I dream of, a church where every person is embraced and welcomed regardless of social standing, regardless of skin color, nationality, education, economic status. I dream of a church of no favoritism, where people are free to belong.
I dream of a church where young people take their rightful place, not sidelined in some back room doing their own thing, but a church where the generational gap is bridged and people of all ages are able to engage outside of their age envelope in meaningful ways.
I dream of community reflecting the heart of the Father, where whole relationships bringing healing to the isolated and lonely.
I dream of a church passionate about humanity, passionate about what it means to be human, standing against the dehumanizing forces of modern culture, standing against survival of the fittest as a social theory.
I dream about a priesthood actively engaged in all that God has called them to. I dream of no fringe, no hangers on, none that are just coming along for the ride.
I dream of a people engaged in the gospel, engaged in transformation, touching the city and nations, one person at a time.
I dream of the risk takers, those ready to step out into the unknown territory of the new things God stirs in their hearts.
I dream of the faithful, those willing and able to deliver consistently and faithfully the things that God has asked of them.
I dream of a mature people, able to engage is deep relationship, able to sustain relationship and keep relationships whole, a people building for at least the next generation as well as for eternity.
I dream of a church with a huge capacity for love, a capacity to love the unlovely, a capacity to remember the forgotten ones, to embrace those that may never be able to embrace us in return.
I dream of a church intimately involved in social action, concerned with widows and orphans, single mothers and the fatherless.
I dream of a church passionate about the lost, ready to build with those that are different to us, ready to speak the truth in a way that is redeeming, ready to embrace those that are trapped in sinful and broken ways.
I dream of radical converts, lives totally turned around, marriages saved, families restored to a place of wholeness and strength.
I dream of a church deeply involved in the arts, seeing the overflow of the life of God into spheres that we would otherwise have no access to.
I dream of artistic revolution – art that would not be plagiarism but would be revolution, a reflection of the creative life of God invading the culture in which we live.
I dream of a church intimately engaged in worship, a place of reality, a place of integrity, not just the singing of songs, but an encountering of Christ in everyday life.
I dream about a people deeply engaged with the truth about who God is, with a passion for theology, a passion to discover more of the God that we serve.
I dream of a taste of heaven in our togetherness, a faith expectation that whenever and wherever we are together God is there and that he has a plan.
I dream of the supernatural power of God, present in ways that are undeniably attractive, without hype, without forcing something to happen, supernaturally natural and naturally supernatural.
I dream about a people passionate about America, passionate about her spiritual destiny, ready to fight to regain that which has been lost, ready to engage with God for the cities of this nation, ready to resource those that will go from our midst.
I dream about a people passionate for the nations, eager to establish new churches, eager to embrace the bigness of God’s plan for local church, a radical people embracing an apostolic culture at every level of community life.
I dream of business men and woman engaging with God and finding creative ways to do business, expressing their divine creativity in generating jobs, creating companies that do not live purely for the bottom line, businesses actively involved in resourcing kingdom ventures, involved in projects into nations where the doors are closed to conventional mission strategy.
I dream of a people who will be ready on the day of battle, that will not miss their time of visitation, that will not hold back of their time, money and other resources, that will engage body, soul and spirit in the plans that God has for us.
I dream of a people with a heart after God’s own heart, hungry to embrace all of God’s word, ready to do all God’s will, ready to embrace everything that God has called us to.
I dream about a big people, big hearted, big faith, big ideas, big dreams, bigness worthy of the greatness of the God that we serve.
In short, I dream about the church as God intended.
LET THE DREAM LIVE ON!