Raise Those Sails!
Posted on Feb 12, 2025 by Jon Brudvig
Jesus’ directive to Simon Peter in Luke 5:4 to “put out into the deep water and let down your nets” may have hit a nerve this week, especially in light of the news that my time serving as your pastor is ending.
“Really, Jesus?” some may ask. “You want us to do this … AGAIN?”
During my ministry, I have learned an important truth. Ministry is not, nor should it be about, the pastor, the leadership team, the staff, or anyone else connected with Salem. Everything related to ministry and mission is about what God IS doing in and through us — all of us.
Joan Gray names this reality in her book, Sailboat Church. When we focus on our own efforts and our own agendas, notes Gray, we miss the bigger picture of what God is up to and how God is calling us to participate in God’s mission for the world.
While rowboat churches play it safe, preferring to stay close to what is familiar and comfortable, sailboat churches harness the “wind, breath, and power of God” that propel us far beyond what we believe is possible. And though venturing out in “the deep water” may be frightening, remember that Jesus, the captain of our ship, IS in the boat too.
While researching her book, Gray heard a familiar theme, the belief that given all of the challenges congregations are experiencing, “We can’t do church now the way we have before … [so] we won’t be doing church together much longer.” Until one day, a congregation experiencing many of the same challenges started asking God, “What do you want us to be doing now?”
There was nothing special about this congregation in rural Nebraska. The people dropped the oars, raised the sails, and trusted that as long as there was a God interested in saving the world there would always be work for God’s church. The ministries might not look like anything the congregation had done before. God’s mission might move the congregation beyond the security of what was familiar, but the people trusted God to answer their prayers for guidance, to fill their sails, and to move them into the future.
That, my dear partners in ministry, is my prayer for you. May the one who calls and equips you for ministry and mission accompany you into a new and exciting future. The world needs you!
In Christ,
Pastor Jon