By Pastor Steven Bakai, Greenborough Community Church
It may come as a surprise to read that one of the goals that our church has set out for this year is to “shrink.” In the past year, part of our worship service was spent going through a book about becoming “less.” This shrinking aligns with the view of the Baptist who, when seeing Jesus told his disciples, “He [i.e. Christ] must increase, but I must decrease” (John 3:30, KJV). Our church interpreted this to mean that the stature of Christ is the inverse of the humility of his disciples. Our church has set out to become less so that Christ may become more. More in our worship service, more in our lives. More in the places we inhabit.
Yet this shrinking is not an easy task for us because we live in a culture that promotes “speed,” “growth” and “success.” Only together, in fellowship can we defend and expel such notions from our church, focusing on patience, self-denial and faithfulness.
Another thing that we did was to intentionally drop our mission statement as well as any “strategizing.” The reason for this is that our church is not a business that sets goals, striving to increase their “market share” or “presence.” Our church is a part of the body of Christ. The church does not have a mission, rather God has a mission, and He called the church into being to fulfill that mission.
On our journey of becoming less there are no guarantees because this calls us to abandon every idea of measuring results, or effectiveness. What this journey has given our church is a sense of levity. We have become a little unburdened, instead of “filling the pews” we strive to tell our story, be gracious hosts when we sit for a meal and allowing the Spirit, to move, “where it chooses” and go wherever the Spirit may lead us.
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