Zoos?

 12 So the disciples went out, telling everyone they met to repent of their sins and turn to God. 13 And they cast out many demons and healed many sick people, anointing them with olive oil. Mark 6:12-13...."Christ expects His disciples to preach repentance, cast out demons, and heal." Francis Chan

Can we take an honest look at what Chan says and ask ourselves if that expectation of Christ is also the expectation of our local church? Are we really not only expecting followers of Christ to live out such a ministry but equipping them to do so? Or, are we content with having them join with us, attend, tithe, and hopefully, get involved with what we call ministry? Do we really expect them to live out Mark 6:12-13? Do we expect it of ourselves?

I've always enjoyed and admired Francis Chan. He founded and pastored a California megachurch, and then abruptly resigned to enter into a new, and to Him, more vital life of ministry. He didn't feel that his fellowship, despite its size, was really living out biblical Christianity. He once wrote that, "We have to stop creating safe places for people to hide and start developing fearless warriors to send out." This reminds me of something I have in my prayer journal, inspired by something I'd read or heard. It simply asks, "Lord, set us free from our "zoos." Make us the church in the wild." The church in the wild carries out the kind of ministry Christ expects of His disciples. Does ours? Do you and I?

Maybe a great part of our problem is that we don't make disciples. We make clones. Clones of ourselves. We tell them what we believe, and we tell them that they need to believe it too. We tell them about the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, but we too often don't demonstrate what it is to know and experience them. We don't because we may know a lot about them, but we don't really know them. As a result, we lack true Holy Spirit power and life. Our churches end up looking more like zoos, with our people on display for all to come and see, rather than His people out in the wilds of this world, coming against all the power of hell with the unstoppable power of Jesus Christ.

In 1992 the Lord brought me to Northern Virginia to plant a church. In our first 5 years, we grew quickly and I, along with everyone else, was excited. I had great expectations for the future. However, there was a problem. We were adding on people who came from other "sheepfolds." Northern Virginia is a highly transient area, and believers moving into the area looked for churches to attend. We attracted a number of them. I was very content. We had a great congregation of nice, attractive young families. All was going better than I had hoped. Then God stepped in. People started being transferred out of the area to new jobs. The great momentum we'd had stopped. I believed that He would replace them, but He didn't, at least not with those same types of people. It took more time than it should have, but I started to see that He wasn't much interested in my having a ministry to nice, whole, good looking families. He didn't want a zoo on display. He wanted a church in the wild. All those nice people with seemingly small problems, began to be replaced by nice ones, and not so nice ones, with very large ones. Addictions, destructive behaviors, felons, started to sit in our sanctuary. Those of us still there started to see our fellowship, in the words of one of my leaders, as a "MASH unit." We were now on the frontlines of dealing with hurting, wounded, dysfunctional people, providing immediate care as best we could. That was never the kind of church I thought I'd pastor, but it was the church He'd called me lead. It was hard, it was painful, and there were certainly defeats along the way, but all of us experienced His glory in the midst of it all. I experienced Him in ways I'd never experienced Him before.

I'm not saying that our fellowships all need to look like that. In all my 27 years with that church, we never had a permanent facility of our own. There's nothing wrong with having established, beautiful facilities. We just need to make sure that we're not on display in them, but out in the wilds surrounding them, doing what He has directed us to do; preaching repentance, that the Kingdom of God has come, and coming against the demonic power that is in the world He's sent us out to. And, as we go, bringing healing, wholeness, and life in Him to all who will receive our message, which is His message......May we, you and I, go out as such a church, and may we never stop going.

Blessings,

Pastor O