It was a Sunday morning, I was getting ready to take myself and family to church, I felt this since of excitement about going to church that morning. I was kind of shocked by my sense of excitement. Many Sunday mornings I find myself just trying to get ready and rush out the door. I remember this same sense of excitement when the doors of our church were first opened up again after the shut down. However, there was not nothing really special about this Sunday, no special guest speaker, no special big event, it was just a normal Sunday morning. I began to question my own heart-where was this since of excitement coming from?
I will be honest most of my Sunday mornings, I am more consumed with what I have to accomplish that morning. Worrying if the Sunday school teachers have what they need, I am running through my welcome script, who do I need to connect with that morning at “church”. My Sundays turned into a list of to-do’s. The to-do’s are just part of the vocation. There are things that have to get done, however, when do the to do’s just turn into a normal work day instead of day of “church”.
Andy Stanley, in his book “Deep and Wide” reminds us of the meaning of the “church”. The ekklesia – “a movement with a divinely inspired mission and mandate”. My excitement that was stirring up in me as I was getting ready that morning was because I was excited to be a part of the ekklesia. I had to lay aside my to do’s and remember why I am a part of the church.
In those next few moments I remember the Lord speaking so directly but so compassionately, as He often does. Do you create an atmosphere where students can be a part of the ekklesia? Do you create an atmosphere where students come into a building and get their fill of God for the week?
Yes, when we gather I want students to experience the presence of God. I want to them to trade in their anxiety for His love, peace, and joy. I want them to come and lay their sins down and receive His forgiveness. However, do they allow what God has filled them up with to flow out of them? Do they let it flow out of them to the point, that they just cannot get their fill on Wednesdays or Sundays but they realized their need for Him everyday? Lately, I have been reminding our students that we are a part of the kingdom of God that we are advancing against the enemy of darkness. Are we encouraging mighty warriors in the kingdom or are we raising church consumers?
I think through 2020 we have realized the church was too full of consumers because once they go their fill they left. Once they could consume what they needed at home, they no longer needed to be a part of the ekklesia.
What God does in us, He will ultimately do through us. Let us challenge and create opportunities for students to be the “movement [of God] with a divinely inspired mission and mandate.”
My greatest heart’s desire is to be a part, and lead others to be a part, of the ekklesia-so no longer will church be a check mark off their to do list. But, it will be the place where they receive their mission to go forth into all the world and preach the Gospel.
By: Jennifer Soltys
Youth Pastor// Trinity A/G Whitehall, WV