Staying Committed and Focused In a Time of Transition

It's June 16th. Yesterday was the last Sunday of service for our pastor. We are now, officially "pastorless." For Garden Oaks, that is a particularly unusual situation, since there has been very little time in the past three decades when the church was without a senior pastor. It has been sixteen years since the last time, and that's almost a generation.

Unfortunately, many churches are paralyzed by the loss of their pastor. The purpose of the church doesn't change. We are still the body of Christ, called out for a purpose that includes worship, evangelism, discipleship, ministry and fellowship. Not having a pastor does not release us from our commitment to Christ, or from the vision and purpose to which we have been called. We have invested in relationships that have been used for discipleship, to help people grow in their relationship to Christ, to lift each other up and build each other up. None of that changes because we do not have a pastor.

We live in an age when a consumer mentality has also consumed the church. We think that we can choose a church based on our personal preferences, just like we choose a grocery store or a bank or a restaurant. Church is about what we want, what we can get out of it, and what our preferences are. But when we look at the scriptures, and see how the Holy Spirit moved to create and empower the body of Christ, it is easy to see there is no support for that position at all. It is impossible for the church to be beneficial to its members without each member also giving back in at least equal, and hopefully in greater proportion to what is received. There are several places in scripture where gifts given to individual believers are listed. Every believer has at least one, for the purpose of serving the church, and the collection of gifts that each church has is brought together by the Holy Spirit to fit together with the other gifts that other people in the same body have.

This is a time for our body to draw together, and purposefully plan to move forward. There is no room for bickering and grumbling over the past. If there are issues left behind, they must be resolved, in full accordance with the scripture, and in full agreement of the body. These things should be dealt with, immediately, and finally, so that we can get on with the business of being the body of Christ, and advancing his Kingdom in this place.

Next Sunday is June 22nd. Everyone who is a member of Garden Oaks Baptist Church should be planning on being in their place, in worship and in Bible Study, on that Sunday.