There was a time in America where everyone went to the Blockbuster Video building during the week to pick up their media content. This went on for decades and no one thought anything of it, that's just how we did it and it worked. That is until Live Streaming began to transform how we consumed content. Rather than driving to a building and hoping to get what you wanted, you viewed the content from the comfort of your own home, clicked a button that delivered on-demand content in your living room. Live streaming decentralized the consumption of media content.
This is what's happening to Jesus's Church. He is moving us from a centralized content delivery Church to a decentralized content delivering Church. For a long time, we went to a building to get our "Jesus content". Once or twice a week, we'd worship, then listen to a minister deliver a good message and then they'd pray for us. For the most part, the "Jesus content" was centralized in the hands of full-time ministers and ministries, and "it worked".
We may not have realized it, but Jesus has been growing His Church and we're not the 5 year old kid that needs his shoes tied, or the 10 year old that needs his clothes washed by Mom. We've grown. With every truth Jesus has restored to the Church the past 100+ years, He's been growing and developing us. We as a Church have moved into young-adulthood in Christ (Ephesians 4:13). Rather than just 1 or 2 ministers per church gathering that are the mature ones, we're ALL now ministers of Jesus. And this has ALWAYS been Jesus' goal.
Jesus is transforming His Church from a centralized few that have the "Jesus content" to an army of "adults in Christ" live-streamers of Jesus from the comfort of our own hearts! When you are on the Foundation of Jesus for yourself, you can hear from Him and share, pray and minister healing to all in your eco-system. You don't need to bring them to a centralized location to get ministered to (Blockbuster) because Holy Spirit is live-streaming right from your heart! When you have Holy Spirit, you have the "goods" to engage with the person in front of you. This is your ministry of reconciliation and only you can do it.
And yes, you still need parents (elders / leaders), but the relationship changes when you become an adult. When you're in your early to mid 20's, it's time to step out, take action and make decisions for yourself. You still have parents at the ready to provide guidance and counsel, but it's different from being a little kid. And trust me, they also want you to "adult".
Take risks in Jesus. Ask someone if they need prayer for anything. When they say yes, pray a simple, short prayer and ask Holy Spirit to touch them. Start a bible study. Invite friends over to worship around a camp fire. Offer to pay a single Mom's rent or groceries. Look for ways to love on people and when Holy Spirit opens the door to their heart, step through it in love. Ministry means loving on people and that takes on many forms.
It's time we stop doing Church and it's time we transition into being the Church. It's time to move out of your parents basement spiritually speaking, and be loving ministers of Jesus to those in your eco-system.
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