Evolutions of a Blog

It’s been a year since my last post and in all truth I haven’t had the time or inclination to make a contribution to a blog which seems to have lost its identity and purpose.

This blog saw its greatest popularity during the year of its inception as the CLMs of West District Class of ’10 became engaged in trying to revitalize the Lott Church. It was a noble project but ultimately failed and this event cast a pall over the participating members of the class, as well as others.

Ultimately, our class graduated and we embarked into ministry. Two went on to become licensed local pastors and one left the United Methodist Church to develop a new church start in Caldwell. All these events contributed to a change of identity (and name) for the blog from “West District Class ‘10” to “Ramblings (and some rumblings) From Around The West District.”

Much of what has been posted here represents my own journey in small, rural church ministry in a declining mainline denomination. I tried to glean the full meaning from the events and the articles posted here and how they might speak to the effectiveness of my ministry. Ultimately, I’ve come to understand that my primary directive is still the same – go and make disciples - we now just have to accomplish this with fewer denominational resources, and that’s okay.

While we like to tout our “connectionalism” as a denomination we still have an individual responsibility to fulfill that directive – especially as resources diminish, leaving less and less to “connect to.” So, we can’t afford to sit around and wait for the cavalry to arrive and assist us in the building of the Kingdom here on earth, it’s up to us. The success of my former classmate’s new church start is a good indicator that God certainly doesn’t need denominations to make disciples, anyway.

May we each seek our Lord’s will through discernment and then pursue that which He wills with our lives through the ministry He has entrusted us with in this season.

- Shalom -