Yesterday, Christians around the world celebrated Easter Sunday,
the day commemorating the resurrection of Jesus after his crucifixion three days earlier on Good Friday. While Christmas gets more fanfare, most Christians acknowledge that Easter is more significant because it represents the decisive triumph of Life and Love over death, providing a hope that extends beyond the grave.
Within this great Christian hope, there is a resonance that bursts into our lives and our world before death as well. There is a process of death preceding new life that we experience more often than most of us realize. In fact, at Flourish our very work is predicated on the belief that the churches who are dying might actually be those who are closest to experiencing new life.
Just like that first Easter Sunday, these resurrection stories often come in unexpected ways:
Some churches might die entirely, creating wide-open possibilities for God to birth new life in their now-vacant buildings.
Other churches need to die to certain expectations — perhaps expectations for themselves, for their building, or for their illusion of control — in order that new opportunities might be birthed in their midst.
Either way, Flourish’s work is always founded on this hope. While the dying process can be quite painful (and the ensuing feelings of grief and confusion are perfectly natural), on the other side are even greater things: new expressions of life and vitality and hope that can only be experienced on the other side of these “deaths.”
New life is coming (in fact, it’s already here!),
