Lost in Translation

I started reading David Brainerd´s diary this week, which is included in the works of Jonathan Edwards. I was struck by his constant desire to be closer to the Lord. He definitely wasn´t perfect, as he speaks of constant bouts of discouragement and melancholy. The interesting thing was to think of how I´ve felt similarly many times, wondering what I´m doing in the ministry, and then coming back to the truth that it´s not about us. It´s about our Savior. The gospel message keeps us humbled and dependent on Christ.

On a related note, I started The Way to Joy discipleship material with one of my disciples, and I think that it´s helping me to expand my understanding of the gospel. Sometimes we think that the gospel is a series of three facts (death, burial and resurrection of Christ), which it is, but it´s more. Because the whole message of the Bible points towards Christ, and without that context a person won´t understand the gospel.

José and I have been talking about where our church members are at spiritually. We came up with a list of ministry competencies (what we want each disciple to understand and do), and now we´re developing a questionaire to evaluate where they´re at. It´s a little scary to begin thinking about this. For example, how many of our members shared the gospel with someone this week? Or, how many have a consistent devotional time each day? How many are giving faithfully on a regular basis? I think that simply asking the questions is going to help us as a church.