Moving is scary. Moving to plant a church is even scarier.
In Love Where You Live: How to Live Sent in the Place You Call Home, Shauna Pilgreen chronicles her journey from a quiet hometown with one traffic light to the metropolitan bustle of San Francisco, where she is planting a church with her husband.
Pilgreen reminds believers that, for the Christian, a move is never just a move. We don’t merely move to a neighborhood. We are sent there.
“We downplay God’s activity when we see a move simply as a move, or a decision to stay as a commitment to the status quo,” Shauna writes. “Moving is our human explanation for a transition or change in life. Living sent is recognizing God’s intimate involvement in our lives, whether we are in a new ZIP Code or have been in the same one for years. Living sent aligns our uniqueness to His activity for the purpose of making Him visible to our community. To many, He is an unknown God, but to believers, He is the sending God.”
Whether you’ve been in your neighborhood for decades or days, Pilgreen helps us see our home through a kingdom lens. Wherever God has us, we must awaken to the reality that He sent us there, and that He has good works for us to do where we are.
As a church planting wife, Pilgreen transparently shares her experience of awakening to God’s vision for where she lives and how she has learned to be strategic, creative, and intentional about engaging her diverse neighborhood with the gospel.
Living sent is living like we’re supposed to be where we are — and not having the mentality that we’re just passing through. God’s work is all around us in our neighborhoods, but it takes discipline and a keen eye to see where He’s at work.
“God might not be the Name above all Names in your city, but His activity is all around.”
Engaging both our intellect and emotions, Pilgreen shares practical stories about living missionally and purposefully in our context.
If you’ve ever wondered how to live missionally in your neighborhood, this book is for you.
Want to read Love Where You Live? Click here to buy a copy today.
Want to hear more about being a church planting wife? Listen to this episode of We are Send Network.
Published February 21, 2020
