65,322.

With God’s provision and protection, this is the exact number of miles I flew in 2007.

I’m grateful for all the people I met and the churches I visited. I’m grateful for your prayers concerning my family, my travels and the mission and ministry of established churches in the Covenant.

These are certainly exciting and challenging times for the Church. I have visited healthy missional churches, stable, critical moment and at-risk churches. Each is unique and I am often moved by how much God loves all of these churches, regardless of their current reality.

I have witnessed first hand just how many established churches are anxious, confused and exhausted. Just last Saturday in Portland, during a break at Veritas, one of the leaders privately told me how exhausted she was and that many of the leaders felt the same way.

They, like many other church leaders, are struggling with the realties and complexities of doing ministry in a culture that is no longer supportive of Christianity. While some churches are indeed cracking the missional code of their communities, many other churches find themselves unable or unwilling to move forward and gather missional momentum.

The journey of revitalization is both adventurous and treacherous. As leaders, we must exercise a non anxious presence in this season of anxiety. As leaders we are to respond to “chaos with calm, bewilderment with focus, stagnancy with challenge and new situations with change.” (Peter Steinke, Congregational Leadership in Anxious Times)

65,322 miles provides a lot of time for reflection. I have often wondered, in this season of anxiety, if it is possible to reduce revitalization to a few easy steps.

While “steps” and “principles” indeed have their place, I don’t think revitalization can be reduced to such things. I do however believe that revitalization can be reduced to a person – Jesus Christ.

Churches that experience new life almost always attribute it to some form of spiritual awakening: mainly, reconnecting with the person of Jesus – his message and his mission. There is a powerful simplicity and freshness to it all. And one by one, people come alive again. Personal renewal almost always precedes congregational renewal.

In Veritas, I teach that vitality is being centered in the mission and message of Jesus. "We need to do something so we don't decline" is vastly different from a renewed sense of mission flowing from the heart of Jesus. And this is what we offer to the world, the life of Jesus flowing in and through our broken lives. We are challenged to move beyond institutional survival and tap into the larger story of God.

This reconnection to Jesus, as the central factor in revitalization, is evidenced by what is told to the churches in Ephesus and Laodicea.

To the Ephesian Church:

“Yet I have this against you: You have forsaken your first love.” (Rev 2:4)

To the Laodicean church:

“Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me.” (Rev 3:20)

Imagine doing good things, going through the ministry motions, but without Jesus.

Imagine Jesus standing outside of his very own church, trying to get in.

This is the heart of revitalization – reconnection with Jesus. Out of the overflow and abundance of this relationship, the gospel, in all of its joy and wonder, begins to flow in word and deed.

This is when our stories move from second hand to first hand. And this is the kind of authenticity that the world is looking for in those who claim to follow Christ.

Only God knows how many miles I will travel in 2008. But the journey continues and we are in this together. We will pray and trust that God is always at work.



Reflections on the Journey:

1. How would you assess the energy level of your church right now? Is there vim and vigor or is there lethargy present in the body? How can you tell?
2. Oftentimes churches are too busy, doing too much. What would it look like for your church to really simplify and focus in on Jesus – his message and his mission?
3. In what ways have we complicated the gospel, or forsaken our first love or left Jesus standing outside?