Power and Offense

History is His story.

God's story is one of a tireless work and mission to rescue the deeply broken by the unimaginable love demonstrated through Jesus Christ who died in our place for our sin in order to eternally rescue and restore us.

This is the good news (gospel) of God who is the story's sole and supreme hero. God entrusted His story to Jesus' followers with the instruction to make it known to every nation. We are never to lose it in a cluttered culture, leave it in favor of something more favorable to us, or change it to make it fit our wisdom or fit more easily into our life and the lives of others.

This story is one of both great power and great offense.

The Gospel of Great Offense

The gospel is the good news of God's redeeming work but it is not received by all as good news. When speaking to a crowd, Jesus began teaching about eternal life. John records that Jesus said to the crowd that only those who eat His flesh and drink His blood have eternal life. Jesus didn't intend that the people literally begin taking out knives and sharp objects to remove His flesh to eat and cut Him so they could drink His blood.

The Bible teaches that Jesus Christ suffered and died, allowing His body to be broken and His blood to be poured out for the forgiveness of our disobedience and rebellion. Only those who trust in His suffering, death, and resurrection have the promise of eternal life. Unless we consume His sacrifice as everything we need to have life we cannot live at all.

Jesus could have said what He did a different way, but He chose His words carefully because He wanted no half-hearted, thrill-seeking followers. He got the response He expected. Many were so offended by this message of the gospel that they walked away to never follow Jesus again (John 6).

The gospel is offensive. Followers of Jesus must never forget that our good news is perceived as offensive by the world apart from the work of the Spirit in the heart. We must also live to give no offense in anything except the gospel.

The Gospel of Great Power

The same gospel that offends so many possesses great power to rescue humanity from despair and destruction and give hope and restored life. The Scriptures declare that the gospel of Christ's kingdom is the only thing that has the power to rescue God's enemies and make them His sons and daughters.

When the Spirit of God descended in power upon the followers of Jesus in Acts 2, they immediately went into the streets and the marketplace to declare the gospel to those gathered in Jerusalem. Peter and the others began to tell of how Jesus suffered and died and then rose again. Not all who heard believed. But a great number of 3,000 believed and then took the next step of following Jesus in baptism.

The gospel is the power of God to bring us home and make us His forever. Followers of Jesus cannot find or invent a greater power or better message. We must live allowing the gospel to work powerfully in our sin-sick lives, as well as in the lives of others.

Reaching People

When it comes to the church--both new churches and churches of some years--our mission has always been and remains to display and declare God's story of how our deep brokenness was met with unimaginable love in Jesus in order to eternally rescue and restore us. This message will offend those who are repulsed by its message, while it will transform those who humbly surrender and believe.

Churches who are faithful to God's story will find not all will like their message, which makes reaching people a long and difficult mission at times. Yet those same churches who communicate well in both life and word this gospel will see God's power bring change lives beginning with our own.

The gospel is a message of both great power and great offense. And this message is the story the world needs.

Refuge Church | Our Message: Available Here

The Refuge Mission

Planting a church takes work. In the flurry of activity, it is easy to lose sight of the mission. For it is the mission that is far more important than the method. 

The mission is more important than where you physically meet, the music style used in worship, or the general structure of the church. While all of these may and should be shaped by and supportive of the mission, the mission stands head and shoulders above.

Jesus' lasts words conveyed the mission. Displaying and declaring the good news to individuals near and far so that they may become worshipping disciples of Jesus is the mission. It is God's mission. It is the mission we seek to keep in the cross hairs at Refuge Church.

Ed Stetzer has written much about church planting and the mission of the church. His article on Church Planting and the Mission of God is a great read and reminder. Let me commend this to you, especially those of you who are part of Refuge Church, as we embrace a work that looks, sounds, and structures differently than where many of us have been.  The article can be accessed here.

It is a joy, amidst the work that is relentless and at times exhausting, to be part of what God is doing at Refuge Church.

Refuge Launch

You may be arriving here to read the latest on our family.  After all, there are so many things I could write and share by way of our newest son's arrival, our next child's arrival in March, Micah's health, or you name it.

Today, however, I'm talking about the Refuge Church launch. In January of this year when it became clear that the work of the church I pastored would be changing greatly, God led in a most interesting way. It became abundantly clear that God would have a new work to start and He led Sarah and our family to launch out in that direction. 

A lot of work ensued from the end of January to the vision meeting the first of March. Then, on March 31, Refuge Church met for the first worship gathering time as part of something we called pre-launch. In business terms, the last few months have been our "soft" opening as we prepared, did some rethinking, ironed out wrinkles, set best practices into place, and more. Everything isn't perfect and never will be. But now it is time for the "grand opening."

Our official launch is September 8 at 10:30 AM preceded the day before by a fun day for all. You can find that information here.

As we are heading toward Sunday, I've compiled a Top 10 Ways to Have a Great Launch.  Enjoy!

1.         Be Present. Sounds simple, but you won't experience our official launch and the celebration of that day if you aren't present. Prepare for anything and everything to come your way to discourage, distract, or prevent you from coming.

2.         Come Expecting. All right. To come with the expectation that we are worshiping the Most High God who alone has the power to radically transform our lives is an essential of every Sunday. But especially on a day when we want, pray, and expect God to do a great work, we need to come expecting.

3.         Pray. Pray for God to work. Pray for God to prepare your heart. Ask our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ to send many who don't know they matter to God. Ask for Jesus to transform lives by the gospel.

4.         Invite. Invite at least one. Invite neighbors, family, friends, coworkers, teammates, hairdressers, store clerks, etc.

5.         Arrive Early. Get up late, leave late, show up late, run into the worship gathering late and you're likely to have a negative view of the launch because you're stressed and flustered. Don't plan to be on time. Plan to be early.

6.         Greet. It is the need of every person at Refuge to make a great first impression upon guests. Don't talk to them and they won't come back. Walk past them like they aren't there and they'll think they don't really matter to us. Greet guests. Make Sundays about new friends, not huddling in long conversations with old friends.

7.         Volunteer. Yes. I'll beat this drum until it ruptures. Volunteers are the backbone of our work at Refuge. Even now, we need volunteers to insure set-up occurs well and on-time; tear down happens quickly and on-time; kids receive great care, parents have great comfort with the care of their kids, and the gospel is unhindered by a frantic child or a worrisome parent; guests receive a first impression that leaves a positive, lasting impression. Where can you volunteer at least ONE Sunday each month?

8.         Celebrate. Celebrate that the God who is perfect has grabbed out from the kingdom of this world and made you a son or daughter in the kingdom of Jesus Christ. Celebrate the good news that you have new life. Celebrate with freedom. You can lift your hands, sing out, laugh, cry, stand, sit, bow, or respond as you sense is appropriate before God.

9.         Respond. Hearing God's Word is not enough. We must do what it says. Come expecting that God will ask you to respond to Him in a specific way.

10.       Repeat. So this isn't a "launch" tip. But Sunday, September 8 is the first Sunday of many more worship times to come. Every other Sunday doesn’t have to be second-class to the official launch. God can do an extraordinary work to transform lives by the good news of His kingdom every time we gather. 

Prepare the House

When you have guests coming over to your home, do you prepare? I know that's a dumb question. You don't invite people over and leave the garbage overflowing in the kitchen with a sink full of dishes.  Laundry isn't spilling out of the laundry room into the hallway.  An inch of dust doesn't line every surface in the den.  You prepare.

When your guests arrive, do you greet them warmly and welcome them into your home?  I know that's a dumb question too.  You don't leave them standing at the door waiting for several minutes before someone to comes to answer the door.  When you open the door, you don't say to them, "Oh. It's you."  Nor do you refuse to invite them into your home and make them feel welcome.

While guests are at your home, do you simply sit back and bark out orders for them to serve themselves or serve you? I don't need to say it again. That's crazy. You serve them because they are not some unwanted "visitor."  They are a treasured "guest." You invited them and expected them to come. You want to insure their time in your home communicates your love for them. 

We can think of Refuge Church in similar terms.  Here's the points I'm making:

1.  People most often come by invitation. At Refuge Church, if we want people to come, we must invite them.  "If you build it, they will come," typically only works in Field of Dreams.

2.  You prepare for what you expect. If you expect guests are coming to your house, you prepare for them. Are we inviting, praying, and expecting guests to come. Will the presence of guests catch us off guard as though we didn't expect them to come?

3. Guests are wanted while visitors are often considered intrusions. You'll constantly hear me call non-regular attendees by the name"guest." They are treasures we want and expect. We intend for them to return. They are not leeches on our time or resources or intrusions into our group. 

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4.  Guests are our responsibility. They didn't come to serve us.  We are there to serve them. They don't know where everything is located or how everything operates. Therefore, we are responsible to explain and show. We take them where they are going instead of point and send them off alone. We don't make them retell their information in every handoff.  Those we serve are just as important as the ones who serve.

5. We all can remove the roadblocks. Our mission is to display and declare the good news (gospel) of Jesus Christ to individuals near and far in order that they will encounter and be transformed by Jesus Christ.  Churches are often cluttered with numerous roadblocks to the gospel. On Sunday mornings, we want the only thing that offends to be the gospel.  It is offensive, but it's the only thing that should be offensive. In a real sense, all of us are either creating or removing roadblocks.

SEPTEMBER 8 is the official launch. How are you preparing? Invite, pray, expect, value, serve, and remove any and all roadblocks.

His Work, His Church

Jesus asked the all-important question, "Who do you say that I am?"  His disciples had many responses to the previous question, "Who do other people say I am?"  But when Jesus asked them personally, only one man gave an answer.

Peter said to Jesus, "You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God."  Understanding the Old Testament, Peter declared that Jesus was the promised redeemer and He was the Son of the Living God.

On this powerful truth, Jesus promised to build His Church.  The church are "the community of people called out of the kingdom of this world to take part in and advance the kingdom of Jesus Christ" (Darrin Patrick).

As one who is on the relative new journey of seeing a new church grow by displaying and declaring the good news so that others are called out of the kingdom of this world into the kingdom of God, the words of Jesus are both comfort and power.  

The work of building the church is His work because it is His Church.  He does not build the Church for a pastor or a people.  He builds the Church for Himself, for He has always been at work to gather a people for Himself from all the people and nations of the world.

Trust must not be misplaced for the work. I dare not trust the music or programs, the preaching or facility. I must only trust that this is His work to gather a people as His Church.  This He is doing through His followers to display His power and wisdom (Ephesians 3:10).

Shadrach the Bird

I had an African Grey bird when I was in college.  His name was Shadrach and his stay with me was short-lived (that's another story). But he stayed long enough that I learned what the word repeat really means.

African Greys are  medium-sized parrots from the rain forests of West and Central Africa.  The African-Grey is regarded by many experts as one of the most intelligent birds in the world. 

Shadrach's mimicry amazed me. He would repeat the words I said over and over to him with precision of both the words and the tone of my voice.  At other times, he would seek to mimic the tone of others including my sister-in-law.

It wasn't until I had spoken the word or phrase to him numerous times that he finally picked it up.

Richard Nixon had a good quote.  No, not the "I am not a crook" quote.  He said, "You know, when I'm tired of hearing it, I know my staff has gotten it. And when my staff is tired of hearing it, I know the press corps has gotten it. And when the press corps is tired of hearing it, I know the nation has gotten it."

As we put in place foundational pieces upon which the life and ministry of Refuge Church will be built, there are foundational truths that will be repeated over and over again. That isn't an apology but a promise.  For I, like most, can easily become distracted and lose focus of not just the what, but, more importantly, the why.

One of the most important statements I will repeat is our vision/mission statement.  This statement encapsulates not only why I believe Christ led us to begin this new work, but also how we desire to do this. 

We want to be a church that displays and declares the good news of Christ's kingdom to individuals near and far.

Refuge Church is the work of God to display and declare the good news of His kingdom to those of every tribe and nation, beginning where we are, for His ultimate glory.

We desire to accomplish this vision by leading individuals to connect in a relationship with Jesus Christ, belong in community with other Christ followers, and serve the world by displaying the gospel in action and declaring the gospel in word.

This is our focus and 'why' Refuge Church began.  This is our mission and purpose in God's redemptive plan.  This will be repeated a lot, along with a number of other key principles and truths for Refuge Church. When we are tired of hearing it, then we may have only begun to accomplish it.

Who's Your One

Forbes Magazine recently ranked the Raleigh Metro Area the fastest growing city in America.  The growth in the Raleigh-Durham and surrounding areas continues to explode. In the North Raleigh and Wake Forest area, significant growth and development have occurred in the last ten years.  The expectation for future growth remains optimistic, with the anticipated growth occurring north and east of Capital Boulevard in North Raleigh.

When Sarah and I, along with a small team, began praying through and discussing the planting of a new church, God used this realization of the population growth coupled with the great spiritual need to confirm His leading to begin Refuge Church.

The desire to begin Refuge Church was birthed from a desire to display and declare the good news of Christ's kingdom to individuals near and far in order that lives would be transformed for the glory of God.  A new church planting movement across North America and around the world is, encouragingly so, motivated by this heart.

Therefore, we must collectively and individually be constantly asking how we are displaying and declaring the gospel.  We cannot afford to lull ourselves into a place of thinking we  enough people or we are financially stable enough.  

For Refuge Church, we know that in our immediate target area there are 70,000 people who are unchurched. (Yes. Our target is the world. That's 6.9 billion.)

Who's your one?  

It is easy to see large numbers and be overwhelmed.  It isn't surprising that faceless numbers never become a passion.  But the face of a friend, neighbor, family member, hair-stylist, car mechanic, landscaper, etc. can help us to see the need not as a number, but as people who need the gospel.

Think of one.  I'm thinking too.  

You may not have to think long.  You may think of ten.

But who is your one. And let's set out to display and declare the good news (and it really is good news) to that one.  How can you serve them?  How can you love them?  How can you share with them?  Who is your one?

Amnesia

And Jesus was going about all the cities and villages...proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every kind of disease and every kind of sickness...  Then He said to His disciples, "The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Therefore beseech the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into His harvest."  Matthew 9:35-38

Southwest Airlines entered the commercial airline with the intent to provide the lowest airfare possible to customers. For this reason, to this day, Southwest Airlines doesn't have all the frills and extras that other airlines may offer or possess. In fact, when an executive once presented the idea of adding a small meal to longer domestic flights, the CEO asked the question, "How does this help us accomplish our mission?"  

That question caused an evaluation of the suggestion against the mission. The CEO easily vetoed adding this amenity because it would have added cost.

Churches decline and the gospel doesn't advance because believers forget the mission.  Many churches in North America suffer from amnesia.  They simply no longer remember the mission.  The mission sets direction and provides evaluation. 

Knowing your mission determines where you go, how you get there, and what things you will and won't do along the way.

As God led and affirmed the starting of Refuge Church, He reaffirmed the mission in my heart for me personally and the Church collectively.

Our mission is to display and declare the good news of Christ's kingdom to individuals near and far.

Jesus did nothing less than this in His earthly life and ministry.  

He declared the good news of the kingdom. He traveled to every city and village (individuals near and far), teaching and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom (declaring the good news). With His words, He spoke of the kingdom promised from the Fall. He declared redemption and restoration.  He proclaimed reconciliation with God through faith and repentance.

He displayed the good news of the kingdom. Yet Jesus also healed every kind of disease and sickness and demonstrating compassion (displaying the good news of the kingdom). When Jesus healed the sick, when He resurrected the dead, when He restored sight, and when He touched the untouchables, Jesus was displaying through tangible acts what the kingdom awaited for would be like. No more death, sorrow, disease, and untouchables.

Declaring and displaying the good news go together. Displaying the good news meets real need, provides credibility, and paints a picture of that which is to come.  Declaring the good news gives clarity to what we do as something far more than philanthropic.

Our mission is to display and declare the good news of the kingdom to individuals near and far in similar manner so that outsiders become insiders. God has set His affection upon those outside of the kingdom, desiring that they come to find refuge in Christ in His kingdom to the glory of God.

Every church, Refuge Church included, has this as our mission.  I pray we never suffer from forgetting our mission.