Prep Work for Passion

I am thinking about my new Church role engaging me in full-time Mission. There are some corporate dimensions to the role I plan to explore; however, the prime area of my role will be working with congregations and yourselves. So what can you expect when I approach your congregation and you individually?

As Steve Veazey has emphasized, the foundation of our motivation to participate in Mission instead of the normal life activities we typically do, is spiritual formation. How can this alter your day from what it is now, to caring more, affirming others more, being more compassionate, more sensitive, changing your focus from me to “be”? “Being” is not about me or you………. it is about our eternal soul surfacing from the background in the living of our lives. It is listening, centering, discerning the Divine and being mindful of that described in the Words of Counsel, “opportunities abound if we are willing to see them”. For that type of daily sensitivity we need mindful discernment.

I personally know it is hard to discipline oneself to a daily routine of “spiritual practices” like we would go for a run or walk the dog. But that is what it takes. The best way to complete a goal, like anything in life, is to partner up with someone that you naturally can share hopes and plans with and they with you. Then by voicing with each other your goals……… you affirm, encourage and daily talk, text or? one another,  to fulfill your plan every day. You are jointly accountable to one another and along with the deepening of your mutual friendship will emerge an impelling spiritual sensitivity and passion in your lives that will bless you and others in ways that will amaze you as you fulfill your ministry plan and respond to the abounding opportunities unseen to you today.

Each of us has this capacity within us to “know God” After all, one of the best known scriptures is precisely that. “Be still and know that I am God” I want to be a catalyst to make this real in your life and everyone willing in your congregation and beyond. That is what you can expect. I want to be upfront and personal on this one daily baseline act in your life. Nothing else counts if you do not enter into God’s space in your life. Please expect this conversation from me and even now begin thinking who that compatible partner will be in your life. That will be the person who when you ask them will say to you, “Hey, I was going to ask you too!”  

Then with the emerging passion in your life, we are ready for congregational mission.
Submitted by Kerry Richards