Kingdom Work

Christ's church has an incredibly varied set of tasks to accomplish.  At Grace North Atlanta these things include, mercy ministry, worship services, children's and student ministry, community groups, leadership training, evangelistic Bible studies, finance team meetings, worship setup team, and the list goes on.  And this is all for a church of 150 that doesn't even have a building!

God's work and plans will never be accomplished by one person trying to fly solo.  That just won't happen.  In order to function as the body of Christ, everyone must fulfill their own personal ministry.  I'm only the intern and I am starting to see my free time diminish rapidly.  I can't imagine what the weekly schedule looks like for John, Chris and Morgan (the three Grace North staff members).  Kingdom work can't be completed by the paid professionals.  No, it can only be completed by the whole body of Christ.  It can't even be completed by a directional team of eight people, no, the entire church needs to be involved.  Christ isn't calling people to fly solo in their efforts to love the world with the gospel.  By Christ's overwhelming grace and mercy, Grace North will continue to be a community that strives to be missional, spreading the gospel all over the north Atlanta suburbs.

Tonight I sat in on the monthly directional meeting where all of those ministries were discussed.  Since Grace North does not yet have elders, the directional team provides the leadership for the church (it does not provide the pastoral care that elders would typically administer).  As I sat through the meeting I couldn't help but feel really under prepared to take on church ministry.  The men that sat around that table have deep understandings of Christ and his gospel and his church and they have a deep love of Christ and his gospel and his church.  I definitely felt like a rookie stepping up for his first major league at bat.  Of course this was only a monthly meeting at a coffee shop.