HUBS

Hubs are a mainstay on the vast majority of cars, trucks, and motorcycles.  It is hard to imagine a vehicle without wheels.   You might think that the engine is the most critical component to any vehicle's drivetrain, but without wheels, a vehicle wouldn't be able to roll from place to place.   But in order to have functional, rolling wheels you need to have good hubs.    Without good hubs your vehicle will not perform properly.   Any potential for movement will be strictly limited.  Hubs are vitally important!

A wheel hub is in the centre of the wheel.  The hub contains wheel bearings which allow the wheel to rotate efficiently and quietly around an axle.   You know you have hub problems when you either hear an obvious grinding or humming sound coming from your wheels.  If the hub has bad bearings or is defective, the wheel could heat up causing it to seize up, or worse yet, fall off your vehicle.   Many people have been stranded on the side of the road because of poor wheel hubs.

Hubs are also the mainstay of churches.   Just as wheel hubs connect all the parts of the wheel and enable your vehicle to easily move forward, so too hubs in churches connect all the various parts enabling the church to move forward in its God-given direction.   As churches we speak about how Classes (regional gatherings of churches) can function as hubs for training and the sharing of local ideas.   As people come together from across the various states to a central meeting they can be equipped and encouraged to advance gospel ministries.   But this is equally true for individual churches.   I will explain using the idea of a wheel hub to illustrate my point.

We all like to see our churches move forward!   This forward movement includes people growing spiritually in their faith, a growth in the number of people serving faithfully in the church, leaders being trained and multiplied, small groups expanding and dividing reaching more people, outreach initiatives targeting the lost, more and more people being converted to Christ, and overall church membership increasing in number.   For this to happen effectively you need to have a good hub.   A good hub does at least two things.   (1)  It connects everybody to a central purpose.   If the hub turns, everything else turns.   As a church you need to know your central purpose.   Why do exist as a church?   As church leaders you need to connect everybody to your church's reason for being.  Every member needs to know how what they do contributes to the overall direction of the church.   If some members remain unconnected to this hub, the church will be pulled in all kinds of directions.   It will go around in circles and actually go nowhere.  For us as a denomination our purpose is to be a church reforming to reach the lost for Christ.  Everything we do in the CRCA is somehow connected to that central hub.   What is the purpose of your church?   Its mission?   If you don't know what your mission is, then how can move people in the direction they need to go?    Everything you do in your church needs to be connected that your central purpose, the mission of your church, the hub.

A good hub connects everybody to your church's mission.   And good hub also (2) keeps this mission moving forward effectively.   The bearings need to be good and well-greased.   If bearings lose their grease they easily get worn out, and if left ungreased they will fall apart.   In a church the hub needs to remain well-greased.  If as a church leader you've been hearing some noise of discontent coming from your people, check the bearings!   The squeeky wheels needs some grease.   People need a fresh infusion of the biblical vision of believers being being salt and light in this world (Matthew 5:13-16).    People need huge doses of encouragement in the midst of serving Christ and his church.   Like wheel bearings they can easily wear out under all the pressures of ministry.   Words of affirmation and encouragement are like grease being squeezed into wheel bearings.   No wonder the Bible keeps telling us to encourage one another, even as Paul wrote to one church:   "Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing."   (1 Thessalonians 5:11)   When hubs are well-greased they have a tendency to keep moving forward effectively.   On my motorcycle trailer I have "bearing buddies" attached to each wheel hub.   These buddies make sure the hubs are always well-greased.   In the all the years I've had this trailer not once did the wheels seize up or fall off.   May we as church leaders be "bearing buddies" to our church members as we keep encouraging them with words of affirmation -- affirming who we are in Christ and the blessing we are one another.   And may we as church members be "bearing buddies" to our church leaders as we in the similar way encourage them. 

Know your church's mission/central purpose and keep everything well-greased.   To move forward as a church you need a good HUB.