In my last post, I promised that I would share with you the vision and mission that God has given to Broken Life Ministries (BKN). The ministry is an outgrowth of my own passion and mission. God has been defining and fleshing out that vision over the last few years. I've been reluctant to formalize BKN into a full-fledged organization. It's too easy to step out in presumption rather than in faith, jumping into something with both feet while just presuming God is in it. Presumption and faith are two different things. So, I've held back on even considering the idea of starting a formal ministry and instead have stuck with using the name as an imprint for the books I've written. Now, with Project Ukraine (the subject of last week's post) becoming a major effort, formalizing Broken Life Ministries into a full-blown ministry has become a necessity. Here's what BKN is all about.
To help you really understand the purpose and mission of this new organization I really have to begin by asking a series of rhetorical questions. As you read through them, spend a little time considering how you would answer. I want to give you a chance to read through them before I discuss the thinking that underlies each question.
Question #1: What if the body of Christ in North America was truly taking the place our Lord intended for us?
Question #2: What if we Christians were truly living righteous lives, focused on Christ?
Question #3: What if we were truly standing in the spiritual authority the Lord has given us?
Question #4: What if all Christians were truly walking by faith and by the leading of the Holy Spirit?
Again, I find myself reluctant. I hesitate to jump into a discussion of the issues raised by those four questions because I can't properly cover them without talking in critical terms. I don't want to put myself in the place of being an accuser of the brethren. Still, critical or not, the North American church, and in some measure the church worldwide, has largely stopped serving God in a truly focused and single-minded fashion. Like five of the seven churches targeted in chapters 2 and 3 of the book of Revelation, we have lost our first love. We have allowed idolatries and sexual immorality to become the norm in both our church life and our lifestyles. We tolerate false teachers, embracing false doctrines simply because it's easier that way. We tolerate Jezebels in our midst who lead the saints away from Christ. We pretend to be spiritually alive, filling our time with endless religious activity when in reality we are dead. We have let ourselves become complacent and lukewarm toward the One who is our Lord and our God.
So, what if we could answer all those questions affirmatively? What would happen? Well, we would see communities, large and small, transformed. We would see the kingdom of darkness rooted out. We would see the works of the enemy destroyed. We would see the Kingdom of God expand to fill the whole earth (Daniel 2:34-35, Daniel 2:44-45).
And there you have it. The vision, passion, and mission of Broken Leaf Ministries is to support and build up the people of God and their churches until their communities are transformed and the kingdom of darkness is rooted out. It will happen as Christians stand up and take the place Christ intended for us. It will happen as we eschew sin and live righteous lives. It will happen as we stand in the spiritual authority the Lord has given us, as we walk by faith, following the lead of the Holy Spirit.
An Update: I asked all of you to be praying about the process of incorporating Broken Leaf Ministries so we can proceed with Project Ukraine. Incorporating the ministry was much easier than I thought and that part is done. The next step was to try and set up a bank account (to handle donations toward Project Ukraine) and that is where the process has stalled. The bank people tell me that I have to have non-profit status with the IRS in place before they can open a bank account for us. So, applying to the IRS for 501c status is next on the agenda. Please pray that process will go well and quickly. (Yes, God can even work the miracle of quick government service. He can! :>) Also, there will be a cost in application fees. I haven't researched it well, but I think I saw the amount of $250. Might be more. Pray for that to be covered. (If you want to donate toward that expense, there's a Donate button (using PayPal) on the home page of this site.)
God Bless!
John