Refocusing on Jesus and His Mission

Excerpt from Ed Stetzer post:  Kick-Starting the Plateaued and Declining Church:  Cultivating a Heart for the People and Place

In researching and writing Comeback Churches, we were encouraged to find that the leaders we surveyed rated spiritual factors very high. In fact, think about how profound and simple this is--the highest rated single factor overall was renewed belief in Jesus Christ and the mission of the church. When asked what spurred the revitalization process, comeback leaders said that it was refocusing on Jesus Christ and His mission for the church.

How do you refocus on Jesus? Fall in love with Him again (Rev. 1:4-7, 2:4-5). Basically, pursue the Great Commandment. What is His mission for the church that He purchased with His own blood? Make disciples of every tongue, tribe, nation, and people on the face of the earth to the glory of God the Father. Sorry, we're getting a little carried away here. Let's get refocused on the specific point.

How did Nehemiah end up back in Jerusalem leading a revitalization movement among God's people? It would be easy to think that Nehemiah was just focused on rebuilding a physical structure, the wall. While that was one of the tasks at hand, his real job was mobilizing a demoralized people. That's the only way the wall was going to get rebuilt.

So, how did he get there? It started with a simple question to one of his brothers and some men from Judah -- "I asked them concerning the Jews who had escaped and had survived the captivity, and about Jerusalem" (Neh. 1:2, NASB). Notice, his first real concern was the people, then he also asked about the city -- the people and the place. Too many pastors (and church planters too for that matter) want to pastor a different people and in a different place than the one God gives them. Love the people and the place God sends you.

Pay attention to the morale of the people and why they are where they are, and why they are the way they are. And, pay attention to the state of the community and its people. Ask questions and listen to people inside and outside of the congregation. Listen to the answer that Nehemiah gets to his question and his response:

They said to me, "The remnant there in the province who survived the captivity are in great distress and reproach, and the wall of Jerusalem is broken down and its gates are burned with fire." When I heard these words, I sat down and wept and mourned for days; and I was fasting and praying before the God of heaven. I said, "I beseech You, O LORD God of heaven . . . I am praying before You now, day and night, on behalf of the sons of Israel Your servants, confessing the sins of the sons of Israel which we have sinned against You. . ." (Neh. 1:3-6, NASB)

Through passionate and intentional prayer, Nehemiah cultivated a heart for the people and the place that God was preparing to send him.