"See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland."
Isaiah 43:19

This past Sunday, Pastor John-Mark spoke about our journey of transition as a congregation. Transition periods are times of change in which old patterns and systems are “unfrozen” and allow for reflection and evaluation. What are we doing and why are we doing it? The opportunity in transition is to think in new and creative ways about how we go deeper into the Kingdom life of Jesus.

“Elevator pitches” are condensed statements of purpose and mission often used in the business world. If you only have 30 seconds to describe your company or organization, what would you say? Here’s Pastor John-Mark’s best take on an elevator pitch for transition in a congregation:

Radical, discontinuous change is a constant reality in our 21st Century culture in North America. The Church is not immune to the rapid pace of cultural change all around us-- like God’s people in exile in the Old Testament, we are living in a time when our structures and patterns of worship have been disrupted. And like those exiles, we are in need of prophetic imagination to be able to learn how to “sing the Lord’s song in a strange land” (Psalm 137:4). Prophetic imagination is an openness to the Spirit-inspired possibilities of the future. We don’t forget our past history with God, but we turn hindsight into foresight. We carry "Joseph’s bones" into the wilderness where God is leading. Transitions open up space for new ways for the Church to live out God’s Kingdom values, to speak the languages of our neighbours, to see the new thing that God is doing (Isaiah 43:19).

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