Throughout scripture one sees a tension: Christ gathers his church, then He sends them out. Sometimes I want to scream! Which is it? Are we to gather, or are we to spread out? Are we to gather now and focus on community and fellowship and nurture or are we to send forth and focus on mission, evangelism and outreach. This dynamic is called the ebb and flow of multiplication. Any church serious about the communion of the saints will be serious about gathering. Any church serious about the Great Commission will be serious about sending. And, we want to be serious about both. Anything less would be disobedient and less than Christian. So, that means sometimes we ebb and sometimes we flow.

About a year and a half ago we decided to do some major “flowing.” We sent out Redeemer City Church, Christ Church Opelousas, Christ Church Abbeville, and Christ Church University. Frankly, it didn’t seem as though God was offering us a choice in the matter. He was leading us to it. Now, some might say and have said that we have spread ourselves too thin. Others would say we took calculated risks in faith for the sake of Christ’s mission. Either way it looks the same on the outside: folks spreading out, spending effort, using resources, traveling without some of what we might have if we all stayed huddled in comfort. Whichever the narrative you adopt, the fact remains that if we are to multiply, if we are to be faithful to Christ’s Commission, sometimes we must ebb and at other times we must flow. Sometimes we gather. Sometimes we go.

Reload but Never Retreat!

Now, the biggest error one may make in all of this is to mistake a time of reloading for a time of retreating. In Christ, we never retreat. In Christ we take time to stockpile, store up reserves, gather the troops, make reinforcements and store up provisions. But, in Christ we never retreat. We never complacently settle into comfortable Christianity wherein all of our religious routines are satisfied and all of our middle class amenities are firmly ensconced. We only settle in for a winter so that in the spring we might be sent out again.

I say all this to set the stage for a little ebbing. The elders and the regular congregation of Christ Church University have decided to re-gather back with the congregation at Northside. Not to retreat or to get comfortable in our religious routines. Not on account of nostalgia or sentimentality but rather for mission. You see, another church that we have a close relationship with needs our university facility more than we do. They have asked to lease the facility and we have agreed. Moreover, we believe Northside and university will be stronger together than apart. Moreover, we believe this to be a more strategic posture to weather the economic downturn in Acadiana.

Its interesting. We most certainly believe God called us to launch University and we believe it is apparent that we must converge at this point. Maybe we read it wrong? Maybe we didn’t. One thing I do know is that if we hadn’t stepped out in faith to launch university we would not have had the opportunities to step out in Opelousas or Abbeville. I don’t know exactly what God is doing but, I sure have learned a lot and I sure have grown a lot. It was a great year.

This Sunday the 13th of December

What this means is that this Sunday the 13th of December, the university location will converge with the Northside. Some of the faces will be totally new because about 17 people were added this past year at University. Some of the faces you Northside folks will know well. So, be in prayer with me as we continue to press on in the mission that Christ has called us to. Making Disciple Makers in Acadiana!