Vineyard Church | Weekly Update November 15, 2023

What is happening in our city? Lately, this question has either driven conversation or arisen from conversation as I traverse my work week. While violence and crime seem to have been trending upwards regularly over the past few years, the past few weeks feel like a deluge of evil. It feels like a rare experience lately to wake up and not see that someone was shot and killed overnight in Yellowstone County. Adding this to national events and international conflicts, it is easy to find ourselves on a path of disillusionment and hopelessness when all we see around us is conflict and evil.

Our civic authorities, elected and appointed, have been acknowledging this upward trend in Billings and Yellowstone County and point towards gang activity, cartel involvement, drug addiction, homelessness, and other common symptoms or causes that we have seen in other locations, but now these realities are closer to home…amongst us, rather than accessed through news reports from other cities. Some have seen this coming for a time, others are just recognizing a new reality, and still more might haven’t noticed any change at all. Regardless of where we are on the awareness spectrum, the question “What is happening?” ought to lead us to “how do we respond?”

One tempting response is to protect, to go defensive and pull within the safety of exclusion: avoid areas like the South Side, stop activities in the downtown area, avoid dangerous-looking people, and create barriers between us and the dangerous world. While safety and vigilance are important and I would never advocate for activities that would defy common sense as it relates to personal safety, I do think another response ought to be considered. 

While acknowledging the increase in evil activities in Yellowstone County and beyond, hidden within these events is the love of God. As we hear about the evil activities around us (or in lands distant from us), our response can begin with this question, “what is God up to?” or “where is God at work?” Enmeshed in the political, economic, and social realities of the world around us is the spiritual reality that God is on the throne and actively reigning. 

God is not, can not, will not be defeated. From this knowledge comes the perspective that God is at work in His creation and in the midst of evil, his love is active. Just as God does not take his hands off the steering wheel of his plan for reconciliation with his image bearers, we are invited to keep our hands on the steering wheel of invited participation in that plan. God is not on the defensive, and neither are we. The church has power to project, and this power projection can lead to new context for “what is happening in our city?"

Projecting this power begins with acknowledging danger and evil… both are real. In letters to the church in Rome and Ephesus, Paul writes about this dichotomy when he points out that we are warring against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world. Ephesians 6 calls us to armor and arms for the fight, and in Romans, Paul reminds us that while trouble will come, nothing will separate us from the love of the Father. A verse from my favorite song, In Christ Alone, written by Keith Getty and Stuart Townend, reminds us that No power of Hell, no scheme of man/Can ever pluck me from His hand… 

After this rests upon our heart, we pray. Today, I am praying that God would help me to see where His love is hidden in all of these events. As I become more aware of his love, I will be asking how I can join in his work and lead others to the same. The narrative of the increase in evil will be met with the narrative of the increase of the church. What is happening in our city ought to be the topic of conversation, and we are invited into that story. This week, let’s pray for our city and ask God for his guidance. 

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