January 23, 2007
Master Plan
I attended a community leadership class where speakers often referred to the Master Plans of both the city and the county. Listening to comments about growth and vision, followed by questions of ‘What do you want this valley to look like in 25 years?’, I was struck by how this train of thought has infiltrated the church. Many churches today seem more interested in molding and shaping the future, than they are in dealing with the present. I find it absurd. Really, can you image the Apostles brainstorming about the early church and asking one another, ‘What do we want this church to look like in 25 years?’ Shouldn’t we rather spend time on implementing the plan that’s already in place…the Master’s Plan?
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Gail;
----Long range plans are a very important part of navigating the dangerous straits of this life. Government makes them, businesses and organizations make them, and families make them. I think it is important for the church to make them too, but...
----The church is a diferent kind of organization than any other among man. It is an organization that is directed by and belongs to the Lord as opposed to a group of organizers. However, it is left into the hands of men to direct its affairs (I Tim 5:17). It is in the understanding of what these affairs are that delineates what areas the church leaders have business planning, and what areas are for the Lord to plan.
----The way I understand it is that the affairs of the church are first its godliness. Ideologically speaking, it is primary that attention, honor, and obedience be directed towards God, but practically speaking, if attention, honor, and subjection are not honestly directed toward man, then there has been no direction towards God. That in a nutshell is how I have come to consider godliness and the affairs of the church
----I honestly believe that the leaders who meticulously lay out the church's twenty-five year plan concerning what piece of ground it will possess and how big a building it will build are not dilegently directing the church's affairs. That twenty-five year plan should involve first consideration to the level of understanding of behavior towards one another and towards the Lord that the members are going to hold, the depth of knowledge of the Word that is desired to be found among them, and the level of tolerance towards disobedience among them that is proper. The twenty-five year plan then becomes a strategy to develop the environment that will facilitate these objectives. The physical assets and church activities and programs become totally subordinate to the planned environment of godliness, since they are nothing more than the wineskins.
----What the church does, what it has, and where it goes should not be shaped by the plans of man. These should be shaped by the needs in the presence of which the church finds itself. So as the leaders serve in assisting the members with their spiritual growth, the Lord will have His control to steer the church to wherever He needs it to be by what need He brings accross its path.
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