Nobody Cares About Passion…Maybe

Yesterday I had a great discussion with one of the readers of this blog. But just like most of us in a lot of living the focus drifted to the wrong place over and over again. I want to spend a while talking about four roads out of the fortress. By fortress I mean a church that has become more about coming to church than going to reach and disciple the lost. Breaking down the walls of the fortress is a bigger challenge than consistently beating the New York Yankees. That will be good news to my friends Dan Cuomo and Will Pavone. And just as very few teams have been able to consistently beat the Bronx Bombers, very few churches have been able to break out of their fortresses. The acid test for those who do break out of their fortress mentality is simply this: “are we capable of valuing and cheerleading anyone and everyone who pursues his or her call to ministry? Is there an infrastructure in place so that anyone can launch a church recognized community ministry?” In other words, “are we capable of practicing the Priesthood of Believers when it relates to the call to ministry?”

As long as there are nobodies who have a genuine ministry calling that their church is neither able nor interested in recognizing and cheerleading, that church, no matter how successful it has been at church growth, is imprisoned in a fortress of its own making.