Hello, Imagine Church Family and Friends,
Have you ever heard the name of Roger Bannister? He was the first person to run a mile in under four minutes. People had been trying to accomplish that since the time of the ancient Greeks, and many people just assumed that it was impossible. But the interesting thing is this: in the year after Bannister accomplished his feat in 1954 and ran a four-minute mile, seven other runners did the same thing. The next year, over 300 runners did a mile in under four minutes. Today, it’s not uncommon for every single runner in a race to finish the distance in less than four minutes. Roger Bannister blazed the trail that many others would follow.
I would like to think that’s what we’re doing these days in Imagine Church, that we’re blazing the trail that other churches will follow. In a time of general decline among Protestant churches in what’s been described as the post-Christian era, Imagine Church has steadily grown and led more and more people into a life-changing relationship with Jesus Christ. When we say, “Imagine doing church differently,” we’re confirming that church is not about a structure. it’s not about a format. It’s not about a program. It’s about a mission: to lead people into a growing relationship with Jesus Christ, and having the courage to do whatever it takes to get there.
Back in late 2013 and early 2014, a group of people began meeting and dreaming about what “church” could be like. Imagine if it were all relevant. Imagine if there were a church to which you could invite your unchurched friends, and it would all make sense to them. Imagine if one’s junior high daughter and high school son wanted to go to church — imagine that. Imagine if our children couldn’t wait to be there. What would it be like if new folks could understand the messages? This group spent most of their time, over the course of an entire year, just dreaming what church could be like, if only, if only, if only, if only.
What Imagine Church has been doing across the last decade is raising the bar. We’ve chosen not to settle for the church to be less than we know God has called it to be. We’ve accepted the challenge of being as relevant as we can be, and of making Jesus real in the lives of men and women, young people, boys, and girls in this growing region around us.
When Jesus gathered a group of people together and spoke the following words he launched a movement — a movement that has not only survived but had thrived for over 2,000 years. And a handful of people took him seriously and figured out how to apply it to their culture. That’s what we’re doing as well, as we apply Jesus’ message to our culture today. Here’s what he said: “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. And because of that, I want you to go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you” (Matthew 28:16).
In that moment of time, a movement began, of which you and I are a part, today, here in this place. That little handful of people went out into their society and turned the world upside down. This coming Sunday, July 14, we take a big step in fulfilling that divine command as we transition into a new 24,400 square foot contemporary church facility on Highway 55 East. May God give us the grace and power to embrace this pursuit, and the courage to be the faith community that God has called us to be, and to become.
May we be found faithful, year after year after year,
Bruce Jones, Pastor
Imagine Church
