Not Being Statuesque – Thoughts From the Edges – Praying for the Church.

Not Being Statuesque

Pastor Calvin Cook –

November 12, 2025

In my meditating and reading through Isaiah 54, I am very intently trying to allow each verse with its meaning to speak to me a fresh call to drawing closer to God – the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. As I read this morning, I realized that I had not offered thoughts or prayed through Isaiah 54:3.

 “For you will spread out to the right and to the left; And your descendants will take possession of nations And will inhabit deserted cities.” — Isaiah 54:3 (AMP)

As I read these words, I had a rush of thoughts go through my mind. About areas in my own life where I need to grow or be drawn back to what is important and foundational. This week as I prepare to preach on Nehemiah and discerning the call of the church, I immediately thought of the great passion I have for renewal, revival of the church and communities.

Especially rural areas like I grew up in and have lived in all my life. This verse of scripture and many others call us to expand, grow, and standing firm on core beliefs and foundations that will never crumble. But to do this we must be willing to grow.

There’s a danger in standing still or being idle. I was reminded of a book or article I was reading recently on church revitalization. The writer of the article said there is great danger in become “statuesque”. I paused because the word “statuesque” is not in my normal vocabulary.  The word refers to something that is “gracefully tall and dignified in appearance, like a statue. Or something or someone that appears impressive but is rigid, unmoving, or lifeless.  So was Isaiah referring to a people, a movement to the nation that might become “statuesque.” Statues are well-shaped, admired, and set in place — but they are also lifeless, unmoving, fixed in time, they have no inner life. They represent what was, not what is becoming.

Isaiah 54:3 is a call not to remain still, but to expand, to reach, and to move in faith. God was speaking to His people who had once been broken, oppressed, and confined — and He told them: “You will spread out.” It was a call to life, motion, and multiplication — to break out of the old boundaries and believe again in what God can do.

The Time for Silence Is Over

The church — especially the rural church, especially every church that thinks their day is past — must hear this word anew. The time to keep silent is not now. The time to sit politely and hope the world finds its way back to faith is long gone. This is not a call for angry uprising, but a holy awakening — a Spirit-led stirring that refuses to let the flame go out in small towns and rural churches.

For too long, the church has been quiet — standing tall like statues in their communities, admired by history but forgotten by the present. But God is saying, “Spread out to the right and to the left.”

God is calling us to move beyond the walls, to plant seeds of renewal, to mentor the next generation, to carry the Gospel into the communities that once echoed with hymns of revival.

The answer is not to lament what’s been lost, but to move with the Spirit in what God is doing now.

This is not rebellion — this is renewal, revival, and resurrection! This is God’s mission – this must happen !