Road To Emmaus
Friday, April 8th, 2005
That same day two of Jesus’ disciples were going to the village of Emmaus, which was about seven miles from Jerusalem. As they were talking and thinking about what had happened, Jesus came near and started walking along beside them. But they did not know who he was.
Luke 24:13-49 :: Contemporary English Version (CEV)
I was challenged at a recent conference by Tom Bandy’s “Quo Vadis” question. It’s the question people asked of Jesus, “Where are you going?” Where was he going when he met up with the travellers to Emmaus. Obviously not to the religious centre of Jerusalem. And apparently not to Emmaus on the outskirts, as he indicated that he meant to keep moving when they stopped.
It’s a question I struggle with as part of a new church plant on the Gold Coast. We’ve been going three years almost and are now searching for the next point of connection with people outside the church. We have no building and currently do not employ anyone. But how do we sustain the journey ‘beyond Emmaus’?
Charlie Wear at Next Wave reflected on Tom’s “Quo Vadis” challenge back in 2002:
So here is the question God is asking twenty-first century Christianity ……. “Will you follow Jesus once again into the mission field?” If we wish to be faithful to the name “Christian,” we may have to abandon the comfort of our institutions and follow Jesus into the mission field.
Church planters will do well to need to heed this question.At first glance, it might appear that if anyone is on the mission field with Jesus it is church planters. Surely starting a new church qualifies? But does it? Bill Easum and Tom Bandy don’t think it’s a slam dunk. Consider how quickly new church planters get bogged down in buildings and institutional maintenance or how quickly parishioners get comfortable within the four sacred walls. Church planters are constantly plagued with the question of recycled saints, “When will we build and become a real church?” Or what about the loud cries of judicatories wanting to know how soon the new plant can “Charter” so they can add it to the number of new church starts for the year. Could it be that the primary reason church plants begin to plateau during the first four years of existence is because they begin to function as institutions tied to a location rather than a movement that is portable enough to follow Jesus wherever he goes. They begin to expect people to come to them instead of following the example of Jesus and going to them.
Do you want to be with Jesus in the mission field? If you want to be with Jesus, you must accompany him on the road. Church planters need to spend less time in their office and not more time on the mission field with Jesus.
So the question, “Do you really want to be with Jesus in the mission field?” is the key to the Christian movement in the decades ahead. Tom Bandy and Bill Easum are so sure of this that they are anchoring their tour in the Emmaus Road story in Luke 24 which shows Jesus heading away from the “home office” of the faithful into the gentile mission field.
