WEEKLY ARTICLE

The Future at Good Shepherd

Weekly Article April 7th, 2006

by the Rev. Matt Kennedy

What is our vision?

If you don't know it's not your fault.

The vestry and I haven't done a great job of communicating the vision God has given us over the last few years.

One reason for that is the intense need we've all felt to get closer to God's Word: to teach, preach and study it.

Most of our time and energy in the past has been spent on the worthwhile task of getting to know our God through his Word. In fact, the need for the people of Good Shepherd to get to know the bible was something the Holy Spirit revealed to my heart very early on in my ministry here and many of our programs and ministries have been designed to meet that need.

I think one reason God has impressed on us this need and desire to know his Word is that he has an important mission for Good Shepherd in the coming years and a great purpose for us in the long term.

Do you know why Good Shepherd was founded?

In the late 19 th century some faithful believers from Christ Church realized that the people of Binghamton's south-side needed to hear the gospel. The Holy Spirit led them to establish Good Shepherd as a missionary church on this very corner for that very purpose.

Good Shepherd was built and called by God to be a missionary church to the south side community; to proclaim and teach the gospel of Jesus Christ.

That is still our mission today.

And our vision is this: to transform the south-side of Binghamton by proclaiming in word and deed the good news of Jesus Christ. Our vision is not just to feed and save the lost but also to transform an entire neighborhood, and entire community by and through the power of the gospel.

That is the vision. And that is what we will do.

Now that we have begun to establish a firm foundation of biblical faith and now that we are growing and maturing in Jesus Christ, I sense the Holy Spirit calling us to focus even more of our energy and drive beyond these walls, toward reaching the lost and hungry souls who live right next door and right across the street.

A vision provides the big picture of a preferred future. Mission describes the process of getting to or building that future. Our mission focus over the past three years has been primarily on building a solid biblical foundation so that when people come seeking hope and life, God will have equipped us with the gifts to share the gospel and feed and train disciples. That foundation is still being laid, but it is more solid now than it has been in any time over the last thirty years.

The Men's bible study is bursting at the seams with seekers; the soup kitchen that regularly nourishes the hungry is also feeding people into the New Beginners Bible Study; the Tuesday morning bible regularly overflows; the Sunday school that answers basic questions of life from a biblical perspective is generally packed out; these are all signs that God is moving here; that our foundation is solid and, more importantly, that we are ready to grow. The last thing we want to do is to become one collective big fat baby believer. God is calling us out to put feet on our growing faith.

One of the things God has convicted me about over the last few weeks is that in many ways I've been playing a one-man band. I lead most of the bible studies, plan most of the classes, and chart the series of classes. At the same time, many of you have grown by leaps and bounds in your faith and knowledge. It is time that the vision and mission of Good Shepherd become something we share and work toward together.

Over the last few weeks I've begun to pray through a few ideas.

Perhaps God is calling some of you to start and/or lead a bible study in your homes not with people from Good Shepherd, but with non-believers, with people around your neighborhood? This may sound scary, but you wouldn't have to start from scratch. There are great materials out there that anybody with leadership skills can use.

Perhaps God wants those of you (and I know several) who have gifts for prayer to get a group together start interceding weekly for the people of the south side and asking for God's guidance and open doors so that we can reach them with the gospel?

Perhaps God is calling those of you who play instruments and have good voices to take a more active part in worship on Sunday morning by contributing your musical talents?

Perhaps some of you new believers who know what seekers are looking for are being called to help us enhance the design and style of the service? There are definitely some things we can do to make the worship here more accessible to non-believing seekers while still retaining our Anglican identity.

Perhaps God is calling the evangelists among us (and again, there are several) to start regularly and actively walking through the neighborhood door to door in the months between our official walkabouts?

These are really just brainstorming suggestions. I don't know what God is doing, but he' doing something. Most of us can feel it. There is an energy and a vitality centered on and coming out of the bible studies and other ministries that comes directly from the Holy Spirit.

We already have a mission structure which those of you who have attended Adult Christian education over the last two months are familiar with. Over the next few weeks and months I'm asking you to pray with me and ask God to give us some insight into how we as a body can use that biblical mission structure to turn more of our energy toward the lost, toward achieving the vision of transforming the south-side through the power of Christ.

Expect to be hearing more about this as we pray together and flesh out where God is taking us.

In Him,

Matt+

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