Following the Blueprint

My Monday morning thought routines typically are a continuation of the Sunday events. Today is no exception as I ponder all the things that went on yesterday in our activities. Preaching from the 16th Chapter of Matthew always charges me up in the area of church growth because I am reminded there that it is Jesus Christ who is building His church and my efforts to construct will be successful as long as I am following His blueprint. Things like: small groups, team preaching, lay-equipping and empowerment,passionate worship, focused vision, seeker-sensitive evangelism all with the commitment to biblical accuracy and truth,all all good building blocks. Now the task of connecting those blocks with the mortar of external focus will keep us from the pitfall of becoming a "Christian Club" that stays on it's side of the chasm. Robert Lewis in his book "The Church of Irresisible influence" says that if we are not careful, we can become more like a basketball camp with all the "difficult and sometimes tedious focus on training, skill development, conditioning and position selection, we never actually play the game." Missing the bigger picture is a problem for the modern day church struggling to increase facilities and ministries. Putting "skin" on our love for the world is following God's example of the "Word becoming flesh". If we ignore that, we may have an exciting full church, but be headed off the cliff of irrelevance.