God is Doing a New Thing!
Posted on April 2nd, 2010
Pastor’s Column, published in The Informer (FBC’s Newsletter for April, 2010)
Signs of spring are everywhere—the days are warming, the flowers are blooming, and the grass is greening. Everywhere I look, I see signs that God is doing a new thing in the natural world around us. That is exciting for me because after the winter that we’ve had, I’m ready for something new!
Even more exciting are the new things I see that God is doing in the life of Farmville Baptist Church. From what I’m gathering from our spiritual journey prayer groups, our deacons and our missions and outreach committee, I’m sensing that God is leading us more to be the body of Christ outside the walls of Farmville Baptist. I’m sensing that we’re living into this new thing of being the church and witnessing the gospel, not in a building, but in the lives of people right where they live, work, and play. People don’t just go to church; they are the church. They don’t just bring people to church; they bring church to the people! Church is wherever followers of Jesus are.
Now don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying that we should never bring people to church. What I’m saying is that while we certainly should invite and bring people to Farmville Baptist Church at 132 N. Main Street, our focus should be on obeying Jesus’ commission in Mark 16:15, “Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation.” Christ calls us to be on mission with Him in our community! How are we on mission, how are we missionaries for Christ, here in Farmville, in our neighborhoods, in our dorms, in our places of work? When I hear our prayer participants say that they want to do a better job ministering to people outside the walls of the church, this is what I think of – how can we be on mission for Christ?
One of the ways we’re living into this new thing is what we’re doing this Saturday, April 3, 7:30 a.m. at FACES, our local food pantry. That morning, we will distribute muffins and coffee to those waiting in line to receive their weekly allotment of food. As we do that, we hope to get to know our neighbors better, and to share the love of Christ through our words and in our deeds. Our prayer is that this will be an act of worship as we acknowledge that Christ is at work loving our community and our world. I invite you to join us to share in the blessing and good news of Christ at FACES this Saturday!
As we prepare to celebrate the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ, let us also celebrate the new things that God is doing today, in our lives and at FBC!
Happy Easter! Michael
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