by Galen Burkholder, International Director of Global Disciples
I love this time of year. New life is bursting forth everywhere. Springtime in Pennsylvania brings a brilliant array of colors as the flowers blossom, trees shoot out new growth, and the grass turns green.
We know that all this new growth will create more work, but we still celebrate and
enjoy springtime.
Springtime draws us to worship our Creator. And so has the prolonged springtime
which Global Disciples is experiencing. New growth seems to be shooting out everywhere. We celebrate and enjoy it, even though it brings more work.
The work of this season for Global Disciples includes pruning some of the leafy growth to bear even more, healthier fruit. Our recently sharpened mission statement has provided the focus and courage to prune harder in some areas.
At the same time, we are taking bold new steps to better resource the hundreds of clusters of churches around the world we are privileged to serve. It’s not about our convenience, but loving and serving others more fully in the way of Jesus.
Our new Multiplying Churches Strategy provides a seamless pattern of serving churches focused on multiplying Christ-like disciples who are equipped with a business and prepared to plant/lead locally sustainable, reproducing fellowships of believers in least-reached parts of the world.
As we grow, we’re realizing more and more that it’s not about our convenience, safety or comfort, but about laying down our lives for our friends—and for those who consider us their enemies.
Springtime is great. But the true test of healthy growth—individually and organizationally—is whether we are just as passionate for Jesus and focused on serving others in the stifling heat of the summer, in the intensity of the harvest, and in the dead of winter.
I enjoy springtime, but my heart is for the harvest. Today as Global Disciples we’re experiencing both.
