Subscribe to Every Post:Scott and I just returned from our trip. I have been to many church conferences over the years and I have visited many churches. I don’t think I have experienced a church as healthy and exciting as the one we just experienced in Sheffield, England. We lived out this church throughout the week, and it certainly felt like the name the experience was called: The Pilgrimage.
No church is perfect, and St. Thomas would be the first one to tell you about their weaknesses, but I have been inspired in ways I did not anticipate. They are so intentional and focused on who they want to become and what they want to do, they refer to themselves as partly a church and partly a missionary community.
The three areas most notable to me were the following:
1) Very biblically grounded and very strong on character discipleship. The quality of their disciple making was amazing to me. They are building strong and solid follwers of Jesus.
2) A refreshing sensitivity to the leading and power of the Holy Spirit. This church truly believes and practices the gifts of the Spirit and does it in one of the most balanced and healthy ways I have ever seen.
3) The development of a mindset that in all they do, they are missionaries on a mission field. Within the DNA of the church, most people actually believe that God has sent them to be missionaries to the people around them and to their city. This leads to serving people, loving people, and sharing the gospel with people as well. They believe they are to be conduits of God’s grace and blessing to those around them.
On the last day one of the leading pastors summed up the experience by saying something to the effect: “We want to bring the foundation of the Word and the ministry of the Spirit together in harmony within the context of a missionary environment.”
This was so much more than learning how to make house churches more effective, or how to follow a certain church model. They talked very sparingly about that kind of stuff (although we did get some practical suggestions that will help in that regard). What Scott and I experienced was what the church can look like when authentic discipleship, Spiritual filling and sensitivity, and a missionary mindset all become a lifestyle among the people and not simply a check off list.
As Scott and I debriefed on our eight hour plane ride home yesterday, we both were convinced that Grace is already heading in this direction in so many ways.
As we shared Grace’s story with leaders from around the world last week, so many people were amazed and excited for us. While Grace will never mirror this church in England, nor would we ever want to as every church is unique, I felt like Scott and I went up on the mountain and God showed us what Grace could like 5 years from now if we continue to get on our knees and seek his face in these critical areas. Let me tell you, it would be an exciting place to be.
My first and most important takeaway, having experienced this pilgrimage, has nothing to do with how I want to lead Grace Gathering, however. My first area of focus is to better lead my family in these areas, because if I am not leading my family, I have no business trying to help lead God’s church. I have a long way to go in this regard, but I believe it starts there and will eventually spill over into the church as God’s Spirit moves. I am looking so forward to the journey!
Look forward to sharing more over time.
Final Note: Please be praying for the 60 people from Grace who are in Mexico right now. They are focusing on ministry to teens there. I think Craig Eakright is blogging their trip. You can read that at craigeakright.com.
June 16th, 2008 at 4:23 pm
It’s a Monday morning and this was a great post to start the morning with.
June 18th, 2008 at 11:07 am
Sounds like an awesome trip and some great lessons. I hope to make over to England some day.