DECISIONS WE HAVE MADE

For the past several years a quiet revolution has been taking place as many of God’s people have moved from being merely superficially attached to the Vine (John 15) to abiding in Jesus and desperately seeking intimacy with the Father. Being unable to continue in the religious traditions of man we have joined together to walk as Revolutionaries and believe the following truly expresses what we are about.

1. We have decided to be Holy Spirit filled, Holy Spirit led, and Holy Spirit empowered - anything less doesn't work for us.

2. We have decided that living saved, but not supernatural is living below our privilege and short of what Christ died for.

3.  We have decided that reading the book of Acts without living the book of Acts is unthinkable.

4.  We have decided that confident faith is good but bold/courageous faith is better.

5. We have decided that hearing about the Holy Spirit without experiencing Him is silly, that believing in His presence without seeing It manifested in signs and wonders is hypocrisy, that believing in healing without seeing peopled healed is absurd, and that believing in deliverance without people being delivered is absolutely ridiculous.

6. We have decided that teaching the Gospel of The Kingdom without demonstrating it is not enough.  Good preaching, good doctrine, and being good people are not enough.

7.  We have decided that attending a good church "club" is not enough, and good fellowship is not enough.

8.  We have decided that having good Bible studies is good, but not good enough, that just making it to heaven is not our goal, and that knowing about God without truly knowing and experiencing God is meaningless. The answer is not to stop teaching but to start practicing.

9.  We have decided that having good programs is not enough; that change without transformation is intolerable, and that staying the same is not an option.  We are not opposed to structure but we are opposed to programs that replace a living vital relationship with Christ with a form of Godliness that denies His power.

10.  We have decided that gifting without character is futile.

11.  We have decided to emphasize a change of heart. We do not want people to comply in outwardly visible areas and yet ignore the often more important areas involving omission, selfishness, and materialism.

12.  We have decided that singing songs without worshipping is hollow and having meetings without God showing up is pointless.

13.  We have decided that having faith without works is dead faith and having works without love is legalism - that our function comes out of our relationship first with the Father and second with each other.

14.  We have decided to be the ones telling the stories of God's power - not the ones hearing about them.

15.  We have decided to value both pioneers and settlers - pioneers to expand our territory and settlers to build on those territories - but we are not squatters - people who take up space others have fought for without improving it.

16.  We have decided to be infectious instead of innocuous, contagious instead of quarantined, deadly instead of benign.

17.  We have decided to be radical lovers and outrageous givers.

18.  We have decided to bless the work of other believers and other expressions of the church in our community and to pray for their success.  We are not in competition with other believers and their success does not mean that our work is failing. 

19.  We have decided it is better to fail while reaching for the impossible that God has planned for us than succeed settling for less. We have decided that we will not be satisfied until the world cries out, "Those who have turned the world upside down have come here too."

20.  We have decided that the marketplace is a ministry calling and that wherever God has us vocationally, we will live out our faith and God given ministry.

21.  We have decided that we all have areas of influence and we will pray, evangelize, and disciple, with passion within our circles.  We will not depend on someone else or some program to do what God has given us the ability and authority to do.  We are all priests.

This Revolution is for all nations, tribes, and tongues, for those in any occupation or vocation.  No matter where you are in your life journey, there is room in this Community of Practice for you.

Adapted from "Decisions That Define Us © 2005 David B Crone"