Day 33 - Where Are We Going?

[cwalker1]

The author's story of the sheep and the shepherds left me curious. The question in the back of my mind is, "where are they going?" In the US, livestock stay in a fenced area and they don't move from one field to the next. I gather that the sheep go wherever they can flourish. This is how the church should be. We should go wherever we can flourish. The primary motive for us must be to glorify God and represent His character more and more each day. 2 Peter 1:8 talks about not being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ (218).

I just finished my seventh year of Pastoring. It feels like an initial milestone and I want to see God's people grow more and more into divine likeness. We have many new initiatives. Given my family, job in industry, church school, and denominational responsibilities - I have to frequently ask myself, "where am I going?" God encourages me to press on. However, there are times when I question if I am doing the right things for the right reasons. I believe many pastors and churches have the same challenge. This is a unique risk for churches that are experiencing minimal growth, stagnation, and or decline. The human response is to do more. Get busy. This is not always the right thing. Sometimes we have to do less.

There are several questions we should ask ourselves, 1) will this glorify God? 2) will this bring people closer to Jesus? 3) would anyone care if we stopped this?, 4) does the bible encourage or allow this? We need to set aside time to stop, listen, and ask ourselves some hard questions. We also have to ask hard questions of others. However, we have to be prepared for the answers. Sometimes we won't like what we here. I work as a Quality Systems Auditor in the automotive industry. People often don't like to see us coming. My boss gave me wise advice. He said, "No one likes to be told that they have an ugly baby". Imagine being parents who have waited to give birth to a child and having someone to tell them "your baby is ugly". Some of our man made religious activities may be "ugly babies" we created on our own. God is calling us to produce fruit that lasts (John 15) and glorify His name.