Followers of Christ recognize that everything in life is about relationships. God’s design/desire for us is to:

ENJOY GOD - Have a deep relationship with Christ.
ENJOY HIS BRIDE - Have authentic (real/truthful), grace-filled relationships with followers of Christ.
ENJOY HIS MISSION - Invest your life into non-Christians/pre-disciples, the helpless and the wounded.
ENJOY HIS CREATION - The last one, creation, means that we have a desire to glorify God through enjoying and pursuing His creation including: nature, creativity and expression, culture, use of abilities, education, proper governing and justice, biblical family structure, scientific discovery and more.

Some busy church systems require you to be in a building many times each week. Many times this is counterproductive and keeps you from spending time with neighbors, pre-disciples, or even your own family. What if we commit to a strategic use of God’s week?

Here is the challenge. Rethink church and church gathering. Keep it simple, yet effective. Every week:

(1) Gather with the large group for prayer, worship, preaching/teaching and communion.
(2) Gather with a smaller group that fosters authentic relationships and enables you to use your abilities and spiritual gifts
(3) Spend time with a neighbor, a non-Christian, someone who is helpless OR someone who is wounded

This is commitment to missional community at its base level. May you and your family (if applicable) begin to live life with other missional individuals and families. Let those three commitments springboard you into other arenas of worship, community, compassion and cultural engagement. And don’t overlook that these weekly communal times are empowered by daily, individual time with Christ.

Do not pack your bags for a guilt trip. Be free in living a missional life in this way. In this vein, do a weekly assessment to see how you are doing with the five main relationships:
- God
- Christ followers
- nonfollowers
- the helpless and wounded
- creation and culture

Place the desire for a missional week at the feet of Christ. Commit to Him. Commit to others. Pray for wisdom to what to change. Pray for courage to make those changes. Remember, this is God’s idea.

Glocal Feedback
Some of you are local. Some of you readers are around the globe. I would like to get your feedback about your commitment to this way of life. You can email me at . Or you can comment below this post if you are reading from the website (RSS feeds: go to churchinabrewery.com and click on Sojournblogs).

Rethink church. Rethink life.

–
David Thew
Sojourn Founding Pastor
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David Thew
Sojourn Pastor
Thewblog