How Do We #ReCenterChrist?
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Personally? Corporately?
Organically not Programatically?
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In our Ministries and Meetings?
Our Groups and Gatherings?
With Family and Friends?
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ReCentering Christ
We intentionally shift from running an agenda
to responding to a Person.
We devote intentional time to four simple, repeatable practices:
1. Invite — Welcome Our Savior’s Presence
“Jesus will be called Immanuel” (which means “God is with us”). — Matthew 1:23
What we are doing:
Addressing Jesus personally. Honoring Him as present Lord — not speaking generally “to the room,” but to Him.
Language we can use:
- “Jesus, we welcome You.”
- “We worship You and recognize Your authority over this time.”
- “Our desire is to listen, learn, and follow Your lead.”
Practice: Worship — brief, focused, Christ-directed.
Outcome:
A gathered awareness that Jesus is not an idea we discuss but a Lord we encounter.
2. Invoke — Petition Holy Spirit Participation
“The disciples were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit.” — Acts 13:52
What we are doing:
Yielding control. Asking the Holy Spirit to guide, convict, clarify, unify, and empower.
Language we can use:
- “Holy Spirit, fill us — give us ears to hear and hearts to obey.”
- “Guide our conversation; shape our motives; interrupt us if needed.”
- “Intercede with us and teach us how to pray.”
Practice: Fellowship — shared yielding and shared listening.
Outcome:
A posture of dependence replaces self-direction, and the gathering becomes Spirit-led rather than leader-driven.
3. Investigate — Probe & Ponder Holy Scripture
“Keep on asking… seeking… knocking…” — Matthew 7:7
What we are doing:
Letting Scripture set the agenda. Asking better questions. Seeking discernment before decisions.
Language we can use:
- “Lord, help us ask the right questions.”
- “Grant us discernment as we seek Your will in Scripture.”
- “Show us the next faithful step.”
Practice: Discipleship & Leadership — obedience-based discernment.
Outcome:
Decisions are shaped by the Word of Christ, producing clarity, courage, and concrete obedience.
4. Involve — Participate in Christ’s Ongoing Work
“Remain in Me… and you will bear much fruit.” — John 15:5
What we are doing:
Moving from insight to obedience. Aligning our plans with what Christ is already doing. Participating rather than merely planning.
Language we can use:
- “Lord, where are You already at work?”
- “How do You want us to join You?”
- “What step of obedience are You calling us to take now?”
Practice: Mission & Implementation — responsive action.
Outcome:
Ministry shifts from activity for Christ to participation with Christ — bearing fruit that reflects His life and leadership.
Ponder This . . .
When we consistently Invite, Invoke, Investigate, and Involve, Christ is no longer a name we reference at the beginning of a meeting — He becomes the living center of everything that follows. Our worship shifts from routine to reverent awareness. Our leadership shifts from control to dependence. Our decisions shift from preference to obedience. And our plans shift from self-generated activity to Spirit-guided participation.
Over time, this rhythm reshapes culture. Meetings become sacred space. Conversations become discernment. Ministry becomes partnership with the reigning Christ. What begins as four intentional practices becomes a transformed way of leading and living — Christ not added on, but truly centered.
What does that look like? Feel like? What is the evidence of our transformation?
Tools For Your Leadership
√ReCenterChrist_Slide_Deck.pptx
√ReCenterChrist_Styled_Worksheet.pdf
√ReCenterChrist_Workbook_Spread.pdf
© Phil Miglioratti @ Reimagine.Network (with Assistive Inquiry) * Permission to Post, Print, Project
BONUS Content >>>SCROLL for RELATED COMMENTARY by GUEST-POSTERS + FEATURED CONTRIBUTORS
Guest-Post: Lilian Schmid, Author, Prayer Strategist and Coordinator, Prayerstrategy.org
"How would you differentiate between focusing on Christ and recentering Christ?"
"We have become satisfied with learning about Christ, but we are weak at living with Christ in our daily decision-making and recognizing the leading of Christ in our ministry planning and modeling (worship, fellowship, discipleship, stewardship)!" Agree-or-Disagree then explain why
Focusing on Christ
Focusing is an act of attention. It means turning your eyes toward Jesus studying Him, admiring Him, learning about His character, His teachings, His works.
It is informational, directional, and often cognitive. It is possible to focus on Christ without being formed by Christ.
Hebrews 12:2 “Fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith…”
Recentering Christ
Recentering is an act of re‑alignment. It means placing Jesus back at the core of your decisions, desires, priorities, and ministry structures.
It is transformational, relational, and practical. Re-centering means Christ is not just the subject of our attention but the source, standard, and steering force of our lives. You can’t recenter Christ without surrender, obedience, and reordering your life around Him.
Galatians 2:20 “It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me.”
“We have become satisfied with learning about Christ, but we are weak at living with Christ in our daily decision-making and recognizing the leading of Christ in our ministry planning and modelling (worship, fellowship, discipleship, stewardship)!” Agree or disagree — and why
I agree and here’s why
Many churches and believers have developed a strong informational discipleship but a weak relational discipleship.
We know:
But we often struggle with:
We have become excellent students of Christ but hesitant companions of Christ.
This shows up when:
The critique is not harsh it’s hopeful.
It’s a call to move from knowing Christ to walking with Christ, from admiring Him to depending on Him, from programming to presence.
"How can I begin to recenter Christ?"
You begin to recenter Christ by giving Him not just our attention, but our access. Re‑centering Christ is not one dramatic act it’s a quiet, steady re‑alignment of the heart.
Re‑alignment: “No longer I…” my preferences, my ego, my agenda
This is not merely focusing on Christ it is living from Christ.
Pleasewrite a prayerwe can pray to begin a Spirit-led, Scripture-fed journey to recenter Christ
Lord Jesus,
I come to You with a willing heart.
I confess that I often focus on You without fully yielding to You.
Today, I ask for a holy re‑alignment.
Center my mind in Your truth.
Center my desires in Your will.
Center my decisions in Your wisdom.
Center my steps in Your Spirit.
Where my life has drifted, draw me back.
Where my priorities have scattered, gather them again around Your name.
Where my plans have taken the lead, teach me to follow instead of direct.
Holy Spirit, guide me into a life where Christ is not only the One I look toward,
but the One I live from.
Shape my habits, interrupt my assumptions,
and form in me a heart that responds quickly to Your leading.
Let the Scriptures feed me,
let Your presence steady me,
and let obedience become my joy.
Jesus, be the centre of my thoughts,
the anchor of my identity,
the source of my strength,
and the Lord of my daily life.
Recenter me, Lord gently, deeply, and truly
so that everything I am and everything I do
flows from You.
Amen.
From my interview with Tom Lutz
PHIL>>>For pastors and church leaders who want to recenter Christ in every ministry and meeting, in worship-fellowship-discipleship-stewardship, what are the first changes—in mindset and in practice—you would encourage them to make?
TOM >>> I would suggest beginning with a shift in mindset: moving from seeing ministry as primarily the transfer of information to seeing it as the formation of people. The goal is not simply that people know more, but that they are being shaped into the likeness of Christ in every area of life.
From there, I would encourage leaders to consistently connect biblical truth to real life. Jesus did this continually—He spoke in ways that helped people understand how God’s truth intersects with their daily work, relationships, and responsibilities.
Practically, this means asking a second question in every ministry setting: not only, “What does this passage say?” but also, “What does this look like when lived out?” That simple shift begins to move teaching from abstraction to application.
Finally, I would encourage leaders to recover the pattern we see throughout Scripture: grace first, then guidance. When people understand who they are in Christ, they are then ready to receive how they are to live. That is where the Law finds its proper place—not as a burden, but as a guide for Kingdom living.
√here to read the complete interview
GUEST-POST by Pastor Rande Smith
His message closes with:
"This is a hope-filled story for every follower of Jesus, who, like me, has felt defeat.
And it’s at those times that Jesus is often able to speak more clearly than ever before.
And through that experience there is “resurrection!”
A lot of people naïvely say, “Oh, I love Jesus so much!”
But how do we really know if we truly love Jesus?
Is it just a tender emotion that we feel inside … or is there more to love than that?
If we really love God, it’ll be shown in our life.
“Do you love me?” Jesus asked Peter.
And today He’s asking us that same question.
What kind of love does Jesus want us to have? …
What kind of love do you have for Jesus? …"
If it is time for a recentering - click >>>here to get the right perspectvie.
A new hymn for the Church that seeks to Recenter Christ
Christ Is All!