Lately I been praying about how we can grow together as a leadership team since we have struggled to physically meet together like we had fom the previous “season” of this year before winter.  This past winter “season” in our church has evidently been a time of being separated while putting in place some of the things we decided to do before winter “hibernation”.  Yet I pray that we wouldn’t allow physical separation to define us completely.  Although physically meeting together is helpful and needed, I do believe times of separation from God can be very useful to the cause of unity and growth.  I want to share very briefly the underlining scripture of our vision and I pray it challenges you to consider whether this has been your way of thinking when you think about fulfilling the vision of our church.
John 17:22-24
2  The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one,  23  I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me.
*v22)-The goal of God through Jesus is for us individually to be rightly related to Christ-This is why we have personal devotion as the first priority as a Christian (especially for our leadership to lead others in this).  Regardless of how many times we meet physically, if our relationships are not “fused together” by a striving for being one in Christ individually, our relationships will become stagnant and shallow.  Plus we’ll end up only welcoming and desiring fellowship wtih people who only like what we like, even within our own team!
v23)-God is much more interested in us becoming like Christ to fulfill the vision than anything else-Starting from personal devotion the vision of the church is fulfilled by people becoming like Christ, so in becoming like Him we as a church fulfill the vision.  The result of people trying to do a vision is burnout and frustration.  Partly because we have expectations when we are simply doing a thing, then we want visual results from it.  But the result of going after Jesus in faith for His glory sake, results into becoming like Christ, and good deeds/ fulfilling vision then follow automatically (ie. Jesus).  In thinking like this, no one is supposed to carry out the vision for you or me, personally we do this from our personal “call” to walk with Christ.  Since we feel called to the vision, all of us have had a responsibility that attracts us to fulfill it.  So our individual “job” is to get with God personally to keep that attraction flowing because our “duties” within the church may change as we grow, yet that shouldn’t change our attraction to Jesus.  This kind of thinking is what we want to relay to anyone else who is interested in becoming a leader and feels God has called them to the vision of the church.  Otherwise they will be looking at us as leaders to do something for them that only a personal devotion to Jesus can fulfill.
*I personally believe that God gave us this past winter to learn how to stay connected “as one” in Christ.  Given the legitmate struggles we have to meet together, I don’t believe that can be an excuse not to be connected in the Spirit as one in Christ.  If we are feeling disconnected or alone and isolated from each other (which I believe we all have probably felt this past “hibernation season”) I pray we learn to first look at how connected we are to Christ and then consider what we can do, if anything.  But if we can’t make meeting together happen, I pray we stay connected to the only source that can keep us genuinely unified to what He has called us to do.
In His Love-Ld