Thursday, February 14, 2008

win or lose

i stumbled across some notes from a talk a heard a few months ago from ed hyatt. he posed the question to church leaders about what drove their churches. he asked whether the motive was to "win the world", "win one or two", or "not lose too many." if i'm honest, and why not be...i know there have been seasons when our focus has been on not losing too many. and i admit it is a miserable state to be in. but at least we knew it was miserable and that an inward focused church is an oxymoron. it simply should not be the norm for christ-followers. sadly, i know churches that have spent decades in the don't lose too many mode. and the consequences have been, and continue to be, tragic. because the irony is you lose when you focus on not losing people- you lose the "win the world" people, and you keep the people (many of whom) you really don't want. it makes me smile to know that water's edge church is an outward focused community. i wouldn't be so presumptious as to claim we are winning the world...but then again maybe we are...one or two at a time. my prayers this morning are for those church leaders who are afraid to lose too many... i hope they are empowerd to lead their communities in following the master's mandate to go and make disciples.