What Does It Mean To Flourish?
This afternoon I had coffee with a local pastor who has a church just around the corner from Redeemer. After chatting for awhile, he asked the question, “So what’s your church all about?”
Reasonable question. Afterall, even though there is only one “Great Commission” we certainly see a great variety of churches today. More on that in just a moment.
To answer his question, I said our message is simple. “We desire to see the City flourish.” Puzzled he asked, “what do you mean?” I replied, “In the Gospel of John we see Jesus explain why he came to this world in a very succinct statement in John 10:10. He said, ‘I’ve come that you may have life, life abundantly.'”
I went on to explain to this pastor that today people desire lives that could be characterized by the word flourish. But they don’t know how to get it. The Bible is clear. The only way to experience true life is in a relationship with Jesus Christ. Nothing more. Nothing less. A genuinely flourishing life can only be attained through faith in Jesus Christ.
So Redeemer desires to see one thing happen. Bring the Gospel to our neighbors. Because when do this, the city will flourish.
There are all kinds of churches available today. But not all of them are committed to the Gospel cause. According to recent census data, roughly 60% of people in Seminole County claim no religious affiliation. Meaning, when asked what religion they would describe themselves as, instead of merely checking “Christian” they chose “None.”
In ten years, Seminole County could exceed 500,000 people in the population. If this belief trend continues, then that would mean that close to 300,000 do not know Jesus.
What will it take to make a dent in that number? It will take churches like Redeemer to take the Great Commission seriously.
Jesus said, “The harvest is plentiful, but workmen are few. Pray to the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into his harvest field (Luke 10:2).”
Would you please pray that God would raise up Redeemer as a worker to reach His harvest?
