IN THE PAST Throughout Scripture, we see God constantly moving our attention from the transcendent to the immanent. In the beginning, He created heaven and earth only to focus our attention on a particular garden—home to a particular couple. In Genesis 6, we are told of the sin which filled the whole earth only to be pointed to a particular man, Noah, whose own narrative would advance God’s story. Soon after, God takes our attention from the broad story of the world to a particular nation—a people who would be set apart to Him.
In the New Testament, John tells us, “in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” only to direct us from an ethereal God to the reality that “the Word became flesh” in the immanent person of Christ. Finally, in the book of Acts, we begin with Jesus’ command to be His “witnesses. . .to the ends of the earth” only to see that call lived out on the streets and in the cultural centers of Antioch, Ephesus, Philippi, Jerusalem, Iconium and so on. What we learn from Scripture is that, although God orchestrates the heavens and earth and has written the vast pages of history, He is intimately concerned with the immanent—with particular people who live in particular places at particular times.
IN THE PRESENT Even today, God is at work throughout the whole earth but, if we pause and look closely enough, we can see immanent places like Indianapolis fitting into His story. Indianapolis is a ripe harvest filled with people all searching for that missing “something,” which Ecclesiastes tells us is the hope of eternity placed in the heart of every person. It’s a city filled with people who have never been confronted with the concept of sin or fallenness even though the people who call the city home experience the tangible social, emotional, economic, relational, and spiritual effects of human brokenness. It’s a city filled with people desperate for the good news of the gospel of Jesus and in need of a group of people who will share it with them.
IN THE FUTURE Indianapolis is a part of God’s story, and He has made it part of our story. Our prayer is that you will consider making it part of your story too as we watch God pen the next pages of His story in Indianapolis.