Jesus looked at them carefully and said, “It’s impossible for human beings. But all things are possible for God.”

Matthew 19:26

Today is a kind of summary post from the weekend in Ohio. I have shared, day to day, my immediate responses to the travel, the Friday night “dinner and conversation,” the deeply meaningful men’s retreat (in the snowstorm) Saturday, and my positive and encouraging experiences Sunday morning.

Talking with Rebekah, I said I had two possible responses to the Ohio Adventure: First, that I want to do this again and often. Then, that I had better stop now because the weekend was so good anything else is going to be a disappointment!

Of course the second one is ridiculous! Because the next invitation will be something new and different. There is nothing about Ohio that could – or should – be replicated. Every church and every community is unique. Every event I have been involved in has been unique too.

Which actually speaks to the essential point I stressed when I was there: there is no template that fits every circumstance – either in local ministry or in the kind of traveling resource ministry I am privileged to do.

What does fit every circumstance, however, is simple – it is JESUS! The most important and vital and effective and life-giving intervention for any church, and any men’s ministry is for us to become more faithful and deliberate and engaged in our walk with Jesus. Whatever kind of growth and future we move into becomes nothing less – or more – than a response to that relationship.

Understanding this is critical. Because the moment we entrust the future to our own skills and plans and powers, then we have forgotten everything.

Kudos and Encouragement!

I want to offer both kudos and encouragement to the good folk at First Christian Church in Wadsworth. The men’s ministry is purposeful and very active and the church as a whole is full with life and light and enthusiastic activity.

Worship Sunday morning was busy, full, brimming with life, deeply spiritual, and presented the kind of atmosphere where a visitor would not only feel welcome but also motivated to return.

In my experience, a church where life is already evident is a church where life continues. I met people in every age category, including several beautiful and vibrant children.

The biological definition of life includes requirements such as the capacity for growth, functional activity, continual change, and reproduction. The church is The Body of Christ, so a biological understanding fits.

We may not like change – but life assumes that change is continual. The more activity – or interaction with the environment – we are involved in, then the more change becomes both a necessary and natural evidence of life.

Change?

What the future looks like in Wadsworth (“continual change… activity… reproduction…”), I do not know. But what I do know is that the First Christian Church there is very much alive and that their life got loose and – wrapped in grace and love – it got all over me.

This is what it means to be The Church. It is God’s church, not ours. All we can do is to be faithful, and to constantly invite Jesus into the center of everything we do.

In love, and because – to paraphrase The Eagles – God’s love will keep us alive – DEREK