Repurposed

Sometimes you don’t know what to call it when you are part of a church that is different than what you think it should be. Maybe you are thinking things are changing so fast. Or things are changing too fast. Or things aren't changing fast enough. So you try to describe what you want to happen.

Revitalization. But that takes a while and you certainly aren’t there yet.

Re-engineered. But the pieces are so separate that you aren’t there yet.

Reimagined. But you can’t see that far ahead and you definitely aren’t there yet.

So here is a word.

Repurposed. So much that we have doesn’t need to be thrown on the garbage heap of life but if we keep it a new purpose for it is needed.

Repurposed. Taking what we have in front of us and doing what it is able to do. Perhaps that is taking “Church” and repurposing it to what it was always meant to be.

We know the ways we have been using it don’t matter or work as much or at all anymore. Maybe they did at one point but slowly they drifted from what the purpose of the Church really is.

The purpose of the Church isn’t to be a landmark in the community. “Turn left at the old first church of ___ and keep going three miles.” It’s not a building.

The purpose of the Church is not to be a courtroom in the city where people come to be judged and then just told to not do that again.

The purpose of the Church is not to be a post office where messages come in and go out without being examined and shared.

The purpose of the Church is not to just take care of its own and neglect those who surround it.

The purpose of the Church is not just to convert those without Jesus and then send them on their way with a Bible and a hearty handshake.

We all could make a list of what the church is not. A list that we know intuitively just isn’t all that the Church was ever meant to be. We feel it. There has to be more. And there is.

The purpose of the Church is to make followers of Jesus who make followers of Jesus. It's that simple. Some might say the Church exists to discover, develop, and deploy disciple-makers as Jesus commanded. That really works in integrating just a few words to begin a process of how that actually happens.

But let me go back for a moment at least to the simple way of saying it.

The purpose of the Church is to make followers of Jesus who make followers of Jesus. You can know if that is really the purpose of the church that you are part of by asking two questions. 1) Are we making followers of Jesus? And 2) Are those followers of Jesus making followers of Jesus?

The often missed question isn't the first one, though it could be in some places. But the more often missed question is are the followers of Jesus whom we have made as a church making followers of Jesus?

We shouldn't expect that to be happening if that is not our purpose. Don't grade somebody on what they have not been taught and shown.

Repurposed. We can do this. We can repurpose the church we are part of to make followers of Jesus who make followers of Jesus. To discover, develop, and deploy disciple-makers as Jesus commanded.

We can do this but not alone. Fortunately, we don't have to do it alone. But with God leading us we can decide to repurpose the church that we are a part of. And evidently, we can do this even if we doubt.

Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” Matthew 28:16-20

Repurposed...with Jesus with us always, to the very end of the age. You are not alone. We are not alone.