Two years ago, I was privileged to be invited to serve as a pastor of a local church. In my relatively new capacity, I am always faced with the question of connections, networks, and partnerships (especially with the West) to such a degree that I thought for a brief moment that this must be the default setting of the 21st century pastor. I felt also that unless I intentionally increase my personal connections, raise funds, and partner with western churches and organizations, the church I serve will be less active and slow to grow.
No doubt much around us is undergoing a peculiar, if not painful, process of restructuring due to many local and global variables. This is also true for the Church that is experiencing different forms of change, one of which I will reflect on in this blog post. For the last decade, the re-modeling of churches into business-like enterprises in terms of leadership, structure, funding, and programs has become prevalent. In this reflection, I will share with you what I am learning in my journey as I look at Jesus, the early church, and the apostle Paul in their mission to preach the gospel, aiming particularly at the approach they took.