At a recent church planters gathering, Alan and Deb Hirsch reminded us that when Christ became flesh, He wasn’t just “for, with, or in”the community. Jesus was literally of the community; completely and utterly a part of it.
Minds blown.
To us, the implications of this simple statement are staggering.
Jesus was born into a community. He was cared for as a vulnerable refugee newborn in a foreign land. He went through His terrible twos and His threenager phase amongst other local children. He played in the streets and in-between houses with his siblings. He probably went to a local “school.”He learned His earthly father’s trade. He was tempted to sin and was faced with countless adversities and trials; just like everyone else around Him. Eventually, Jesus grew into adulthood, marked as one from Nazareth, or a Nazarene. As such, He went in and around the neighborhoods and cities closest to His “front door,” painting a picture of a new Kingdom.
His Kingdom. His heavenly Neighborhood. In other words, by becoming “of” of our community, Jesus showed us what it meant to be “of “His community- the Kingdom of God.
Over the past five years, God has helped us to internalize the truth of being a part of His Kingdom, as we ministered to people in Lima, Peru. Yet, if we are completely transparent, in the beginning of 2014 God hit us with a humbling truth. Although ministry was fruitful, we were only “for, with and in”our community in Peru. We were not “of”the community—a difficult realization to process. Thankfully, in His loving-kindness, after years of sowing and harvesting “for, with and in”a community, He was bringing us to a place where we would be “of”a community.
That place has become San Bernardino, California.
For the first time since our wedding day ten years ago, we have been called to be “of”a city; and what a city it is. Booms, busts, and bankruptcy. Brokenness and brilliance. Celebrated diversity and devastating cultural clashes. Drugs and drunkenness masking the hearts of wandering pilgrims looking for hope and a home. Mourning and lost, but pregnant with God’s in-breaking Kingdom. Originally, in July of this year, we came here with the intention of planting a church. Strategically it made sense. You know, to minister to people. To do God’s work. To be for the people. To be with the people. To be in the community. Thankfully, in the gentle way of Jesus, we are finding that rather than having us simply plant a church, He is planting us. Where we want to be “for, with and in,”He is teaching us to be “of.”
We are starting all over again—new jobs, neighbors, friends, faces, living spaces, and daycare. In fact, it feels like we have been birthed and are being brought up in this community. Right now we are in the vulnerable newborn stage, fragile and tender. And frankly, that can create quite a tension, to be newborns as adults—to start all over again. Thankfully, it also means we have new eyes to see with. As adults, we see a broken ghost town with little light. Yet, with newborn eyes we see a land of opportunity and hope.
As adults, we see all the hurt and sorrow. Yet, with newborn eyes we see and feel the power of intentional comfort and love to heal our hurts and sorrows. As adults, we struggle to see how to raise a family in such a broken and devastated city. Yet, with newborn eyes we see that the land is simply being tilled rather than destroyed.
(In fact, He has already sown seeds, and the fields are ripe for the harvest.)
Now, as newborns of San Bernardino, we recognize that lamenting over our city is only part of the picture. We are not simply here to plant a church. We are here to see our city transformed into the image of Christ and His Kingdom, His heavenly Neighborhood. It will take a lifetime, and we are still only a couple of months old in our city. Thankfully, it isn’t just the Wissmann family that hungers to see our city transformed. Our teammates, and so many others “of the city,”stand alongside of us.
It is freeing to say that San Bernardino is not our ministry focus, or a place where we are planting a church. It is our home where we get to paint a picture of Christ’s Kingdom. It is a place where we have been called to make disciples, seeing our neighbors step into the eternal neighborhood of God. We count it an honor to see our neighbors here on earth become our neighbors for eternity!
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