Why I’m excited about this upcoming series: Sent and Sending
Over the next four weeks at Port City, we’re going to have a conversation I’ve been looking forward to for a while. We’re calling the series Sent & Sending, and at its heart is a simple statement Jesus made after his resurrection: “As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.” (John 20:21)
Jesus was sent, so we are sent.
That has always been part of the DNA of Port City. We exist to help others encounter Jesus and follow his way. We want to pursue the one, live with active faith, engage in the mission, and teach the gospel clearly. We don’t want to simply be a church people attend. We want to be a people who are being changed by Jesus and sent by Jesus into our neighbourhoods, workplaces, schools, city, and world. The gospel came to us because it is on its way to someone else.
Our upcoming Downtown location gives us an exciting opportunity to live this out, but this series is about something much bigger than launching another gathering. It’s about asking what kind of people we want to be.
Over these four weeks, we’re going to wrestle with four questions:
Who are we? We are a sent people.
How do we live that way? With active faith, refusing to bury what God has entrusted to us.
What does it take? Spirit-empowered courage to obey God even when we don’t know the outcome.
What’s my part? Every follower of Jesus has one.
That last question may be the most important.
For some, your part may be helping us establish a gospel presence Downtown. For others, it may mean stepping into a gap created by those who go. It might mean serving, giving, leading, praying, opening your home, inviting a neighbour, or finally taking a step you’ve sensed God asking you to take for a while.
The answer won’t look the same for everyone. But I’m convinced the question isn’t if God wants to use your life for his mission. It’s how. I’m excited about these four weeks because I don’t want us to settle for safe Christianity. I don’t want Port City to become a place where a few people carry the mission while everyone else watches. And I certainly don’t want us to serve, give, or go because somebody guilted us into it.
I want us to rediscover the joy and privilege of saying yes to Jesus. There is an incredible adventure in putting what God has given you back into his hands and saying, “Here I am. Use me.”
So come ready. Commit to being there each of the next four weeks. Bring your Bible. Bring an open heart. And maybe begin praying one simple prayer before we even start: Jesus, what’s my part?
I can’t wait to see how he answers.
Pastor Jeremy
