Without WallsAdrian Eagleson - 7 Nov 2011

One of the stories that has got me thinking recently is found in the Book of Ezra. It centres on the return of the exiles to Jerusalem and their desire to re-establish a centre of worship and praise. The exiles show up in the ruined city and begin a rhythm of building an altar and observing the various sacrifice rules and festivals as laid out in the Books of the Law.

As you read on in the story you see that it is only a number of years later that they begin to build the walls around the altar. There is something in the account about a people that got the focus right from the beginning.
It all started with sacrifice and the altar, the place of worship

Once this was in place, then it made sense to start to look at some of the externals of putting up a framework and designing a building. They knew that the energies and focus of the people could get caught up in the work rather than in the worship. They needed to get their community rhythm sorted before they moved onto the next phase. Too often in churches, organisations and even individuals, we rush past the stage of strengthening the core in pursuit of growth. In the end this leads to a model that is unsustainable.

Stability requires commitment to the core.

For 24-7 as a movement, we are committed to the same principles from the Book of Ezra, we want the core to be right, to make sure that we have got a healthy rhythm of worship, prayer and time at the altar. If this is functioning well then it allows us to see how we can continue to grow and build as a movement.

Ask yourself the question – how much focus do you give on developing a rhythm? Are you focused on building the externals? How can you start as those in Ezra?