HopeGrid Blog

Engaging people, making friends, building relationships, new rhythms, new schools, lives transformed, pastoring a church, worship services, graphics, marketing, promotion, events, programs, and so much more.  These are just a few of the things that a pastor wrestles with as they engage the city that God has called them to spend the rest of their lives in and pastor His church. The pastor has no shortage of things to direct their attention to when dealing with the inner workings of a church, but too often the focus is not directed in the right place.

What is the first thing that comes to mind when you hear the word hospitality? For most people, images emerge of entertaining around meals or inviting friends into our homes for a night of fun and games. Now let’s be clear. There is nothing wrong with sharing a meal with friends and family. Genuine, biblical hospitality, however, is much more than entertaining.

One of the simplest ways to love a city is to serve its schools. Education, among other structures, is one of the main components on which a city thrives, creates culture and builds the wellbeing of the population. We are called to seek the welfare of a city (Jer. 29:7), and you can do no better than to invest your time and energy into a local school. The school that my wife and I serve needs a fair amount of help. We have been serving there for the last seven years. We enjoy serving there, because of the relationships we get to build with normal everyday people, and the opportunities we get to bless them.

At Fellowship Bible Church, we believe the primary organizing structure of the church is Missional Communities (MCs). This means that our ministry, care, outreach, leadership development and discipleship all happen at the MC level. If something competes with MCs we simply don’t do it.

“Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I have sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: Build houses and live in them; plant gardens and eat their produce. Take wives and have sons and daughters; take wives for your sons, and give your daughters in marriage, that they may bear sons and daughters; multiply there, and do not decrease. But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare.” – Jeremiah 29:4-7

One of the greatest things we can do is ask questions—asking questions is the simplest most effective ways of learning. Asking questions enables us to gain deep insight, develop more innovative solutions, and to arrive at better decision-making. Children learn by asking questions, students learn by asking questions, new recruits learn by asking questions, innovators understand client needs by asking questions. It’s been said that the world’s brightest thinkers and scientists never stop asking questions in their lifetime. For example, Eric Schmidt, CEO of Google, once said, “We run this company on questions, not answers.”