The Retreat Chronicles IV - The Letter

"I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one: I in them and you in me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me." - Jesus, to his Father, about his followers

A little over a year before this ministry team retreat, back when I was discerning whether I was supposed to move to the Southwest Church in Amarillo or plant a church in Urban Houston, I wrote a letter. It was just a discerning tool, for me, but it was addressed the ministry team of the Southwest church. I was in one of those glorious moments when idealistic thinking seems to be the only worthy thinking (which is true all of the time, but only seems to be true some of the time). And after a year of ministry with this new ministry team, I stumbled upon it in an old, beat up white-pad in my Amarillo office. I read it slowly...noting how many of these ideals we were already operating under, and how many we still have before us to realize. At any rate, in the middle of our Thursday "journey in" to true community with each other, I trusted that now was the time to deliver it to the team I didn't know when I wrote it...

To my new ministry team:

We must become an authentic community of disciple makers, with each other and with those we come into contact with. We must be committed to our own and one another’s continued growth and transformation, and do so by giving each other permission into our lives hardest places, understanding and fighting against the gravity of fear, always focusing on the heart, knowing that it always takes the unusual commitment of time and courage.

For this to happen, the distance between what we are learning and what we are teaching must disappear. The commitment to “image management” with each other must be replaced by blind, “my heart is on the line here”, trust. Our usefulness, goodness, humility, mutual care, giftedness, and priority of families are among the things that must be assumed as present in each other, so that we don’t need to waste words and time making sure that each other views us as those things. And we need not be hindered by the difficulties, conflicts, and inconveniences that come from becoming so relationally integrated because we know going in that’s how its supposed to be. Forgiveness will flow freely among us, but will never be taken advantage of or used as an excuse for relational irresponsibility in us towards each other. We choose this narrow and difficult road with each other because we know it’s God’s true design for His people. We will relish in the moments that the fruit of this intimacy is sweet and be full of hope when it seems sour -- knowing that it only seems so for a time.

Prayer must become our favorite thing and acknowledged as our most productive time spent – personally and with each other. We mustn’t define or “standardize” what each person’s prayer life looks like, but we mustn’t use that freedom to define a prayer life that is less than absolute dependence. Work time spent in prayer for the body and the Kingdom and each other is the best time spent.

Scripture must become the story book that authoritatively shapes and molds our hearts. (For no one can be great and be more head than heart). We must distance our commitment to “know the Word”, with the higher commitments of “being who the Word says we are”, and “doing what it says we can do”, letting the stories shape and protect our hearts, rather than letting it’s rules simply be known in our heads (for example, we can “know” a peacemaker is blessed, or we can “be” a peacemaker). In all situations we look to the living Word, Jesus, to guide us in our choices.

We refuse to look at each other as simply “saved” and therefore “done”. We watch each other in awe as God continues to make us more perfect and pleasing to Him, and we stand amazed as God gives us each ever-growing platforms of influence on people. We acknowledge and confess pride or jealousy as it comes – to God and to each other, knowing that “saying it” has something to do with our ability to “let it go”. We see everyone we meet with the same eyes that we’ve learned to see each other with and those people feel and sense the potential freedom in their grasp just by how we look at them.

We are unabashedly about people, and as such are eager to use money and multiplication as tools to prune our lives of things and tasks that steal time from people. We are understandably reluctant to take on new tasks that would steal time from people, but excited to take on new tasks that would increase our contact with people, or “our people’s” contact with people. We are absolutely unyielding when tempted to compromise our own personal time committed to solitude, family, physical health, spiritual health, and fun because of our long term, relentless commitment to people and we help each other constantly to guard and adjust to this people agenda.

Our “jobs” are constantly being designed and discovered, constantly shaped by our personal passion, influencing of people for Christ, the priority of the heart, the goal of disciple making, the mantra of ‘doing less better’. Pruning is a skill we develop and learn to desire and look forward to, knowing that only by cutting off a fruit-bearing branch will more abundant fruit grow.

Workers in the body will be our primary “customers” that we service. We work to help workers succeed in ministry. Those willing to grow in their love of God and love of others (which is the definition of work) as a priority in their life will feel God’s approval and pleasure on them through ours. We respond to and trust workers over mere thinkers. What the skeptic, the critic, and the by-stander get from us is a challenge and invitation to work. While we love and believe in every person God sends our way, we maintain their dignity and invite them into their own destiny by refusing to adjust our life’s work according to their own weaknesses, hurts, misconceptions and mediocre desires.

We are a ‘called’ group of people and we live in and act out of the deep confidence that comes from a person who is responding to the Caller, desiring nothing but His pleasure.

Pursuing the Abundant Life of Jesus, Brian Mashburn