The Lord had said to Abram, “Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you.

“I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you;
I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing.
I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse;
and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.”

In Genesis 12, God has called Abram to follow Him and promises to be faithful…yet does not tell Abram where he is going! Have the past months of life and ministry left you feeling like Abram? Like you’ve been plunging headlong into the unknown? The exhaustion, disappointment, loss, and stress is overwhelming. Church is not the same as it used to be. Your community is not the same as it used to be. You’re not the same as you used to be. Yet God is calling. He continues to lead us to places only He knows. He continues to bless us to be a blessing. He continues to inspire us to flourish.

One of the measures of a flourishing ECO church is that it normalizes risk taking. Every single one of our congregations, big or small, rural or urban, thriving or struggling, has been taking countless risks as we have navigated more fast paced change than we ever imagined possible. We are weary, but we continue to seek out and trust opportunities that cause us to rely on the Lord. We continue to experiment and try new things (even when we fail). We do whatever it takes to see God’s Kingdom come in our context, and in our world.

Through it all, we know our loving God is calling us to take one flourishing step at a time…into the unknown.