I wonder if the place where I worship will even be here in a year. We have a very small congregation, and need to disassociate ourselves with the Assembly of God, which will result in a significant loss of available funds. It’s a long story and not for print, but suffice it to say we are being “realigned” (as our Senior Pastor calls it), and this realignment is painful.
Maybe lethal- who knows?
Some of the people who have been faithful and constant are feeling led to serve in other congregations and churches; even though they still come on Friday nights, they also go to other places to help on some Friday’s (so we don’t see them) and Sunday services. One or two have indicated they will probably leave completely (on good terms, of course) because they feel led to go elsewhere.
I don’t see this, as some might, as a rebellion or desertion: it is pruning. When a branch gives forth good fruit, it is cut off from the main trunk and replanted elsewhere, so that it can grow more than it would be able to on the tree that first nourished it. It is painful but it is necessary for growth. Of course, being cut off and replanted is tough- it hurts, you miss the regular flow of nourishment you first received, and it is scary. The root that has fed you for many years is now gone, and you are on your own.
It’s like finally moving out of your Mother’s basement.
We are in a realignment, in that the mission of the Zionist Revival Center (our website is: zionistrevivalcenter.org) has moved from the cookie-cutter “Save-the-World” Christian mission to being a teaching ministry. Not just to teach Christians about their Hebraic Roots (which is a major part), but to teach Christian churches what is their true role in the plan of Salvation. That being that the “Church” is grafted onto the Tree of Life, which is the Torah. And, as is taught throughout the New Covenant writings, being grafted on means feeding from that one root, which God provided to all in His Word. To be able to do what God has planned for the Gentiles who have been saved by Messiah Yeshua, all churches need to be one with Israel and support the Jewish people. This is, unfortunately, not the standard teaching in most Christian churches, who reject Judaism (Israel, the Jewish people and the Torah) because of nearly two thousand years of wrongful teaching.
Since we are teaching “against the tide” of traditional Christian understanding, getting the word out will be difficult; getting congregants will be even more difficult, and we really need to trust God to help us. You see, there are so many churches in Melbourne (Florida) that if you spit in any direction on a windy day, it will land on some church. We want to teach the “Church” it’s role in God’s plan of salvation, and we also want our congregation to grow, but we don’t want to “steal” the sheep from other places, so it is a sort of balancing act. We need to work with the other churches, and stealing their members is not going to help us reach that goal, so we are facing a difficult road.
But, then again, with God all things are possible. I see us fulfilling an essential role and I totally agree with our vision/mission.
For our own people, we are going to have different Shabbat services to “mix it up”; one Friday will be song worship, one Friday teaching, one Friday testimonials, one Friday prayer worship, etc. We will have five different types of Shabbat services, scheduled ahead of time, and we expect that those who like music will come to that worship service, but those who don’t, won’t (on that Friday); those who like prayer will come to prayer services but those that don’t want to be in prayer for an hour or so, won’t (on that Friday.)
In the long run, who knows what this will do? That is why I started out saying that we may end up pruning ourselves- the scary thought is when you cut yourself off, how do you replant yourself?
This blog is my ministry, and I would love for it to grow. I guess I need to get back on Face Book, Twitter, Google Plus (and whatever) other social media in order to gain wider exposure. I trust in God to make things happen, but I also believe He expects us to show that trust by stepping out as if we already knew what was going to happen. Abraham didn’t call AAA for a Trip Tik when God told him to leave Ur- he just up and left. That’s what real faith is- leaping without looking because you trust God to make sure there is something there to land on.
Please pray for our center, for our mission to be fulfilled, and for the Gentile world to come back to it’s roots- too many churches have cut themselves off from the very root that feeds them. I talk about this in my book, in the chapter called, “You Can’t Get Pears from an Apple Tree”- if the Gentiles that have been saved by Jesus want to be like Jesus, then they need to live and worship as Jesus did.
Unfortunately, that isn’t what traditional Christianity teaches.
