Lasting Change? Take A Vow Of Stability!

by | Dec 30, 2011 | Church Leadership, Church Planting | 3 comments

When I became a church planter I had in mind pursuing a vision that would outlast my measly few decades on earth. In your remaining years are you going to piddle away opportunities by making short-term, surface changes, or are you going to commit to ushering in what will endure?

Catholic “sodalities” (mission focused groups within the larger context of Catholics worldwide) have been taking “Vows of stability” for centuries. This is an agreement to faithfully serve in one location for the endurance of life.

Catholic leaders understand what others don’t – it will sometimes take many generations of ongoing, committed ministry to usher in the changes Christ calls us to accomplish.

God has in mind to see entire cities converted to Christ! In order to see this level of conversions take place we will need to commit to many years – sometimes decades of faithful preparation work – of fervent prayer walking, many years

Of doing servant evangelism in order to create a spiritual climate in the city and to soften hearts, a flood of compassion ministry to those in need, along with the faithful proclamation of the Gospel – all done for decades to prepare the spiritual soil of the city prior to a massive evangelistic harvest.

God is calling you to dream an enormous dream for your city. Dream large yet realize you can’t possibly dream as large as his dream. No matter how skilled you are at envisioning, training and mobilizing, it won’t be possible to see enough evangelists and church planters come together to realize that dream in one mere generation.

The way we are going to gain great impact, wherever we are located, is by taking a vow of stability – to simply stay put and open for ministry and business for the long haul.

Honestly ponder…

Am I able to commit to ushering in transformation to my city?

Am I willing to pay the price? If so, put your money down and go for it.

Is God calling me here for life?

It will take a virtual army of people putting their hands together who are willing to spend the rest of their lives together in this city. That means you will take a pass on future opportunities because of the amazing opportunity you can’t pass up that God has given you – to just stay put.

 

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