The Missional Journey

February 5, 2010

This past Sabbath our congregation met for our annual meeting and many of you were there. Thank you so much for being a part of this ongoing conversation that is the Hollywood Adventist Church. For the past four and a half years we’ve been actively learning what it means to be “church” in our contemporary culture. Most of the maps we have used to guide us no longer describe the actual terrain in front of us. This has required us to be innovators. But this innovation is not merely confined to new “techniques” for doing what everyone knows we must do, but actual innovation at the level of what it means to be a community of God’s people in Hollywood right now. This has been a tremendous adventure and it has been the greatest joy of my professional life guide and facilitate this journey with each of you.

In the next few weeks the journey continues with a new Missional Action Team, which will again focus on helping our congregation grapple with a a challenge that we’ve all felt—how to develop structures that deepen our discipleship and empower our witness in the world. I am as excited as anyone to see what will come out of this process.

This weekend I have the privilege to share what we have been learning for the past four and a half years with the pastors and church leaders in the Ohio Conference of Seventh-day Adventists. Please keep me in your prayers especially as I am teaching on Sunday morning.

My hope and prayer is that this year you will find new ways to be involved in God’s mission in Hollywood and Los Angeles. And may God help us internalize these words of Paul: “Therefore, since it is by God’s mercy that we are engaged in this ministry, we do not lose heart.”

Grace and peace,

Ryan