At our Sunday service a while back we made a list of things we can do to work toward accomplishing the mission of Christ in our community. Below is that list and a few notes of encouragement about how to go about it.
OUR IDEAS
Interact with the needy through volunteering
- Work at the food bank
- Volunteer at Care Net
- Food drive for the food bank (tell your kids why your buying an extra bag of food!)
- An international student or two
- A stranger in the neighborhood or from the store
- A next door neighbor that you haven’t connected with
Random Acts of Kindness
- An organized day of service (does someone want to plan this?)
- Randomly act kindly on your own! Clean a yard, mow a lawn, bring a meal, buy someone’s lunch!
Celebrate Recovery
- KO Spangler leads groups that help people struggling with addictions and hang-ups to overcome them. Join her in starting a group right here!
- Three or four people are needed to join KO in a group training to make this happen here in Pullman.
Do Good to your enemies
- An extremely difficult step – but worthwhile.
- Find a way to bless someone who curses you or give to someone who would harm you.
Some Cautions and suggestions
Don’t go alone! Every idea we have can and should be accomplished in community with someone else. Jesus always sent his disciples in two’s and threes – it increases our safety, and our joy!
Listen to God. The Holy Spirit will prompt our words and actions as we listen. He has prepared the soil of hearts and minds ahead of time, if we are listening He will direct us into effective mission.
Don’t wait, act! Sometimes we don’t hear the voice of God, but we should act anyway. Don’t let lack of “spiritual direction” paralyze you into inactivity. God’s grace is sufficient when we miss the mark, the point is to try in love!
What are some other ideas? What have you done to move toward making these ideas a reality? How can we creatively reach our culture?
I heard a Christian on the radio yesterday talking about how he went to the people in his life with whom he had differing points of view. In order to understand where they were coming from, he asked them to tell him how they saw him.
ReplyDeleteNot only did those conversations give him great insight into how "the other side" viewed him specifically and Christians in general, but it also opened the door for ongoing relationships with the people he listened to.
That really got me thinking. This man WENT to those who weren't like him, he ASKED a question, and he LISTENED. Those three actions struck me. He didn't invite these people to church, he didn't express his opinion about their life choices, he didn't tell them what he thought they needed to hear. However, his actions extended love and respect--and they opened the door to ongoing relationships. In approaching people the way he did, he was BEING Jesus to them, not simply TELLING them about Jesus. Jesus went to the people unlike Him. He asked them questions. He listened to their answers. He extended them love and respect. And they turned and followed Him.
I believe this approach is the key to being an effective missional Christian. As I approach others to share Christ, I need approach them humbly, with love not superiority. I need to be open to what they have to say. I need to seek to understand. And as I am obedient in that--as I BE Christ to that person--I can be confident that a relationship will be established that will open the door for them to ask me about Jesus.
Laurie - Sorry I never responded to this! It didn't come to my in box and I just now saw it.....
ReplyDeleteWhat a great responce! I love the model of Go, ASK, LISTEN, ACT. It's so much more authentic than handing out tracks to people on the street. This is not evangelism, its a waste of paper! (Sorry about the rant there).
It would be an interesting study for you (really anyone) to read the gospels and see how many times it is said that "Jesus looked, or saw" a person before he did "A, B, C or D". One of the defining characteristics of Christ was his ability to see people - not to see through them or past them or as a target - but to see them, their true selves and their true need. Until we learn this skill as a community, we will never be able to meet the real needs of our culture.
I'm still working on it! I hope you and others will join me in the journey.