Dear Amanda, Erin, James, Maria, Mary, and Vena,
In The Normal Christian Church Life, Watchman Nee once wrote: "But the practical outworking of those truths in the Lord's service is by no means unimportant. Without that, everything is in the realm of theory, and spiritual development is impossible."
For approximately the last 10 years, I have been on a journey to try to experience churchlife the way God intended. Of course, this is no small task and always seems unclear no matter how much I think I understand Scripture or think I know the Lord.
Tonight, the seven of us spent three full hours planning just some of the formal meetings for our church. And it was planning for just one month! We were ordinary people without any seminary education (see Acts 4:13), and best (or worst?) of all, not one of us was getting paid a dime.
But yet, there we were, seeking a living God about what He might want to do to help about 70 other people know Him together.
I don't want my blog to romanticize this. It was tough, frustrating, unclear, confusing, and tiring. But I think it was glorious, too. We didn't always agree, but we listened. We didn't always like what was being said, but we loved each other. We didn't really know whether we were being led by the Spirit or contriving something from our own minds, but we sought Jesus and trusted that He lived in us enough to get beyond our fallenness.
And I think He did. I think we ended with Christ. And that makes it all worth it to me.
I know tonight was difficult, and I want to thank you for the privilege of getting to know my Lord with and through you. Thank you for giving me three hours of living my life with purpose...of living for something (Someone) greater than myself.
Sincerely,
Rishi