Inspiration for Faith in Action: Imagine Your Church...

The first of Steven Covey's Seven Habits of Highly Effective People is: “Start with the end in mind.” So imagine: What would it look like to “BE the church?” What might be possible?

Imagine what your church would be like if its entire life was consumed by finding ways to live out its faith and mirror God’s love, as taught and modeled by Jesus.

Imagine your church, filled with God’s spirit, being of one mind and one body as it brings its life into line with God’s great dream of restoring the world under the lordship of Christ. Imagine every one of your church’s members fully committed to seeing God’s dream become a reality.

Imagine your church having one central objective for every Sunday-school session, small group and committee meeting: to equip its members for living and sharing more effectively God’s love in the world.

Imagine your church joyfully recognizing and putting to full use the gifts and capacities God has given you. And imagine members desiring nothing more in life than to develop those gifts for the purpose of offering them back to God in passionate, life-long witness and service to others.

Imagine your church taking a bold step of faith into ministry … and then another … and another, until an ethos of outreach is deeply woven into the fabric of your congregation.

Imagine your church being so welcoming of sinners, so filled with compassion, that word of your love and care spreads throughout your community, and even around the world.

Imagine your church being sought out by those experiencing injustice, because you have become known for insisting on just relationships and fair treatment of those who are most vulnerable, and for loving your enemies.

Imagine your church so connected with people – both within and outside the church – that you begin to reach their deepest hurts and needs, offering healing to the broken and extending open arms to people of diverse racial, cultural and economic backgrounds.

Imagine your church designing and conducting worship experiences that celebrate what God is doing in your neighborhood and around the world, and that regularly invite each member to explore and expand their participation in these God-inspired initiatives.

Imagine your church being committed to daily intercessory prayer for your neighbors, your co-workers, your family and friends, and your nation’s leaders.

Imagine your church being the best window that seekers have into the life God intended.

Imagine your community becoming a better place to live, and a little more like heaven, because your church is in it. Imagine that if your church left the community, you would be missed.

Imagine your church sharing this vision and experience of new life in Christ with a neighboring congregation. And you discover that you are both hatching a desire to reach out together. And you link with a third church, then a fourth. You learn, share and grow together. This community of churches begins anointing people from among you to share God’s mission in neighborhoods both near and far.

Imagine … and BE the church!

Adapted with permission from Becoming a Church That Makes a Difference CD-ROM, by Heidi Unruh and Phil Olson (Word & Deed Network, 2006), www.esa-online.org.Original source: James Krabill, “Does Your Church ‘Smell’ Like Mission?” Reflections on Becoming a Missional Church, MissioDei #2 (Mennonite Mission Network, 2003).