Fart in the Wind

I find such joy and contentment in hanging out with other people who love God, even though we are not in the same place on our journey. On the other hand, I grow less contented with the goals, structure, and outcomes of organized religion. Trish and I have been doing a lot of talking, listening and seeking lately about the situation we find ourselves in...

I am helping on a committee in the IC that we are serving at to redefine their mission, vision and values. We are reading some books and talking about things that are different from the direction of most institutional churches. But, I wonder if any of it will do any good, because most people will continue to do whatever they see the pastor doing anyway, and he's a "Purposed Driven" kind of guy. This keeps me emotionally detached from what I am doing, because I am not going to invest myself into an institution.

The good thing about doing this is it brings to light how much my views have changed. A couple of years ago I would have been so excited to talk about all of the "cutting edge" ministry structures and programs that are possible, today they seem so empty and lifeless. My litmus test for anything we are doing is: Does this help people know, follow, and trust Jesus? Anything else is a fart in the wind as far as I am concerned.

We did come up with a mission statement for them: To share the love of God and help all people become lifelong, passionate followers of Jesus Christ.

Now to answer the question: What does it look like to be a passionate follower of Jesus Christ....