Education Grow 

Living things grow…

Brian Sapp-Moore , , ,

February 21, 2019

The forsythia is in bloom and the daffodils are putting their heads up as well. Despite the chilly weather this week, spring is coming. 

One of the important opportunities this spring at All Saints’ is “Set Free to Grow.” Some have asked, “Why are we doing this?”

The most straightforward answer is that Jesus tells us to. In his last appearance with his disciples, he sends them out to the whole world to preach the good news and to teach all nations (MT 28:19). It was radical to send faithful Jews to speak about the living God to people who were not Jews (Mt 28). While the drawing together of all nations was a repeated theme for the Hebrew prophets, exactly how that was to be accomplished was not. Now Jesus makes it clear, reaching beyond the gathered faithful is part and parcel of being a disciple. 

While Jesus accomplished much during his earthly ministry, he promised that his disciples would do more (JN 14:12). More than Jesus? Well, yes, because there are more of us, and we have more than the few years he was in ministry. 

Christians have done more. Across the centuries, Christians have built hospitals for those who were sick, created refuge for those who had no place to call home (including orphan children), provided food for those who were hungry, etc. We don’t really know how radical that is, because we don’t know a world where compassion is limited to the circle of family and friends.

Is the work accomplished? No. Is God’s dream fulfilled “on earth as it is in heaven,” as the prayer our Lord taught us petitions? No. And for that work, God has a church. God has a church to accomplish God’s mission. And we are called to grow so that we can make God’s dream a reality in those places which are still caught in a nightmare. 

The successful capital campaign has set us free to serve; effective service requires more hands. With the mortgage (nearly) behind us, we are Set Free to Grow! Come learn more about Behaviors of Growing Churches, March 9 from 8:30-12 in the Parish Hall of All Saints’.

Nancy+