My Dream for the Church

In our My Dream series next up is David Gardner.  We pray these post from ministers 30 years old and younger are providing you hope and inspiration!

My dream for the church is members who increase in knowledge and understanding.  My dream is for elders and preachers who don’t burn out, members who don’t spin out and visitors on a Sunday morning who don’t run out.  It is for honest hearts coming from humble places to take to gospel to unfamiliar faces.

It is to see forgiveness, love, reconciliation, joy, and healing.  It is to see Christ permeating through the hearts of like minded and eagerly hopeful Christians.  It is to eliminate divorce, make peace between unforgiving souls, and commune with hopefully expectant souls.  My dream is to sit across the lunch table from people sharing their stories of victory over pornography, alcohol, self righteousness, and apathy.

It is to hear of evangelistic zeal at every corner, of bible classes that are filled with overly prepared teachers and students whose eyes light up at the telling of moving Bible accounts.  My dream is to witness new births more frequently and hear of church splits less regularly.  It is to one day sit at the feet of a teacher who I saw immersed into Christ and witnessed years of positive spiritual formation.

My dream is really not my dream—it’s getting to participate in God’s dream.  It began in the beginning, and wove its way through a great cloud of witnesses:  Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, Hannah, Samuel, David, John the Baptist--and others, who through faith, conquered armies, were made strong out of weakness, overcame adversity, and put spiritual forces of evil to flight--to not only hear of these men and women, but to take their stories and make them our stories.

My dream is to strengthen my knees behind the pulpit and have the guts to do my part.  To return curses with blessings, threatening with trust in God, and abuse with service.  My dream is to preach confidently regardless of the tension, conflict, and heartaches I have sat through the week before. My dream is to be engaged with my audience, faithful to the word, and humble in my presentation.  My dream is to do my part by fulfilling my ministry, filling the void of empty hearts, and letting God receive all the glory.

My dream is to get out of the way and let God watch his dream unfold in a chaotic world for his dominion and glory.  It is to see redemption and renewed confidences, and souls grasping so tightly to their hope that nothing in all of creation would cause them to lose it. My dream is to see the church brought up to heaven one day, and to grab the arm of Jesus and thank him for letting me participate in his dream.