Jesus: The Great Intruder... of our agendas

What are you doing?
Why are you doing it?
How are you doing it?

It is vitally important that we consider these questions as a congregation. This type of analysis needs to produce answers that fall in line with the heart of God. The answers will tell us whether or not we are continuing the work Jesus has given us or drifting into something less than being God’s people in the world today.

On one hand the nature of congregational life and ministry is different all over the globe or even in the same city. But on the other hand there are things that need to always be the same because it is God’s chosen way. One thing that is a non-negotiable for the Church of Jesus Christ in general and Oak Hill in particular is that we operate based on the fact that people matter. This is seen clearly in creation as we are made in the Image of God and as Jesus intruded into our broken world as our needed Savior to bring us back home.

I bring this up in the context of this week’s theme because we have a tendency to become overly impressed with our systems or our programs or our ideas and lose sight of what matters most. The main thing that Jesus had on His agenda was people. Oh, we can debate that His main point was to glorify the Father but I would argue that Jesus’ glorifying of the Father was completely wrapped up with His caring for and setting free of humanity. He knew full well that the Father would be glorified as people began to see God and themselves properly.

One of our core values at Oak Hill is relationships. There is an absolute necessity for this area of our congregational life to be developed, enhanced, supported, encouraged and the list could go on and on. I am making this a personal “top agenda” item as I meet with all of Oak Hill staff over the next month. The Lord has placed it on my heart and mind to make sure Jesus is setting our agenda in this particular area. We will look at our various areas of ministry with the idea of evaluating our relationship building.

I am writing this with a combination of excitement and confession as I consider the power of God that comes through living like Jesus. I am gripped by the reality that Oak Hill needs to humbly acknowledge that we need Jesus to be the Great Intruder of our Agendas today and every day. We can often go about our days giving lip service to God’s call to minister to people when in reality we are just doing ministry without really caring for people. Jesus’ agenda was about people and our agenda needs to match His.

With that truth in mind I want us to make sure we are enjoying “DOING” the right things the right way. Oh, I know we are not perfect and there will always be room for improvement but sometimes we just need to recalibrate and that is what we are going to do. Please pray for your staff at Oak Hill as we make sure people matter most. All of Jesus teachings and actions were driven to meet people’s needs. Nothing Jesus did was disconnected from loving people and bringing them back to God.

May Jesus set the agenda at Oak Hill,
Pastor Nick