Jesus Life 90 - Jesus Army

healthy
balance
comes with
healthy focus
Continued from previous page
Here are some questions to help you assess
where your church is at: Does it have a heart for
worship; a heart for fellowship and “family”; a
heart for the lost; a heart to see your purpose
advanced?
And – here is a key – are your members
united around these shared priorities? They will
have their particular contribution to make. Yet
healthy balance comes with healthy focus. The
greatest enemy of the body of Christ is independence
: everyone doing their own thing, with
no thought for the whole (Philippians 2:21). We
need inter dependence; every choice weighed
according to our great shared purpose.
“As in one body we have many members, and
the members do not all have the same function,
so we, though many, are one body in Christ,
and individually members one of another. Having
gifts that differ according to the grace given
to us, let us use them.” (Romans 12:4-6, ESV)
All members of the Body are vital; all are
ministers. Ministering in worship, speaking,
praying, serving – all have a part to play. Don’t
sit on your gifts; activate them.
As with all spiritual gifts, the motivation
behind them is love (1Corinthians 13). Love will
always be the main thing! And loving churches
grow: loving God, loving our core members,
loving the wider congregation, loving the
crowd; helping people to go deeper, helping all
to grow.
s
s
This article is adapted from a talk Mick gave
at the Jesus Fellowship’s “Church Growth”
conference earlier in 2012.
JL
Mick is the leader of the Jesus
Fellowship’s apostolic team. He
is a committed celibate, and lives
with his brothers and sisters in a
Christian community house in Birmingham.
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