Yesterday I posted Part 1 of “10 Reasons You Won’t Fit At New Passion Church.” Here are the final 5 reasons: NOTE: These are written to Christ Followers who claim Christ has transformed their lives, not people outside the faith. I don’t expect non-believers to act like Christians:
6. You Like to Sit – My friend & long lost brother Shane made this statement in a recent message, “The Gospel is lived out with your hands and feet, not your butt in a seat!” At NPC, we do not believe in sitting comfortable in a seat while the world passes us by. In James 1, we are told that true Religion is caring for the widow and the orphan. All throughout the New Testament, Jesus and the disciples went around doing good and caring for people’s needs; healing them, feeding them, and pointing their hearts towards Jesus. We are not looking just to fill seats, we are looking to give them up for those we are reaching. If you like to sit, or you’re looking for a seat with your name on it, New Passion Church is not for you.
**NOTE: This does not apply to those who are seeking Healing for a season from being wounded by the church, I’ll post about that next, thanks to my friend for pointing this out!**
7. You Think the Church is the Pastor – Oh, I’ve been here before. Some people may call me stupid…I grew up in a pastor’s home and then I became one, that may be considered institutional insanity! If you plan on getting mad if the pastor does not respond to your beckoning call, then you will be at the wrong place at NPC. The church is not centered or built on one earthly man, its built on Jesus Christ, and scripture makes it very clear that we, all believers, are the church. We’ve been designed with unique and specific gifts and those gifts are to be used to further the mission of Christ in the context of the church. Our goal is to help people realize that they are ministers of the Gospel as well. We believe a Community Group can care for the needs of an individual as much as the pastor can. If you have the mindset that the pastor is on your personal leash, you won’t fit here!
8. You Think the Church is a Building – I covered a lot of this in #7, we, the believers, are the church. Everything that happens within the building of the church should be happening outside the walls in your personal life and in the community. We were not called to serve people only within the confines of a building, rather we were called to Go. NPC, will put a lot of emphasis on going ‘Beyond Grovetown‘ to make an impact in people’s lives.
9. You Think New Passion Ends at New Passion – New Passion’s desire is to multiply and grow beyond our community of faith. The New Testament model of the church is to start new churches. There will come a day where NPC starts other campuses or assists other pastors start churches. We are open to using traditional church planting models, as well as a more modern approach of video campuses, and yes, even home church models. Although we do not want to get ahead of ourselves, there are already locations that God has placed in my heart that needs new churches, and one day, the Lord will use us to start them. As well, there are other men who God is raising up and calling out with a vision to start churches to share the Gospel with the World, and as much as we can, we want to be a part of supporting their efforts. If, you are not cool with that, you are not cool with us!
10. You’ve God it All Together – That mentality stinks! And if you have it, you definitely do not belong here! We strive to be authentic, and as we’ve said on our New Passion page…
There’s no masks required at New Passion. There are no guidelines to be loved and accepted, everyone is welcome as they are. You will not find people with perfect lives here, we are all striving to be spiritually mature Christ Followers. At New Passion if you find that perfect person, they must have gotten lost.
NOTE: #10 is one of the reasons, I will continue this post to share my heart on those who have been wounded by the church or wounded by a pastor, and who need a place to heal and to be restored so they can be effective for Jesus again. I know these posts have appeared to overlook this category of people, so look for my next post dealing with this issue!
I really believe there are Christ Followers in the CSRA who want Christ to use them to make an impact in this area for his Kingdom. I really believe there are a group of people who are prepared and ready to create an environment where those outside the Christian faith and those who need a change in their life can come and meet Jesus. However, I would be lying if I said any different, if you fit in any of the categories above, and you are not willing to change yourself, you will not fit at New Passion Church, and there are hundreds of other churches in our area where you may feel more comfortable.