An Abundant Ministry Part 4 – Preparations Are Made

An Abundant Ministry Part 4 – Preparations Are Made
“There were about five thousand men. And he said to his disciples, ‘Have them sit down in groups of about fifty each.’ And they did so, and had them all sit down.” –Luke 9:14-15

 Early this year, the Session at Christ Presbyterian Church announced the creation of a Building Fund for the purpose of adding on to our existing facilities. Four weeks ago, I began writing a series of articles to explain the rationale behind our need for expansion. We’ve been looking at CPC’s situation through the lens of Jesus’s Feeding of the 5000 – and we’ll continue along those lines today.

So far, we’ve seen the crowds gather as Jesus’s ministry grows and we’ve watched the disciples growing dismay at their inability to meet the needs of the crowds. Despite their dismay and lack of faith, Jesus commands the disciples to meet the needs of the crowds. Let’s pick up where we left off.

Jesus asks the disciples to take a step of faith. He says, “Have them (the crowds) sit down in groups of about fifty each.” It’s a simple enough command – until you think about it. Luke tells us that there were 5000 people there that day. So those twelve disciples had to go through a crowd of 5000 and organize them into 100 groups of 50. It wasn’t an easy task – and it took time. The people were hungry when the organizing started, so you can imagine they were very hungry by the time the organizing was done.

This organizing effort not only increased the peoples’ hunger with the passage of time – it also created an air of expectation. If the disciples were organizing them, surely the disciples meant to feed them. Yet all the while, the disciples have no idea how they’re going to feed these people. Jesus hasn’t told them. He’s asked them to step out in faith.

The creation of the Building Committee at CPC mirrors the organizing efforts of the disciples in Luke 9 in many ways. We know that God is sending people to CPC who are in need of Jesus. We know that God is calling us to minister to them. We know that we have run out of resources – space – to accomplish that ministry. What we don’t know is how God is going to use us to meet the needs of the people here in Daphne.

But just as the disciples took a step of faith in Luke 9 and began to organize – so we have taken a step of faith and have started to get organized. As the Building Committee has been meeting, the need at CPC has been growing – just as the hunger of the crowds grew on that day so long ago. As the expectation grew in Luke 9, so the expectations at CPC have been growing. In the next few weeks, you can expect a report from the Building Committee on our work along with the first step in the expansion of our facilities. We have taken that first step of faith, and now we believe it is time to take another.

Would you join me in praying for our organizing efforts and for the success of Phase 1 of this project?

Your Pastor and Friend,
John Knox Foster