Dr. Bill Easum is a consultant who tells about a church that called him once and said, “Dr. Easum, we’re having some trouble, we need help in our church; would you please come and evaluate what we’re doing, and give us some ideas? We want you to coach us and get our church back on track.”
So, Dr. Easum visited that church, attended worship, walked the halls, met the
leaders, looked at how they did ministry, to get the big picture of what that church was about. He then sat down with the church leaders and they said, “Dr. Easum, what is your recommendation?”
He looked them in the eye and said, “I think what you ought to do is to put a fence around it, and charge admission — so that people could come and see how church was done in the 1950s.” I once heard Dr. James Howell say, “If the 1950s ever come back, a lot of churches are going to be ready!”
From our first series of dream meetings, Imagine Church has asked how can we organize, and budget, and place ourselves strategically in such a way that we actually do the thing that God has established the church to do? Because 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.
The whole Christian movement started when a solitary man with a small band of followers said, “I want you to go and make disciples of all nations. And to the degree that you stay focused on the main thing, I’m going to bless it, and you will multiply.” And a handful of people took him seriously — and figured out how to apply it to their culture. Just as we’re trying to figure out how to apply it to our culture today.
At Imagine Church, we’re going to continue to do everything we can to persuade you, and to persuade people, that Jesus Christ is who He claimed to be, and that He would love to have a relationship with you. So, here’s what it comes down to: we’re not asking you for your money; we’re not asking you to join anything; we want to introduce you to someone. And we believe that once we have made that introduction, He will take it from there, and your life will never be the same. And perhaps one day, you may share with us your story, and when you do, we will cheer — because God’s grace in your life is a reminder of His grace in each of ours.
