The Struggle of Motive

Hey what's up, I'm Jeffrey. I'm a "church planter" (though I abhor that term) in Mt. Juliet, TN--just east of Nashville. Seemingly built into this adventure of being formed by God into a community of faith, however, are many dangers such as relying on "misplaced dependencies" (to quote a couple of friends), using alterior motives, falling prey to control issues, etc, etc, etc. The struggle that we've most recently been involved in is that of our motives.

Here are some questions that are bouncing around in our heads and in our conversations lately. Why is it important to invite people to be a part of this community of faith identified as "the Gathering"? When we do invite people to hang out and join with us, is it because we truly care about journeying with them as God brings about spiritual formation in all of our lives, or is it because we just 'want more people' to be a part of "the Gathering"? If the answer is the latter, then why? What is the obsession that "churches" have with the number of people they claim as their "members"? And truly, what do "numbers" represent or prove that is of worth or value???

Many more thoughts in that line of questioning have and are sure to arise still, but that is the basic trajectory that they have set out on. I sincerely hope that as God moves us to invite people to journey with us as "the Gathering", that we will do so because we genuinely believe that living in connectedness with other follower of Jesus is an important (but still merely one) facet of spiritual growth and formation; and that perhaps a community of faith will be able to more greatly impact and befriend the communities in which we live our daily lives. I do so dearly hope that this is our motivation, not that we are subconsciously obsessed with building yet another structure, another organization, or another kingdom of our own...

Just a little afterthought: This post wasn't meant to imply or hint at anything specific. It wasn't meant to say we have it right and mega-churches have it wrong. It was simply meant to be an open and authentic musing of "the struggle we find ourselves in"...