It’s half term this week and I took the opportunity to go away for a few days. One of those days, I was sitting in a coffee shop and I just started thinking about how we should be in attack mode as believers and churches, but often end up being defensive. As I thought about it, 10 points of difference sprang to mind and I wrote them down.
The defensive position is described first as ‘a)’ and how I think we should be is described second as ‘b)’ Hope that’s clear and hope it stimulates your thinking. Here we go…….
- 1a) Defensive – Church is a huddle, sometimes hard to penetrate, carries a sense of isolation from the world outside.
- 1b) Offensive – We are relaxed, open, not afraid of the world outside.
- 2a) Expecting attack. Either individuals expect attack from satan if they push out, or that is the unspoken ethos of people collectively.
- 2b) Expecting to attack. Who dares, wins. We were born into a fight so let’s have one – and win because we were born into the winning side.
- 3a) We just get on with life as best we can.
- 3b) Life is just a backdrop for what we are called to do.
- 4a) Big devil, little God.
- 4b) BIG GOD, little devil.
- 5a) Hoping Jesus will come back and rescue us soon.
- 5b) We’re not looking for an escape. We have a mission, a Harvest to bring in. We don’t need delivering from this world; we want to get out there and see the world delivered.
- 6a) Our focus is on getting through.
- 6b) our focus is on getting victories.
- 7a) God’s provision is to help us.
- 7b) God’s provision is to help us win.
- 8a) We hope to get through our circumstances.
- 8b) Circumstances? Pah!
- 9a) We play it safe, we are risk averse.
- 9b) We love adventure. Risk comes with the territory.
- 10a) If we end up in choppy waters we feel insecure.
- 10b) No matter what is going on we are utterly secure, because we know our God and our calling.
Church is out there 