When I got my master's degree, I was asked "are you going to get your PhD?" I replied jokingly saying, "Well, if I got my PhD, I don't know what my motivation would be. I mean, I don't really get along with my mother in law so I'd probably only get it so that when she finally began accepting me and said, 'you can call me mom', I could reply, 'oh, well, you can call me Dr. Pack'."
In some industries, getting a PhD is the pinnacle of your profession. In others, like many technical fields, it actually pigeon-holes you into a certain field of study or specialty. That's great if you know you want to do that one thing forever, but what if you want to have wider career opportunities? What if you want to have the option to move around a bit in your industry without always being known as the expert in one specific thing? What if you know that you aren't really called to just do one thing for the rest of your life?
Sometimes God calls us to life-long pursuits and sometimes he calls us to temporary things. It's important to note that temporary assignments are no less honorable and glorifying to God than life-long callings. Just take a look at Nehemiah who felt called to rebuild the walls and city of Jerusalem. When discussing the matter with King Artaxerxes, we can see that his work always had an expiration date.
Then the king asked me, “What is your request?” So I prayed to the God of the heavens and answered the king, “If it pleases the king, and if your servant has found favor with you, send me to Judah and to the city where my ancestors are buried,[b] so that I may rebuild it.” The king, with the queen seated beside him, asked me, “How long will your journey take, and when will you return?” So I gave him a definite time, and it pleased the king to send me. (Nehemiah 2:4-6)
The last line of this excerpt stuck out to me because we are so used to seeing displays of obedience being these blind decisions with no end-date. What we see in Nehemiah was a commitment to perform a task... a "mission" if you will... then to return home. Granted, his temporary assignment lasted almost a decade and a half, but he eventually returned home.
I think some of us, and some of those who join us, will be called to the same thing and we should celebrate in their calling. Some will be called to join and build a new church and be a part of a new church vision for many years. Others may be called to serve as "church planters" meaning that they perform the work and ministry of establishing a new congregation before moving on and doing their own thing. For those of us who stay for the long-haul, we should celebrate these church planters and give them all love and hospitality owed to any child of God. For those who consider themselves church planters, you should feel resolved in your calling, as Nehemiah was before the King, knowing that your responsibility is to serve God's kingdom according to His plan and not man's.
I bring this up because some of those already on these e-mails, and some of those yet to join in, are right now "church planting". You are praying, loving, and supporting a great work pointed towards reaching a community and more people for Christ. I can not say enough how thankful I am for you just being a sounding board for everything taking place and hope that you will continue to join us. I would hope that every church planter would be overjoyed and feel at home in this new vision of "church" we are pursuing! However, if you don't, I want there to be absolutely no feelings of awkwardness or animosity. You are a part of our family and as a family we will always be there for one another.
After all, we are not united based on the things of this world. We aren't united just because we perform worship using a guitar or because we all meet in a gym. We aren't united because we come from the same background or hometown. We are united because of our love of Jesus Christ and our desire that all people would be touched by the joy we feel from knowing God. when that becomes our uniting factor, everything else just seems so much less important.
DAILY PRAYER A Prayer for Unity
Lord, we pray that you would bless all those who are pursuing a vision dedicated to you, whether they support us from afar, join us for a season, or become life-long family members to our church. You have brought all of us together in different ways to achieve a common goal. We pray that our sense of unity would be defined by the nature of your love and not the habits and traditions of man. We love you God and never feel more at home than when we are with you. In Christs' name, Amen.
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