Moving fast but staying grounded

What do you do when it suddenly becomes possible for your mission church to hit its long-term goals in months rather than years? That’s the question we’ve been asking ourselves at Ascension! Our two long-term goals were: 1) to become a self-supporting home mission congregation (meaning we’ll still benefit from our mission board and mission counselor but won’t need a financial subsidy from WELS to meet our budget) AND 2) to help start at least one new mission church in eastern North Carolina. In three months, Ascension will officially become a self-supporting home mission, and it’s possible that not long after that, a new core group from Ascension will be applying for home mission status and funding for a new mission in Wilmington, N.C.

How did we get here so fast? God’s been blessing us in amazing ways. Almost every week we get connected with new people from our community who don’t have a church home and invite them to join us for life groups, worship, or weekly story time for families. People thank us for the invite, show up to check things out, and get more connected from then on. We’ve needed to do multiple Starting Point studies (think Bible information class) for all the people interested in learning more about the Bible. Our sanctuary has been fuller on Sundays, kids and their parents are baptized, and our offerings have increased. God has blessed Ascension here and now with opportunities to do what churches do.

At the same time, it became obvious that God was showing us that now is the right time to form a core group for a new mission about an hour away. Multiple families live closer to Wilmington than Jacksonville and have been driving an hour (or more) for years. The outreach mindset and culture at Ascension is exactly what our core group brings to the effort of starting a new church. And there is no WELS church anywhere close to serve a rapidly growing community with more than 100,000 people who need Jesus.

In the last month, we’ve assembled a new core group, met multiple times, gotten guidance from our district mission board, and started planning for summer outreach events and core group development. If God keeps giving us green lights, we’re going to move fast and apply for full mission status and funding as soon as possible.

So what do you do when things move faster than you expect? You hold on! Just like when you’re on a roller coaster. Just like when someone hits the gas and doesn’t warn you. Instinctively you hold on because when things move quickly you need something to ground you and make you know it’s okay.

What are we doing? Holding on to the message—the good news of Jesus for us sinners who desperately need him. We’re holding on to our identity in Christ as the most important thing about us. Not achieving long-term goals. Not in positive developments like having a newer building and a growing congregation. We hold on to what Jesus has done for us and define ourselves simply as forgiven and loved children of God.

What are we doing? We’re holding on to the mission God has given his church so we don’t get lost in details that don’t really matter. We work to do everything we can to keep each other connected to Jesus, to grow our faith through his means of grace, and to reach out into our community with the good news that can give them something to hold on to also.

With something to hold on to like that, moving fast is not just okay—it’s something we’re praising God for doing.

Written by Rev. Steven Saatkamp, home missionary at Ascension Lutheran Church in Jacksonville, N.C.