A Bright Future?
Since it starts tomorrow, I’ve been thinking about 2009 and what lies ahead for the Luminus Network. I’ve been reflecting a bit on the purpose of Luminus and trying to figure out if we are headed toward our mission:
To be a network of young adults joining together to seek, know and represent the living God in the real world. Our desire is to live out the teachings of Jesus as a seamless lifestyle that authentically expresses our gratitude for His love and to shine God’s beauty, truth and love wherever we are.
Over the last 3 years, we’ve made some progress toward that mission and yet it still feels like we’re wrestling with how to juggle the realities of our everyday lives with a mission that is so Kingdom focused. We’ve felt the ebb and flow of excitement & ambivalence, energy & lethargy, and engagement & disconnection. Sometimes it seems like such a mission is the most natural thing in the world. Other times it feels like trying to roll a giant, lop-sided boulder up a mountainside.
On the Luminus website we’ve made this statement:
In a world where being a Christian has been reduced to simply attending a church service, Luminus encourages the expression of Christianity as a 24/7/360 lifestyle, mobilizing people to actively serve our world and challenging young adults to take the lead in the bringing the Church back to life.
Luminus was born out of the idea that young adults were burning for this: to embrace our faith beyond a couple hours per week…to band together to encourage each other to love our world back to Jesus…to grasp and own this corner of the Kingdom as if God was counting on us to do His work…to become initiators and leaders in God’s movement, proving to previous generations that ours is a generation of doers not just talkers.
In all honesty, I can say that I have sensed that burning at times, but it has been in small, isolated flare-ups like green twigs that quickly smolder and cool. We have not witnessed the bonfire of conviction and passion and motivation that many prayers have been whispered for. Those prayers and hopes continue…
2009 will be a defining season for Luminus and for young adults in the Ashland area. From the very start, my vision has been that Luminus would become self-sustaining and self-led by young adults so that it would always reflect your unique calling, culture and conviction. I have also vowed not to be the creepy old guy who doesn’t know when to pack it in and move on. 2009 will most likely be the year wherein either a few fired-up young adults will take the reins and rally the troops toward our mission or Luminus will fade into oblivion as another nice attempt to do a good thing.
I pray that this vision for Luminus, which I believe the Lord gave to me as a trust, will become yours this year. I pray that young adults of this area will see beyond the boundaries of organizations and preferences to unify and take up the noble cause of renewal. I pray that you will shake off the fog of jadedness, skepticism and indifference and plunge into the cold waters of divine purpose. I pray that you will begin to see the world that Jesus died to restore and boldly touch everything in your path that it might come to life. I pray that you will receive the mantel of leadership that gives confidence and permission to risk. I pray that you will depend on each other and challenge each other and support each other as one Body, surrendered to the one God. Amen.
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