Details and Risk

It has been a while since I have had time to write. The church I lead has sold our building and is moving to a school. This move allows us to free up significant funds for ministry and and lower our overhead significantly. It is our desire to do this portable church thing well, so a lot of energy has been going into how to develop systems to move gear and streamline setup. There is real concern that with out great thought to this area we will tire out our core group that is planting this new church. It becomes a pastoral issue as well as a logistic issue. Every decision seems to be loaded with pros and cons. Each decision carries some measure of risk.

In a movement like ours (Newfrontiers) you would expect people to identify with mission and not with a building. Yet we have discovered that no matter how much you preach and teach on mission, there are some who just don't get it. Every thing is processed through the lens of risk. What will it cost me? This will be more trouble! Why spend this much time? The answer to this question is that we need to have the resources to fulfill our mission!

The very nature of life in God has much to do with risk. Risk is a central by-product of a life lived by faith. All of the great heroes of the Bible has to forsake the secure and pursue what God had called them to with little more than a promise. Jesus in inviting men to be His followers said. "if any man would seek to save his life, he will lose it, but he that loses his life for my sake will find it again." Ignoring our instincts of self preservation and living for Christ requires great faith and trust in God. I believe that God through the ages has moved through a people that will take risks for Him. We will make mistakes surely, missteps of course, yet God moves in all of those things!
Paul in his letter to the Roman Christians wrote "all things work together for good for those who love God and are called according to His purposes." To respond to a call requires some revelation or interaction with God. When we hear Him and follow Him, God works in all the circumstances of life. In my experience the more we risk for God the more we see His hand.