Give me one hundred men who fear nothing but sin and desire nothing but God, and I care not whether they be clergymen or laymen, they alone will shake the gates of Hell and set up the kingdom of Heaven upon Earth. – John Wesley
I wanted to reach out to you after our meeting this past Sunday to offer you some encouragement, and paint for you a picture of our path moving forward.
If you’re struggling right now to process things, I want to assure you that we are squarely in the palm of the Lord’s hand. I’ve gone through this many times in my nearly 30 years of ministry. The pain we’re experiencing right now is necessary to help our church break through into a far more fruitful and joyful season. There’s a wall we have to punch through to get there, but that wall is a lot thinner than it looks.
Once we face this pain head-on, and meet the Lord in the pain, and allow him to walk us through it, health and growth will resume. What is this pain? It’s the pain of change. It’s the pain of letting go. Of dying to what was so that what will be can be born.
It’s a principle of life, and a principle of the kingdom of God. Jesus said, “Unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone. But if it dies it bears much fruit.” (John 12:24). The Lord tells us (in John 15, the passage we’ve studied the last two Sundays) that he will prune us. Pruning hurts, but if we allow the Father to do his work, and trust him that it’s for our good, we’ll grow back more fruitful than ever.
I saw this in my very first church. It was a country church in Minnesota on its deathbed, with 25 people soaking wet. Three months into my ministry there, an arsonist came and nearly burned our church building to the ground. Someone from another church came by afterwards and said to me, “Since you’ll probably be closing down now, let us know if you have any books or furniture to give away.” (As they say in Minnesota, Yah shore, ya betcha.) We met most of that year in a 1-room Grange Hall while they repaired our building – and the church doubled in size. When Janis and I moved on a few years later, we were nearly a hundred strong.
I saw this in Connecticut back in the late 90s as we lost people because of “Worship Wars”. To reach a new generation for Christ, we had to learn how to “sing a new song to the Lord”, just as the Bible teaches. But some wanted only the old songs sung in the old way. And no amount of teaching and modeling would convince them otherwise. So we had to set our course, and though we lost people, we soon had to add a second service, and expand our pastoral staff.
The Lord pruned Janis and me way back when he led us into the wilderness of southern California in 2016. He put my pastoral ministry completely to death, so that he could bring to birth new books, and a new ministry, and new experiences that would never have happened had we not embraced a season of painful change.
And this is why last weekend was necessary. BridgeWay 1.0 had to be honored, celebrated, thanked…and then given back to God, so that BridgeWay 2.0 (or whatever number you care to assign it) could arise.
The idea that we could bring everyone along, inspired by a new vision, then seamlessly, painlessly transition into a new season of growth was wishful thinking in the end. We were much too wounded. And so last weekend, this Kairos moment as we’ve called it, was our decision to face the pain of change head-on, and make clear the direction in which we now are moving, even at the risk of losing people we love.
So how do we move forward? It’s amazingly providential that it is in this season that the Lord has brought us to study together the theme of Emotionally Healthy Spirituality. In this journey of study and prayer we are taking together right now, the Lord is teaching us how to seek him in a fresh, and honest way, where we open our hearts to him, and learn to listen to his leading, and allow him to bring to the surface any of the hurts he wishes, not to wound us, but to heal us.
It’s a way of relating to God called “contemplative spirituality”, and it’s what we each need to do right now: to sit ourselves at Jesus’ feet, fix our eyes upon him, pour out our hurts, and then listen, in the quiet, for his voice.
During Lent, which begins in early March, we’ll keep in this spirit of contemplative spirituality, by calling the church into a season of prayer. As the Lord leads us, we’ll invite the church to come together into one or two large gatherings for prayer. We’ll teach one another about the importance and practice of prayer. It’s so important that we seek for God’s leading and favor on this new season, for “unless the Lord builds the house those who build it labor in vain” (Ps.127:1). Obviously, there will be things “to do” in Lent. (Exciting things are coming, even as we speak – things that thrill me to think about, which I’ll share with you momentarily.) But first things first. And prayer is forever and always the first thing. Especially now. Let’s seek God together.
Before I sign off, let me give you a glimpse of some of what we sense the Lord is dreaming for BridgeWay. To adapt John Wesley’s quote atop the letter, Give me forty people united around the Lord and each other, and we’ll shake the gates of hell. It’s a tried and true principle of Scripture: God can do a lot with a little. So don’t be dismayed if we have to endure some thinning while BridgeWay 2.0 comes to birth.
Here are some immediate and distinct shifts we’ll begin making in coming weeks.
- We’ll shift from an inward to a largely outward focus. Those key infrastructure projects that took so much of our attention these past two years, largely built around church governance, structure, and leadership, are completed. Once the bridge is repaired, it’s time for the traffic to start flowing. Along these lines, we are going to ask God to help us find ways to make inroads into the Pax River Base community, which must be a top shelf priority for us.
- Our Mission Statement is at last going to come front and center, and guide what we do. Make Disciples / Connect With Communities / Grow The Body of Christ.
- We will unleash Pentecost in our church. In the Bible, Pentecost was the day when the Church was born, as the Holy Spirit fell on each one of the hundred or so believers gathered around the apostles. The Holy Spirit gave each one the power and ability to witness for Christ, and each one gifts, talents and abilities for serving him. In a healthy church, the elders guide the ship, by ‘equipping the saints’, to be all they can be for Christ (Ephesians 4:11-16).
- Your pastor will also be uncaged, if I can put it that way. God has called me to train and encourage, and so from here on out, my time will be largely invested in those who wish to be unleashed in greater fruitfulness for God. I am going to strengthen existing relationships I have with pastors and ministries locally and regionally. I am going to expand the use of my writing and speaking gifts by bringing Train Yourself Ministry out of dormancy.
- And finally, all this teaching we’ve been doing about discipleship – how we grow in spiritual maturity? We’re all going to get to be a part of bringing to birth a process where that will take place in our church. We’ll help one another learn how to enjoy Communion with Christ. We’ll inspire each other to make that Commitment To Growing in Christlikeness, Fruitfulness, and Knowledge. We’ll spur one another on to establish strong Connections To Community, through fellowship, ministry, and outreach. And in time, we’ll develop a Covenant To Coaching mindset where everyone will be both discipling and being discipled.
If what I’ve shared with you here ignites even just a little flame of excitement in your heart, then let’s journey together.
I’ve seen it for nearly thirty years now. That once a church starts moving forward with vision, unity, and prayer, it doesn’t usually take long at all for there to be a visible, obvious turning of the tide.
From now into Lent, the elders and I will be reaching out to each of you to see how you are doing in this season of transition, answer any of your questions, and pray with you.
And you can reach out to us any time. We’re just a coffee, email, or phone call away.
Under His wings,
Pastor Bear