Mission flows from listening (not strategic planning). See Jn. 5:19.Watch this progression...
1. Hugh Brandt heard the Lord direct him to do something to express love to the residents of the Barth Hotel in downtown Denver over the Christmas season. (This is an assisted living facility for senior citizens.)
2. Hugh shared this with one of his CO2 partners, Shawn Taylor. As they listened together, Shawn agreed that this was from the Lord. The manager of the Hotel was thrilled about their desire and suggested they could bring as many as 15 people and that December 29th would be a good day.
3. Hugh sent this email to the Denver Network: House Church Friends, After taking time to listen to the Lord, Shawn Taylor and I have organized an outreach event on Tuesday December 29th at 6pm for approximately 2 hours for about 15 of us. We have the opportunity to love and serve the residents of the Barth Hotel located in Lower Downtown. The Barth Hotel is an assisted living residence for approximately 20 women and 40 men all of whom are poor.
I'll share with you tomorrow some of the responses Hugh received.
The vision? We picture the day when there will be hundreds (thousands?) of "churches of two" listening to the Lord and moving out in mission as He directs.
Sometimes with two people.
Sometimes with fifteen.
Sometimes with thousands.
This is the new (old) paradigm of mission.
John
Thank you for sharing with us a practical physical action that resulted from listening to God. Sometimes I get too 'heavenly minded' to actually put what I hear into an action, other than a spiritual focus. Listening to God sometimes confirms what He says about me, but in this case it was something that had to be done physically. I love to see how this is put into practice.
ReplyDeletePeg,
ReplyDeleteOne of the comments I hear when I talk about everything flowing out of listening to God is a fear that we will end up just sitting on our hands doing nothing. The truth, of course, is that nothing could be further from the truth.
But, the main way that people will come to understand this new paradigm is through stories. My sense is that in 2010 through "Stories from the Revolution" we will see many powerful stories of "mission flowing from listening".
And, Peg, with the work you are beginning in January, we're looking forward to hearing your stories!