Vineyard Church | Weekly Update November 1, 2023

Over the course of the summer and into the fall, we have talked a lot about faith as a product of participation with God and moving from inviting God to participate in my life and my will into the openness to accept the invitation to participate in His. This is the foundation for our current Abide series, exploring the life-giving reality of remaining, abiding, and continuing to dwell in Jesus. 

The Old Testament book of Jonah offers a unique look at an invitation to abide, as well as an opportunity to leave human plans and join in with God’s. For our purposes this week, I would encourage you to read Jonah 2 and 3, and then consider this exercise:

After becoming fish vomit, Jonah has another crack at accepting the invitation to join in God’s plan and to abide in Him. Before Jonah carries the word of God to the people of Nineveh, he experiences something that we are going to call the Context Walk (at this point, we need to put aside the knowledge of what will happen in Chapter Four and focus on what Jonah did in Chapter Three). 

Jonah took three days to travel through Greater Nineveh and had an opportunity to see how the people lived. He would have seen different classes of people in different suburbs, all going through their daily life apart from God. Spending time observing people where they live can expose us to context and provide insight into why things are the way they are. If we understand the context, we gain an understanding of the people, which can lead to compassion and an understanding of the mission that God has given.

Consider what this might look like for us if we were to take a Context Walk. What would we see? What might we notice? The starting place for this is to identify where God has you or where God might be sending you. For this exercise, let’s stay in the realm of where you are:

Where do you work? Where do you go to school? Where do you shop or get gas? Where do you grab lunch? Coffee? Do you have a gym? Do you frequent the library? Have you been to the giant new Costco, or are you a Sam’s person due to their proximity to Cabela’s? 

If one of those prompts stands out to you, take a Context Walk over the next few days… Start out with prayer, asking for God to reveal what He has for you to observe. Who do you see? What do they look like? What are they doing? Can you sense emotion? 

Now take a step back from the people and notice the environment… Is it inviting? Is it cold? Is it accessible? Am I comfortable here? Notice how space is divided and ask God to reveal insights about the social, physical and psychological environment. 

Finally, we can ask God what our part of his plan is for this place. Is it to make the environment different? Is it to offer relationship to people? How do I image God in this place?

Taking a Context Walk can connect us to people and places and help us to understand the calling He has for us as we look to Abide in Him and love Him with all that we are and our neighbor as ourselves. 

Adam Greenwell
Pastor  |  Billings Vineyard Church
www.BillingsVineyard.org