Then John went from place to place on both sides of the Jordan River, preaching that people should be baptized to show that they had repented of their sins and turned to God to be forgiven. 4 Isaiah had spoken of John when he said, “He is a voice shouting in the wilderness, ‘Prepare the way for the Lord’s coming! Clear the road for him!

Luke 3:7-9

7 When the crowds came to John for baptism, he said, “You brood of snakes! Who warned you to flee the coming wrath? 8 Prove by the way you live that you have repented of your sins and turned to God. Don’t just say to each other, ‘We’re safe, for we are descendants of Abraham.’ That means nothing, for I tell you, God can create children of Abraham from these very stones. 9 Even now the ax of God’s judgment is poised, ready to sever the roots of the trees. Yes, every tree that does not produce good fruit will be chopped down and thrown into the fire.”

Luke 3:10-18

10 The crowds asked, “What should we do?”

11 John replied, “If you have two shirts, give one to the poor. If you have food, share it with those who are hungry.”

12 Even corrupt tax collectors came to be baptized and asked, “Teacher, what should we do?”

13 He replied, “Collect no more taxes than the government requires.”

14 “What should we do?” asked some soldiers.

John replied, “Don’t extort money or make false accusations. And be content with your pay.”

15 Everyone was expecting the Messiah to come soon, and they were eager to know whether John might be the Messiah. 16 John answered their questions by saying, “I baptize you with water; but someone is coming soon who is greater than I am—so much greater that I’m not even worthy to be his slave and untie the straps of his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. 17 He is ready to separate the chaff from the wheat with his winnowing fork. Then he will clean up the threshing area, gathering the wheat into his barn but burning the chaff with never-ending fire.” 18 John used many such warnings as he announced the Good News to the people.

I have to say that of all the people that we learn about in the bible JTB is both the most outrageous and next to Jesus...for me anyway the most worthy of imitation.

So stating tomorrow I will be dressed in animal skins, I will begin my honey and locust diet and I will live in a van down by the river giving insulting sermons to anyone who wishes to listen to me.

Seriously, I think at times we allow the more eccentric parts of JTB to take away from the fact that he was in fact called and sent by God to prepare the way for Jesus. Even thought JTB was odd in the eyes of people he was in fact a master at communicating the truth of the coming kingdom.

JTB did not just stand telling people that the kingdom of God had come but he answered the question how do we live this kingdom. He gave practical answers as well. Cloth the naked, feed the hungry, be honorable in business dealings, don’t take advantage of you position.

However...I think the true genius in JTB’s success in getting this message out was his willingness to take the message to the places where people would be. JTB preached in various spots all along the Jordan river becuase that is where people would be.

The Jordan was not only a sacred place where people would come for ritual cleansing and baptism but rivers were the life blood of any nation. People washed, got water, even food from the rivers. With this in mind everyday their would have been a great deal of traffic along the river sides.

He did not do a demographic study, He did not develop a target group to preach to, JTB knew his message was for everyone and set up shop so to speak in places where people would hear the message and begin the process of repentance. The result was both wonderful and tragic.

The wonderful thing was that people did in fact repent. People did in fact change their lives and prepare for the coming of Jesus...

The tragic thing was that yes some people did not repent…they were not open to hearing and they actively fought against this message not only by mocking JTB and what he was preaching but eventually taking his life.

JTB could have easily picked a spot and developed a following and maybe even built a synagogue but he chose instead to continue to move up and down the river, so he might reach as many as possible with the message he was created to preach.

Every Christian has a message they are created to preach.

JTB was making disciples of these people even though they had no idea who Jesus was yet or that Jesus was in fact the Messiah.

Reading this passage I could not escape from the question of how things may be different if we stopped “building” more churches and rediscovered the power in taking more churches to places where people do life?

What if we took Church to our kids sporting events, What if we took church to nursing facilities, what if we took church to our living rooms, back yards, drive ways of our homes, play grounds…even lunch at work? Are there a group of friends you spend time with that you believe would be open to a pursuit of God with you? What if we took church to the golf course.

I talked to a guy once that we could never get to church on a regular basis becuase he played golf on Sunday..at one time I asked if there were a service at the club house early before tee off if he would attend…he said yes and would get all the golf group to attend. Had I stayed in that community I would have led that gathering.

It seems crazy but I have a sneaky suspicion if the Church looked for more ways to take the service to the world instead of getting people to come here, there could be an explosion of faith and revival in the world.

If all the Church does is creates an event called church and does not disciple or continue on our own journey of discipleship it seems to me we are falling short on what will actually lead to the transformation that God wants each and every person to have.

It seems we spend an awful lot of time asking what will get people to come to our buildings when the answer while not convenient seems painfully obvious...maybe the answer to growing our gathering is to take the gathering to the world.

What if instead of being a faith destination we were more like a hub that supported a variety of small to mid sized gatherings (Missional Communities) focused on people that have either never had any significant connection to a church, a group of people that one has a burden for, a group you already are connected with or people that have fallen away for whatever reason?

Important to interject here…I AM NOT suggesting that our Sunday gatherings or our current ministries are not important or that people should stop doing it.

I am not even suggesting that everyone will be called to launch a missional community. In fact I believe that the Gathering like we are in today is vital to the strength on any new missional community we will plant in the future.

It is here with our current programing that those who may be called to lead such a group would receive all the resources they need. The body of Christ is essential to the health of not only those who do not know Jesus but to those who are in relationship with Jesus.

This year I would like us to launch 3 new missional communities!

We already have one in the planning stage which I will talk about in the future. I know that the thought of something like this right now may seem futile. As the virus continues to spread you are probably thinking that this is the last time to do something like this. While it may be correct that the time to actually meet is not right it is the time to dream. It is the time to pray, it is the time to plan.

So that when the time is right you will be ready. Every disciple can begin a missional community. don’t get hung up on the details, we can help you with that. We need at least two more teams of 4 to launch our missional communities.

Two more groups willing to disciple people up and down the Jordan river.

What if I am not called to this…if you are not called to this which many will not be your support is important as well. You are called to nurture those that our sent, pray for God to lead them, provide a space right here where they will be able to be taught, where they can have friends who want nothing but their success if reach the group God has called them to. We need to be places that celebrate the stories of victory and lament the times of struggle for our Missional Communities.

You see the stronger that the Hub is the more stable the spokes are. The things we do when we gather together for corporate worship matter. Your presence matters.

Worship is our response to God’s love. In worship we are reminded who we are, and the grand story of which we are a part. Worships shapes us. But it’s not just something we do when we “need” it. Your presence is needed by those around you. And when we are present with God and one another, God uses us to encourage, challenge, love, serve, and pray for one another.

What are the things that keep you from being present with the body either on-line or in person?

Are these things something you can use to create your own missional community?

Pray this week asking God whether you are to use the things that cause you to not be present in worship are your mission field o you Achilles heel?

Be present with God this week by ending each day in a time of examen

Ask the Holy Spirit to be with you as you reflect on the that 24 hours of your day.

Focus on the day’s gifts and give thanks for them.

Notice what emotions you felt. What is God sayin to you in these feelings?

Ask the Holy Spirit to guide you to a particular even o emotion of the day that is important and pray repentance, gratitude ore request whatever is required here.

Ask the Lord to show you how you can build on the good or bad of today to make a better tomorrow. Is that building a missional community?

If you feel like God may be speaking to you about a missional community or just want to know more about it contact me this week. Let me get more detailed for you.

Communion