If we are following Jesus rather than cloning other Christians, this may take some churches and Christians in directions that look nothing like church.

If so, who are we to object?

There must be one focus, and one focus only: following Jesus in expanding the Kingdom of God in any and every direction, no matter where Jesus leads, and no matter how the mission looks.

Though the following quite from Jacques Ellul is quite long, it is also quote appropriate. Here is what he says about the formation of the church:

[Christianity] cannot be organized. We can have neither stability, routine, collective permanence, association, nor group cohesion if we want to live by revelation, if we put [Christianity] at the center as the sole truth. It cannot be lived out socially.

When we are told that the Holy Spirit constituted the church at Pentecost, we like that. But when we learn that the Holy Spirit is like the wind that blows when and where it will and we do not know where it comes from or where it is going, we do not like it. The church may say that it has the Holy Spirit, but if it does it betrays the truth and its legitimacy.

When we are told that the church consists of those whom God calls, we applaud, but who are they? Who can trace the boundaries? We must say that the church has a center, Jesus Christ, but it has no circumference. We can give assurance to none and exclude none. We may believe that we have found a solution in baptism. Church members get baptized, and the baptized are the church. Well and good. But unfortunately the New Testament clearly distinguishes between the baptism of water and the baptism of the Spirit. The two do not coincide (except when the church falsely declares that they do!). We are thus back at the same difficulty.

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When seeking to follow Jesus into the world, we must also seek the wise counsel of other Christians.

When facing decisions about where to serve and how to follow Jesus, we must seek the input of others who are also following Jesus and who also seek to love and serve those whom others reject.

I am not going to say much about how to do this since there are so many helpful books and Bible studies on the topic already.

But let me provide a warning.

As we seek to gain the wise counsel and guidance from other Christians, we must be on guard against copying other Christians.

It sometimes seems that Christians and churches spend more time and energy following certain church leaders and churches than they do in actually following Jesus. While Jesus will lead many of us down similar roads, He will also lead different people and different church down completely unique and diverse roads that have never before been travelled.

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Prayer is a traditional form of guidance for Christians seeking to follow Jesus into the world.

Prayer is vitally important as one of the primary ways we communicate with God.

But we must recognize that prayer is not only how God listens to us, but also how we learn to listen to our own hearts.

It is through prayer that we often learn what God wants us to do, where God wants us to serve, and whom God wants us to love.

We learn such things, not just so we can pray about them, but so that we can open our eyes, unfold our hands, get up off our knees, and go out and love and serve those people whom we have prayed about.

Listening to Your Prayers

If you find yourself praying intently for your neighbor who just lost his wife, when you are done praying, go over to him with a plate of cookies and spend some time talking with him.

If you find yourself praying that there would be fewer abortions in this country, when you are done praying, go get involved with a ministry which seeks to love and serve single mothers, or go volunteer at a crisis pregnancy center.

If you find yourself praying for our troops overseas, when you are done praying, find out how to send them care packages.

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