In this series we have explored many different aspects as to how we need to free ourselves and the church to give room to what God is calling us to do:

1. What rewilding the church means
2. Putting our faith in Him and listen to what He is telling us to do
3. Simplicity of our faith and discipleship
4. Reaching out to those who feel they don’t fit in to church
5. How we need to come together as brother and sisters to accomplish through Him

The last piece of the puzzle is Hope. In May 1980, the Mount St Helens volcano in Washington State, erupted, after lying dormant for 100 years. The eruption devastated 250 square miles of forest, lakes, meadows and rivers, leading the first ecologist on the scene to describe it as “utter lifelessness”. Despite the despair, life slowly but surely began to come back. Species of tree you would never expect to grow in that area began to thrive. New species of insects and plants were blown into the area and allowed to grow due to the devastation. Then the roots of what had previously lived there began to spring up once more. Now, in a blink of an eye, in the timeline of nature that is, we have a full ecosystem of plant and animal life with trees 3m-5m tall!

Regardless of how bad things seem to be, there is always hope to emerge out of the situation better and stronger. When things seem bad or hopeless, it is within our culture to stay mute or quietly ask God for help, when in fact what we need to do is cry out in faith. We need to find our voice in the psalms to lament in the face of crisis. As we pray, the Spirit intercedes for us. He has shown through scripture and often times in nature and in our very own lives, that He can turn a situation around for us. Lament is different from moaning; lament is prayer and it is faith. Lament is about casting your cares into Jesus; here ‘cast’ means totally hand over, not share the load but completely give it over to Him.

“Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.”

1 Peter 5:7

It is from this unburdened position, where you are fully trusting in Him, that you are open to receiving more love from Him and those around you. This helps strengthen you to move forward and upward. Similarly the church shouldn’t focus on the seemingly diminishing institutions or congregations, but should fix their eyes on Him and see where He is moving, whether that be in churches or in grassroots community projects.

We need a culture of prayerful Spirit-inspired innovation, a cycle of holy experimentation, evaluation and learning. We as individuals and in turn the church need to try something. Not just anything, but what He has put in our heart with the skills within us or those around us to support. But we need to try. We need to feel comfortable to celebrate what works and reflect on what doesn’t and let it springboard us to something new. We need to be mindful of the fact that we don’t have the bigger picture, but He does. And though failures happen, everything happens for a reason and it is part of His divine plan.

So, where do you long to see rewilding by God? Is there a situation in which you long for God’s Spirit to bring new life? Has God put a concern in your heart for particular people and places? Pray on it and if you’d like, share it with us here. If you have any questions about faith or would like to explore further, or have any prayer requests feel free to email us here.