My family had the privilege of a late summer getaway to the beaches of Lake Michigan. In mid-August, we escaped for a few days to a Holiday Inn in St. Joseph, MI and, of course, my younger sons wanted to spend some time in the pool. One evening, a late day sugar rush had them wrestling in the pool and splashing water all over the tiny indoor room’s windows. I pointed out their mess and tried to settle them down, only to hear the rationale, “Dad, don’t worry. They have people to clean that up.” When they scrambled out of the pool, grabbing towels from the rack, one towel dropped on the wet pavement, but it didn’t seem to bother them. I heard one of them say, “Don’t bother with it. Just take another.” As I sat there watching their actions, I turned my head and saw a hotel worker through an opened utility door carefully doing laundry. I was instantly reminded that it's quite a different experience staying in a hotel than it is working in one.
My mind went to the church. There’s such a variety of people in the body of Christ from so many different backgrounds and life stages. Some folks are brand new to faith and some have been following Jesus for decades. Some have just jumped into the baptistery, splashing around in exuberant joy, and some have been doing the hard work of ministry behind the scenes for years. The thought struck me in that hotel: Maturity is to do the laundry and contribute to the hotel’s mission. Immaturity is to lounge by the pool, complaining that there aren't enough towels to your liking.
We are so excited to begin a new series this Sunday entitled “From Here to Maturity.” Over the next 5 weeks, we want to talk about the topic of spiritual maturity with an image of four chairs to help guide our way through the calls of Jesus to his disciples. In large part, we are indebted to Dann Spader’s book 4 Chair Discipling and his Live 2:6 training for the content of this series. Several of our staff members have been trained in this disciple-making curriculum and we’re excited to share it with you.
Never has there been a time in our community and world in which deeply mature disciples of Jesus are needed in his kingdom mission. I believe South Side is poised to be a church full of such disciples! I can’t wait to challenge us all to live as Jesus lived in deep maturity. Join us this Sunday as we get started!
