Late night thoughts.
What we’re doing together - planting a flag and building a congregation out in the most unusual of circumstances of pandemic and recovery - is an unusual thing.
These are the strangest circumstances in which to start a church in the United States since the foreboding days of World War 2….so long ago that anyone who might have been an expert in that context is long gone. My fellow pastors and I talk about it often….
The maps are obsolete and the models are broken.
18 months ago there were experts. Now, the most seasoned advisors are couching all their advice with phrases like “these unprecedented times.” Translation: They don’t really know.
It feels like we’re the first people to do something like this. I fully understand that to be untrue, but it feels like it’s true., and when what I feel overwhelms what I know, it can be daunting.
As I was praying through that idea, I heard the Lord speak in my inner man.
He said, “You might be the first but you won’t be the only.”
There will be others who walk this way, and in blazing a trail, we serve more than our little flock. We serve those who will join us at The Bridge along the way, and the many congregations to follow.
Church planting is going to be unusual for a good long while. It may never circle back to the old ways of marketing and carpet bombing a community with invitations to fill an auditorium.
As a church family at The Bridge, we are moving slowly, but we are moving forward. His church will be built.
We might be among the first, but we won’t be the only.
For some of you, this is intensely personal.
You are the only believer in your family right now. You might be the first, but you won’t be the only.
Your neighbors - good people who you have come to love - don’t share your faith. You might be the first, but you won’t be the only.
You are the one person in your workplace who tries to conduct yourself according to kingdom principles. You might be the first, but you won’t be the only.
What the Lord is doing in us right now is wiring us for what He will do through us and for our friends, neighbors, and coworkers.
Friends, until the Lord provides the right space, we gather online. We get up, we log on, we lean in and we grow. We do it for ourselves, but we also do it for those who will follow.
We might be the first, but we won’t be the only.
We look forward to seeing many of you online on Sunday. Daniel Grenz is going to be speaking, stepping back into the Egypt context and learning from Joseph. Don’t miss it.
We love you much -
Randy & Kelsey Bohlender
