Christian Forums

[hanoch]

Well 96,

I guess it boils down to intent. I believe we worship daily in how we live.
Not just a specified day. I try not to set one day over another you see.
I (try to) have an victorious out look on Christ's Kingdom.

[96pack]

[Otto]

Even tho I think I have a pretty good grip on most the big pieces, I still don't have the entire border of this puzzle put together, so it ain't gonna be just a fill-in-between-the-lines type of answer, I reckon.
A little open ended, just like the problem.

First thing I recall is the "2 or 3 gathered principle" (He'll be there).
I would concentrate on getting that much right & move forward from there, but not along the lines of my own ideas, because that has ultimately failed every time. So I have to learn to cooperate, stay teachable, keep listening.

I have to agree, 96 seems "wired" for organizing.
I see that as at least partly important, but personally, I lose my peace around too much structure, even tho I realize there are a lot of people who need a lot of it.
Certainly I realize that structure is essential and most people can't let themselves get too far away from it, or their own entropy will overcome their momentum. We need each other to keep the momentum, but in the zeal of doing, centrifugal force introduces mission creep, and the number one agenda of organizations that quenches the Holy Spirit the most(IMHO), is the (Naturaly) Self -Survival motivation of any organization.

It, this survival instinct, subtly becomes part of every program & effort.
If Christ said He will build His church, every personage who becomes the icon of a denomination, the "father" if you will(w/apologies to Mary Baker Eddy), detracts in some way, from the individual's ability to keep their eyes on Jesus. If I started an organization, it would be cool if the organization lived on producing fruit and I would be forgotten about.
Then I could be sure I'd helped creat something bigger than myself.

However valuable any one of us might become to another, it is a small thing in comparison to the value of our primary relationship - the one we have with our Creator.
So we love our God-given lives & what Providence fills them with, but not unto death. None of it can be preffered to the One who gives it all to us.

So I take a facilitator, rather than administrator aproach.
Eventualy tho, what administrtion duties I can't delegate to my wife (assistant pastor in the 1st Otto Church), I perform myself.
A lot of that starts with (oddly enough) "naming the animals".
Like the beast that helps keep our cash flow on the lean side - "impulse buying" and it's companion predator, "not saving".
Hard to tame, but I think I have those two corraled, still in crouch by the door, but FENCED.

Not everyone's happy with the names I choose, but my small congregation(3, including me) are in comparably solid unity.
Not bad for a king/priest that never went to finishing school OR seminary.

I don't blame the church for not being able to do the impossible (Jesus' job - building the church), just for wanting to. A lot of organizers feel that the world will crumble into disarray if they 'give up'. A lot of them don't realize that "going along" IS giving up.

Han, you should know better than to ask me what I think!!!
_________________
This isn't the end of the world, but you can see it from here.