Graham Cray tells how: "Os Guiness wrote a story about a man stealing wheelbarrows from a shipyard. Every day his barrow was searched and nothing found. But all along he was stealing the barrows.". ("Disciples and Citizens" p. 77)
Sometimes we miss the obvious because we are looking for something much more subtle and/or complicated. We don't see what is happening right in front of us because we are trying to second-guess what is going on round the corner.
Are our churches seeing and taking the opportunities (challenges to mission) that are there right in front of them?
1 comment:
Sounds like Disciples and Citizens is a good book. I like the story of the wheelbarrows.
Of course we are missing the obvious, but of course some good is being done, and of course it could be better. I love the image of church depicted in Acts 2:42-47 and like to believe that there are (and perhaps more importantly there can be) moments (albiet brief) in our churches today that resonate with true community in God's Spirit and with each other. Yet my understanding of the church then and now is that these are moments, and before we know it we are again struggling about varous issues (circumcision, eating meat offer to idols, etc.). Bottom line for me is that we always need to rely upon God to lead us, and for that to happen, we need to listen and trust.
Post a Comment