During these past weeks, I have been thinking about the twelve disciples and
their journey. I have been trying to imagine how they might have felt when Jesus asked them to leave everything behind (family, possessions, comfort, the known, etc.) to follow Him. What a scary time that must have been and yet how faithful those disciples were to follow him having no idea what this new life might be like. I can’t imagine that the decision to leave all behind was an easy decision. Yet, it was the decision their faith called them to make. They stepped out in faith.
Walking along the beach of Lake Galilee, Jesus saw two brothers: Simon (later called Peter) and Andrew. They were fishing, throwing their nets into the lake. It was their regular work. Jesus said to them, “Come with me. I’ll make a new kind of fisherman out of you. I’ll show you how to catch men and women instead of perch and bass.” They didn’t ask questions, but simply dropped their nets and followed. Matthew 4:19-20 (MSG)
Can you imagine how these disciples must have felt? Can you imagine the sacrifice it must have taken for them to drop everything (homes, family, friends, jobs, possessions) and follow Jesus? As followers of Jesus, we are not always called to take the easiest path or the path of least resistance. Instead, we are called to be faithful – to leave all behind, if so called – and follow Jesus. We as the Susquehanna Conference along with our brothers and sisters in Christ in other conferences and other denominations are in the same sort of season. What we have known, what we have always done, and what feels comfortable may need to be left behind to follow Jesus. And Jesus charged us with the Great Commission:
Jesus, undeterred, went right ahead and gave his charge: “God authorized and commanded me to commission you: Go out and train everyone you meet, far and near, in this way of life, marking them by baptism in the threefold name: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Then instruct them in the practice of all I have commanded you. I’ll be with you as you do this, day after day after day, right up to the end of the age.” Matthew 28:18-20 (MSG)
As leaders of faith communities, we find ourselves in what might feel like the wilderness. A time where we are all working really, really hard, but fruitful ministry is much more difficult than ever before to produce and harvest. We are in a time where our tried and true practices are no longer working. We find ourselves in a time where we are called upon to be creative, innovative, and drop all we have known to follow Jesus. We find ourselves in a situation much like the disciples of sacrificing for the sake of following Jesus. We find ourselves in a time that the really tough decisions are not necessarily popular decisions, but yet they are discerned as the faithful decisions that allow us to follow Jesus.
We are walking through a season of transition particularly in the Harrisburg area. With the reality of the population of approximately 50,000 people, our United Methodist presence has dwindled to reaching less than one percent (many who do not live or do life in the city or the immediate surrounding area), we knew we must recommit ourselves to the great people of the area and our hearts must once again break for those who have yet to know Jesus. Through an initiative called IMPACT! Harrisburg (https://tinyurl.com/ycduea5d), ten church teams along with a resource team have gone through a season of prayer, city-wide worship, assessments, and discernment resulting in a new vision for Harrisburg and the surrounding areas for “a dynamic city-wide movement to be a multi-site diverse community of believers who meet the physical and spiritual needs of our neighbors, invest in the lives of our neighbors, and offer hope to our neighbors.”
In order for this new vision to be realized, we find ourselves facing a difficult decision for the need to consolidate resources in order to expand our witness. We realize consolidating resources is a very painful process for those committed 359 people who have served the churches for the past few decades. We mourn with the people who now worship in these ten buildings. We continue to pray for the 359 souls who are being asked to consider giving up all they have known to follow Jesus in a new way. Difficult decisions are not always popular. Yet, as leaders of faith communities, the resource team is committed to the vision that they have discerned is God’s preferred future for the area that will result in a movement with a God-sized impact.
We ask for prayers for the people in these ten churches, the journey before us, the new leadership who will be called to live into this vision, and for the people in the area who have yet to know Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior.
