In the begining I never really set out to begin an “OIKOS Gathering” perse. Technically what has now become known as OIKOS Gatherings, at least in the Endeavor sense of the word, never even existed at the time – not in my mind or anywhere else for that matter. All I knew was that God, for whatever reason, swept me out of a sweet, cushy ministry position and I landed on Crystal Petal Dr. (Thus the “Crystal Petal Musings”). Perhaps it was in answer to someone else’s prayer that God would scatter laborers into the harvest field of southern Delaware Co. that I landed there. Whatever the reason that’s where I find myself these days.
While I was called and hired to “plant a church” in the area, I was equally and perhaps even more passionate about modeling Jesus and being the church to the people in the place where I live (more on that important tid bit in a future installment). To me that’s just how one goes about “planting a church”; Living life in such a way that hopefully people see something of Jesus in you and they in turn begin orienting their lives around the person and minsitry of Jesus and pay it forward and so on. So Terri and I began doing just that.
The housing development we live in is a brand new one. I think we were about the 10th or 20th house completed in the entire development – there are now well over 300 homes and counting within spitting distance of ours. Our initial strategy (if you want to call it that) was to walk through the development each evening with Jack on a leash and pause over each newly dug foundation and pray. We prayed about everything. We prayed that God would bless the families that would be moving into our neighborhood. We prayed that His presence would permeate each home and that the people moving into these homes would sense that presence and seek out a relationship with Him. We prayed that each of them would hear and believe the Word of God for what it really is and that God would draw them to Himself. We also prayed assuring God that we could be counted on as His ambassadors to this newly forming neighborhood (OIKOS). We did this sort of thing very often. Still do to this day.
The results of such praying has been simply amazing. I will gladly share all that God has been doing in my little slice of the world (OIKOS) in future installments. But for now I will say this. If we desire to see God work within our OIKOS (neighborhood, work place, playground, school, wherever your life intersects the lives of others on a regular basis) we need to get to the foundational matters of prayer. I’m learning that it is less about invoking God to do something in our neighborhood and more about discovering the work he is doing and partnering with Him in it. And here’s the thing, the more I walk, pray, and interact with the people of my community the clearer His involvement and my place in it becomes.
See other parts of “The Evolution of an OIKOS Gathering” by clicking on 1 2 3 4 5 6
