WHERE'S THE FRONT DOOR?

Where is the "front door" to our church? For most organized evangelical churches, the front door is the Sunday morning assembly. That's where the church is on "company behavior," welcoming newcomers with the best music and preaching as they have. Those people are often referred to as "seekers," or the "unchurched," and the gathering is carefully constructed to welcome new people into the fold.

I recently heard the title for the worship leader (excuse me, it's usually called a "program director" these days) in a new seeker-oriented church: the "Front Porch Facilitator." That person's position entirely revolves around making new people feel welcome, crafting the entry way in all ways, from visual images to music to printed materials. Putting a professional up front is an effective way for the American church to set an environment of hospitality.

But we have chosen on purpose to NOT have our Sunday assemblies serve as our "front door." Our main assemblies are simply times set aside for "the whole church" to "come together," as seems to have been the practice of the New Testament church. Sometimes our gatherings are untidy, informal and not for the faint of heart (as when we spend more time praying than singing or preaching combined).

Okay, so if Sunday morning is not our front door, what IS our front door? We are purposely designed to have our homes serve as our front doors. When we gather in a house, that should be the welcoming place to exercise hospitality, both individually and as a house church. We want our house churches to serve as that first exposure to church life. As the saying goes, "Back door friends are the best friends."

But wait a minute. The church building is not really our front door, but neither are our houses themselves. Our real Front Door is intentionally JESUS. He said, "I am the gate for the sheep. . . . Whoever enters through me will be saved." Whether we show Jesus in our main assemblies on Sunday morning, or we gather in homes to break bread and share our lives, the center, the essence, of what we do, is all about Jesus, the Messiah. We want to model his life, say his words, and point to his glory in all that we do. And through our radical commitment to him, the world will enter through the Front Door that is worth entering! Amen.

FOLLOWING HIS LEAD

I think that ministry is more a matter of following the directions of my Navigator than it is trying to read and follow a map. With a map, I can see the goal of where I am heading, and can see what the roads should look like (or, at least, what they looked like when the map was made). But with a Navigator, there are responses to unforeseen changes in plans and even side adventures along the way!

The Book of Acts would rightly be called the Acts of the Holy Spirit. The book is really about Him and His navigations of the early church. Consider chapters 10 and 11 as one example.

Cornelius is not a Jew, but he prays and loves God. One day God comes to him in a vision and tells him to find a man (Simon, called Peter) who is staying at someone's house (Simon the tanner) in another city. He sends three trusted men. In the meantime, God talks to Peter at exactly the right time (the next day). Peter sees a vision three times in which he is told to eat unclean animals. He is still scratching his head about what that means when the three (Gentile) men come his door. Suddenly he realizes that the vision was about people, not about food or animals, and he willingly goes to the home of the Gentile, Cornelius. The next day they arrive and Peter is willing to enter Cornelius' house, which he never would have done just two days before. As Peter begins to explain about his vision and his realization that no man is unclean, the Holy Spirit falls on all those in the house, accompanied by tongues and great joy. Peter responds by allowing them to be baptized, and in the next chapter Peter defends his actions based on these experiences. The whole church rejoices.

Imagine how different it would have been had Peter been following a different roadmap. Maybe one day he is reading his Bible, and it becomes clear to him that God always intended for the Gentiles to come into the Kingdom. He talks it over with the other apostles, and they agree. Some start a new Gentile Outreach Ministry. They print brochures and send out mailers and have a huge Gentile launch.

What would have happened to the church? I guarantee it would have split, and there would have been a Jewish church and a competing Gentile church. It would have split because it was not as undeniably the leading of God to go this new, unpredictable direction.

How beautiful when leadership listens and follows the move of God, not running ahead or falling behind. And how beautiful when the people follow, trusting those who are in the lead.

WHAT IS PRAYER?
Prayer is a subject that brings an interesting response in me. First is guilt. If I am to pray without ceasing, then I know that I fall far short of doing that. I suspect that most people assume that other people pray far more than they do.

What if we turn it around, and explore the wonders of this privilege of having the Ear of the Almighty One? What if we realize that each time we talk with God, we have His undivided attention? What if we become friends with our Father?

Prayer is a mystery, to be sure. In recent years, I have come to a new understanding of the role of the Holy Spirit in prayer, and how God’s sovereignty comes into play. I think that God gives us His own leading as to what to pray, and then glorifies himself when he answers those prayers. It is a beautiful mystery of cooperation between the all-sufficient God and His precious creation.

The story of Cornelius illustrates the idea. Cornelius is a God-fearing man who prays often, and God sends an angel in a vision to let him know that his prayers have been heard. He gives Cornelius the name and address of a stranger named Simon Peter. In the meantime, God is giving Peter a perfectly-timed vision of his own. Through this amazing series of leadings, God carries out a major plan in bringing salvation to Cornelius and the Kingdom to the Gentiles.

There are times when someone’s prayer seems to actually change the mind of God. Moses pleads with God to spare the rebellious nation of Israel, and God relents from His apparent plan to destroy them. Yet, we know that even in this instance, it was God’s ultimate will to spare Israel. So even in His anger, God guides Moses to intercede on behalf of His people so that they will be preserved.

In this sense, prayer is the process of walking in the Spirit, or of being in the center of God’s will. We sense what God is up to and we agree with Him. Then He answers our prayer in accordance with His will. And the wonderful, mysterious relationship of God and mankind is put in motion again. Amen!