Last year provided an opportunity to look back on the first 40 years of OCMS and was a cause for tremendous celebration, thanksgiving and hope. In contrast, 2024 is likely to be a pivotal year as we build for the future. Big steps include:
- The appointment of a new Academic Dean
- The launch of the OCMS Research Institute for Mission and Innovation
- The formation of a new university partnership to validate our OCMS PhD
- Raising the money and starting work on the long-awaited building project, designed to give OCMS a home that is fit for purpose.
The natural response to these energising goals is to step into strategic planning and action mode. Without doubt, both have their place. Yet they are not the centre from which life flows. Our Scriptures repeatedly remind us that the core posture of Christian discipleship is not activism but active waiting.
Active waiting on God takes seriously Psalm 127:1 ‘Unless the Lord builds the house, the builders labour in vain.’ Active waiting takes as much discipline as strategic planning. It requires us to learn to be still, undistracted, dependent on God, confident and hopeful as we watch for the signs of God’s invitation, direction and wisdom. Active waiting is not just an individual exercise but is best practiced in community by individuals who are practicing it in their own journeys.
We are drawn forward by the opportunities and challenges of 2024, and we are drawn in by the invitation to wait patiently for God. Please join us in our prayer that in the coming year God will increase our capacity to wait on him. As we do, we are confident he will build the house.
