Reflecting

Now that 2015 is over and we are off and running with 2016, we all have the task of doing our year end paper work. You know the boring end of year reports that you have to do, ugh, the financial statements that come in the mail as we start to prepare for taxes and I can think of a hundred other things I would rather do with my time. So I did those reports this week and it came with a large dose of reflection, God has blessed us this year, God has blessed the church and that deserves some praise.

When you start out in ministry it always comes with a little or a lot of unknowns and can require or dare I say must require a level of trust, faith, and knowledge that without God none of it will work. If you wait for everything to be perfect no ministry will start, so you jump in and pray and pray and pray some more that God will use you and that you will listen for His will.

So with 2015 over I looked back and WOW, you know you miss it in the moment. At times it might not even seem like much is happening, measuring success in ministry is a very tricky thing to do, which has led to many of great people to fold up shop and leave the ministry all together. At Rejoice Community Church we have been blessed, I have been blessed. In 2013 we had 177 members, our tithing was at an all time high as well as our weekly attendance. 2014, 211 members, good tithing and steady numbers. 2015, 255 members, tithing at an all time high, every measurable stat is at it's highest in the 16 year history of the church, except weekly attendance. Members doesn't count all those who call Rejoice home and have not officially joined the church, so that means we are over 300 people calling Rejoice their church, praise God. I know it's not all about numbers, but every number is a person, it's a face and a story.

Now this is my thought, I have been blessed to be the pastor of this church for the last year and I pray with many more years to follow. But calling a new pastor has very little to do with church growth and success. There are hundreds of struggling churches with around 3,500 closing each year and if just bringing the right pastor was the answer this would be an easy fix.

When I came to Rejoice, I took the advise of friends who have been pastors longer than I, and started praying about vision, what is God's will for this church. The vision that God gave me was 5%, reaching 5% of the unchurched with the love and message of Jesus Christ. I didn't know how this was going to happen, and as it turns out 5% is a really big number (425). Visions are great, but if the church(the actual people that make up Rejoice) doesn't fall in love with the vision it is worthless. The only reason we have grown over the last couple years is because of the people have started to live into their calling to be followers of Christ. I share with them the vision and try to equip them for the battle, as they go and reach out to others in the community. The people of Rejoice deserve the credit and not the pastor, God deserves the credit and not the pastor. When a church is struggling it's usually not the pastor's fault, but the people of the church are the one's who have to decide if they will take an active stance for God's Kingdom mission. The church exist for non-members.

Struggling churches are not full of bad people, they are mostly full of really great people, who love God. If a struggling churches answer is bring in a new pastor and all the problems go away, they are CRAZY. The result will be that same as it was with the last pastor, he or she will lay out a vision and the church won't support it and things will go bad and it will be the pastors fault. The church is God's, it is the bride of Christ and He is relational, so if your church is not relational with those outside of your church, with the Non-members, with the outcast, with the lost, then YOU need to CHANGE, not the pastor. Okay rant over.

I thank God for the hearts of the people of Rejoice, for their love of each other and for those they don't even know. But now it gets real, we are at a place of unknowns. Rejoice has never been here, and I get crazy excited just thinking about it. I think of Star Trek, "going where no man has gone before", that's us and praise God that it is. This means we are going to be doing things that we have never done before, I pray that in the next year I hear people say, we have never done this, haha that's right and here we go. God is soooo much bigger than we can imagine, but what about the fear of not knowing? We are children of God so what do we have to be afraid of, we are free and there are so many people in our community that have never heard that message, so who cares if we can't see the shore, if we, all of us, can allow God to steer the ship all we have to do is invite others aboard. God gave us the mission, and now we have a vision. Thank you Jesus for allowing us to be a part of your Kingdom and help us to follow your will, Amen.