The Well Palmdale, CA

March 16th, 2008 was a powerful day in the life of The Well.  It was our first "official" worship service.  Very soon we will be coming up on the 2 year anniversary of that day, so I thought that I'd take a moment to reflect on where we've gone in these two years.

When we launched we had only a handful of families committed to the mission to spread the Gospel in the Antelope Valley through this ministry.  We set out to be a church that was not attractional (having the best ads, most comfortable chairs, perfect music, perfect sermon, most programs, and best discipleship program).  Rather, we just set out to serve Jesus.  We weren't given much human direction as to what neighborhood to focus on, or help in methodology.  It was simple Spirit movement out into the streets of the AV to share the truth (without going door-to-door seeking converts). 

Many saw our methods and questioned us saying, "Why aren't you doing more advertising?", "Why don't you do cold calls?", "Why don't you have a youth program yet?", "Why are you going to that neighborhood?", and "Why do you spend so much time in relationship building?"  Well, here we are, 2 years later, and many can see that we have not exploded in growth, we still don't have a youth program, and we do very little advertising. 

Yet, despite looking from a worldly perspective where we have had limited "success", I still feel truly blessed to be a part of this community, and I see a great deal of spiritual growth and people coming to faith. Reflecting on these two years, I've seen much change beyond now having a physical location.  Our approach to worship has changed, how much education we provide has changed, how we serve our community has changed, and, most importantly...the number of missionaries who are sent out every week has changed.  The spiritual growth I've mentioned isn't visible in study of the Word and increase in prayer life (though, those are wonderful things)...it's visible in the stories I get to hear about people sharing their faith in Jesus, inviting people to Community Groups/worship/BBQ's, helping out people in need, forgiving people who have hurt them, and standing up for the truth.  

2 years ago we set out to be what would be a mission church that didn't do "outreach".  We wouldn't just call out from the front porch of the church asking people to come in.  Rather, we would be an "inbreaking" church where we brought the Gospel into the places where we already live (our home, neighborhood, work, school, athletic team, band, book club, etc.).  This is who we will remain to be, because this is who God has called us to be...inbreakers. 

I look forward to hearing another year's worth of inbreaking stories from all of you.  Praise God for allowing us to follow Him on this unorthodox yet beautiful journey of mission, love, mercy, and service.

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