Thursday, August 6, 2009

Kingdom mindset

I love my children.
In fact, my family really is the joy of Jesus in my life. At times they stoke the fires of hell...but more often than not they are joy personified.
example: our youngest son Spencer has this thing that he's been doing for the last 18 months or so, where he's constructed a miniature church in our home.
He's got it set up on one of the end tables in our living room...worship team with instruments, the platform set, the whole nine yards, and he does two weekly services.
It is aptly named, Table Church.
Now when I say he does two weekly services, I mean he does two full blown services each week, with worship, teaching, announcements, the whole deal...for like, 45 minutes to an hour each time.
So, by now you've formed one of two opinions; a. the kid needs to get out more, or, b. "awww, isn't that cute, he wants to be like his dad..."
It would be cute and all, except he's deadly serious about it...which in my mind makes it pretty dang cool.
But, that's not all. The other day our oldest son Jacob says, "hey Spencer, can i start a table church of my own too?" And Spencer says, "yeah sure, I'll help you set it up." Wait, wait, it gets better. Spencer says, "I'll leave my church and come help you set it up." So, he leaves his church in the capable hands of his little sister and goes to help his older brother plant a church.
It was amazing to see this unfold...
Kathy and I were blown away, that, totally unaware of the implications of their actions, our sons had just shown a beautiful example of Kingdom mindset church planting in our own living room. There was no ego involved, no quibbling over finances or facilities, no lobbying for personnel or territory wars.
There was a desire expressed and they went and made it happen.
Humbly, sacrificially, beautifully.
I was and still am in awe of the whole scene...especially as they started to construct the thing together and then proceeded to lead the service, together, sharing every responsibility, no posturing, no power struggles, just cooperation and community. Together.
You might think I've taken this simple child's game and extrapolated the thought beyond a reasonable limit, but let me remind you of what Jesus told his disciples, "...unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven." (Matt. 18:3)
Now, I do not even pretend to stand in judgment, I only hope to remind you and me, that we shouldn't hold to tightly to our models of success or think that we are doing ministry in a vacuum and no one cares about us or can help us...
What we really need to do is open our eyes to the beauty and simplicity of helping one another fulfill our God given dreams and visions. Together.
Kingdom of God kind of stuff...not kingdom of me.
I've learned a lot from my kids...I think we all might stand to benefit from their example, if we can get over our "big person" mindset and think about it.
...just a thought.

2 comments:

  1. What a great post! That is awesome.

    ReplyDelete
  2. And a little child shall lead them ...

    You have very cool kids, Pastor Troy. Thanks for sharing this story.

    ReplyDelete