It’s not the way it used to be…because it’s about to get better

By Anne Bosarge

Do you remember how it used to be? Do you remember times in the life of your church when you opened the doors and people would flood through? Do you remember when everyone in your circle of friends went to church multiple times a week? Do you remember when church attendance was the priority in a family’s life?  I think we can all agree: it’s not what it used to be. Things sure have changed.  
 
But what I’ve discovered is that God does His best work on the heels of big sweeping change. When the soil of our souls is already uprooted and loose, this is often the best time for God to do His deepest work. It’s time to uproot old mindsets and thought patterns that stopped being effective a long time ago and begin to adapt new ways of thinking that encourage kingdom growth and missional movement.  
 
Twenty churches in South Georgia are pressing in to just such a process. The Reset Cohort began in September and will continue through March of 2023. In this 7-month experience, we will be learning what it means to reset our churches, not back to the ministries and programs we had before the pandemic, but back to the way Jesus intended for the church to function: to be disciples making disciples. We are doing the hard work of evaluating mindsets and confronting the ways we have elevated the method over the mission. We’re remembering how individually we have been called and equipped to be on mission in the world and confessing our forgetfulness of our mission. And in this next season, we will begin to rediscover what it means to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world. 
 
My hope is that our churches will come out of this healthier, refocused, and more kingdom- minded. I pray we will see a revival within these twenty churches that will reach out into our communities and make a kingdom difference as we align our focus around building discipling relationships. It’s not the way it used to be because God’s about to do something better. Join us in watching to see what God will do! 

Anne Bosarge serves as the Director of Leadership Strategies and Local Church Resources. Email her at abosarge@sgaumc.com.