The Seeker Church (Part 1 of 6)

One of the most common questions I get from people about LifePoint is what kind of a church are we. What they are usually asking is, what kind of mold can I put you in? Can I put you in a Baptist mold? How about a Pentecostal mold? Some will break free from those molds best defined by denominations and ask about a different kind of mold. Perhaps you fit best in a purpose driven mold? Or maybe yet an emergent mold. The truth is…I hate molds.

Now don’t get me wrong, LifePoint has a mold. We have a way of doing things and a way that we “do” church. I simply hate identifying LifePoint by a certain type of mold because what these molds tend to do is point out why were are incompatible and unable to get along. That is ridiculous to me. And yet, this is not a new thing. In fact Jesus dealt with this problem.

Jesus entered Jericho and was passing through. A man was there by the name of Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax collector and was wealthy. He wanted to see who Jesus was, but being a short man he could not, because of the crowd. So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore-fig tree to see him, since Jesus was coming that way. When Jesus reached the spot, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, come down immediately. I must stay at your house today.” So he came down at once and welcomed him gladly.

All the people saw this and began to mutter, “He has gone to be the guest of a ‘sinner.’ “

I can almost hear them grumbling, “What kind of church are you building, Jesus?” The truth is that Zacchaeus was a seeker. He was interested in this Jesus even though he didn’t completelt know why. And Jesus sought him out and it changed Zaccheaus’s life.

Over the next few posts I am going to share four types of seekers that LifePoint wants to reach. What they all have in common is that they are seeking God. They may not know what He looks like or even who He is but they know that there is something He has that they need. Stick with me because there is a surprise ending to this series of posts.