This weekend I experienced that iconic American church event known as a men’s prayer breakfast, which has a good meal, but little to do with prayer, yet it still serves a unique purpose in the lives men on early Saturday mornings. This particular Saturday morning was different than most of this events that I have attended, if for nothing more than the fact that there were nine churches represented there. No this was not a WWCC meeting or some other quasi-spiritual movement of ecumenicalism.
No it was the result of a local CMA pastor who had visited with us in the hairy armpit last Fall and saw us working in our part of the world largely without denominational walls in place. It was a defining moment for this pastor in some ways and he saw that we can be more about the King and the Kingdom, and less about our particular fractured sliver of that Kingdom. It is Christocentric rather than ecclesiocentric. What he saw us doing there in Skopje resonated so much with his heart that he came back to the states determined to use the same approach in Maryland. And he is!
He brought all these pastors, churches and men together, to challenge them all to work together toward building the church/seminary that we are in the process of building in Kumanovo. It was a bit of heaven I have to tell you, to see all these different churches considering doing a Kingdom thing instead of a denominational thing. It was focused on the King, not the CMA. This is good.
And then Sunday morning of course was marred by the magnificently beautiful snowfall, along with a good measure of sleet and freezing rain. Most churches in the area were closed, but the church here determinedly went ahead with their services, and we also drove out 3 hours or so to another church Sunday evening! I was just glad to get back home, after seeing a dozen cars in the ditches along the way!
It is fascinating to see the eagerness that most churches have, to get involved and get their hands dirty on a task that is located on the other side of the world. The day of asking people for trust and give money while they sit in their zip-code and we go do all the work, is long over. This is the day of mobilizing people to do and live the great commission out in their own neighborhoods and across the seas. Bring it on!
No it was the result of a local CMA pastor who had visited with us in the hairy armpit last Fall and saw us working in our part of the world largely without denominational walls in place. It was a defining moment for this pastor in some ways and he saw that we can be more about the King and the Kingdom, and less about our particular fractured sliver of that Kingdom. It is Christocentric rather than ecclesiocentric. What he saw us doing there in Skopje resonated so much with his heart that he came back to the states determined to use the same approach in Maryland. And he is!
He brought all these pastors, churches and men together, to challenge them all to work together toward building the church/seminary that we are in the process of building in Kumanovo. It was a bit of heaven I have to tell you, to see all these different churches considering doing a Kingdom thing instead of a denominational thing. It was focused on the King, not the CMA. This is good.
And then Sunday morning of course was marred by the magnificently beautiful snowfall, along with a good measure of sleet and freezing rain. Most churches in the area were closed, but the church here determinedly went ahead with their services, and we also drove out 3 hours or so to another church Sunday evening! I was just glad to get back home, after seeing a dozen cars in the ditches along the way!
It is fascinating to see the eagerness that most churches have, to get involved and get their hands dirty on a task that is located on the other side of the world. The day of asking people for trust and give money while they sit in their zip-code and we go do all the work, is long over. This is the day of mobilizing people to do and live the great commission out in their own neighborhoods and across the seas. Bring it on!
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