The Lord had said to Abram, “Leave your country, your people, and your father’s household and go 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.”- Genesis 12: 1-2
In his comments on this passage, Ron Carpenter Jr. notes that God told Abram what he would have to leave behind before God told Abram what he would give him. Abram had to leave what was limiting him to fulfill God’s purpose in his life. As Pastor Ron puts it, “God rarely shows you there until you leave here.”
Our ministry downsizing or position loss is the here we have left. We need to be open to the there, whether that is a continuation of our current ministry in a different congregation or a total revisioning of our ministry. Pastor Carpenter adds that while our natural, human inclination is to move from the known to the known, God may choose to handle the situation differently:
“We want to step out of solid ground onto solid ground, but God doesn’t do that. God makes you step out of something that’s on a stable foundation and then makes you walk out the next season of your life on words- His promises.”
