A New Year Needs a New Map
Imagine you have been selected for a top secret mission. You are told to travel to a new destination that you have never been to and you are given an outdated map to get there. Would you try to take a trip to a new destination completely relying on an outdated map? If your like me you wouldn’t. Although the map wouldn’t be completely unhelpful, it might not be efficient or even accurate. That is because the roads and highways are constantly changing. Relying on an old map to get you where you want to go is like sticking with old habits and expecting positive change in the New Year.
The church has been given a top secret mission by Jesus Christ. We are told to go out and make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world. For over 20 centuries churches have been on this mission and various maps have been used to get there, but relying solely on those old maps could be disastrous. That is because like the changing roads and highways we have witnessed in our lives, culture is always changing as well. The way people communicate, socialize, eat, entertain, etc. are constantly changing.
The idea of a map for our missional purpose as a church is our internal understanding about how things ought to work and the habits and practices we develop over time based on these inner understandings. These missional maps or habits, much like the GPS we may use in our cars, must be updated in order to be most effective. Join us this Sunday for worship at 8:30 and 10:45 AM as we explore what it will take for us to develop new maps/habits for the mission of the church in a new year!
In God’s grip,
Pastor Chuck Church
