Grace and Truth

I am blessed to be a pastor. I say that after several months of intense reflection on my own pastoral vocation in preparation for bidding farewell to First Mennonite Church, Newton, Kan., after 15 years. What is the significance of over 5,000 pastoral visits, 500 sermons, 223 funerals, 217 new members and three major future initiatives? My farewell Sunday was a day of remembering and celebrating God’s graciousness in this assignment.

I am blessed with a good news message and abundant opportunities to proclaim it. God has come to us in Jesus Christ. We are not abandoned to hopeless loneliness, desperate addiction or crushing guilt. Satan threw at Jesus all the temptations of money, sex and power, and Jesus resisted and remained faithful to God. The oppressive religious, economic and political powers of Jesus’ day conspired to get rid of this truth-speaker, body-healer, spirit-restorer.

And they did. They murdered him on a cross, and it seemed the world was sinking into darkness. But God broke the power of evil and death and raised Jesus Christ to life. And if you believe that God raised him from the dead and confess that Jesus is now the living, ruling Lord of the universe, you will be saved (Romans 10:9). That’s the good news message. I am blessed with that message as a pastor, and we are blessed with that good news as the body of Christ.

I am blessed to be a leader in the church. The social entity God created to bring this saving and redeeming message to Earth is the church. Ephesians 1 says, “Christ rules the church. The church, you see, is not peripheral to the world; the world is peripheral to the church. The church is Christ’s body, in which he speaks and acts, by which he fills everything with his presence” (The Message).

God’s saving message and Christ’s effectual lordship comes through the church. Government can’t save us from the darkness; education can’t save us; medical care can’t save us; the military can’t save us. God’s saving work comes through the church. What an incredible privilege to serve the church! What a privilege to embody the life-giving, soul-transforming message! What a privilege to be a pastor of good news people!

I am blessed to be at the center of God’s redeeming, reconciling and restoring mission in the world. Lost people matter to God, and they ought to matter to us. The resurrected Lord Jesus gave us this mission assignment: “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you” (Matthew 28:19-20).

People need to know this Jesus

• so they can have hope,
• so they can have purpose,
• so they can have an eternal future.

Bringing people to a saving relationship with Jesus Christ is always the leading edge of God’s mission in the world. It is not all of God’s mission, but God’s mission is never less than inviting people to commit to and become followers of Jesus. As a pastor, I am often blessed to be the “doctor” in attendance at the miracle of spiritual birth.

Where else would I want to pour out my life? I am blessed with a good news message embodied by a good news people. I am blessed with a personal yet encompassing mission of participating in God’s global reclamation project.

I salute all my companion pastors. And I thank First Mennonite for the privilege of serving there. Thanks for blessing me with your support, your love, your prayers and your lives.

Clarence Rempel was pastor of First Mennonite Church in Newton, Kan., and now is associate conference minister for Western District Conference.