Sharing what you know ... as you go ...

Ed Stetzer a well known missiologist made some statements in a post today that make a lot of sense.
Read and listen to what he has to say.

Evangelism, the proclamation of God’s good news through our daily living and the organized witness of the Church, needs to be birthed out of visible and verbal expressions of love. Show and tell. Show the love of Christ through a simple act of kindness, a community development project, or a call for justice. And tell the reason underneath your actions and behind your faith. Make love your aim as you go, with every person you meet in every place you go.

WHAT IF …

• Leaders became more intentional in their own daily prayer-care-share lifestyle, and they referred to it in their writings or sermons as examples of evangelism occurring through a simple act of becoming evidence of the love of Jesus?
• Pastors stopped preaching on evangelism as an act of obedience and instead began to describe evangelism as a daily expression of the believer’s identify in Christ as we respond to the Spirit in opportunities to love people for Christ and explain why we follow this One who is the good news?
• Church services incorporated a time of praying for the lost, those with less (poor), and those who lead (local and national governments)?
• Church services included stories from members who had responded with care for a co-worker, acted compassionately to someone in distress, or solved a problem for a neighbor?
• Church services celebrated transformed-by-Christ lives with baptism, “My Story” segments, an up-front introduction & welcome to the church, or …?

These seemingly simple ideas could motivate and inspire this generation to ignite the next revival of the message of Jesus Christ.

Start the fire, lead the way and be a part of the greatest movement the world has ever seen!

Ed's writings can be found at EDSTETZER.COM

“The Preference Driven Church.”

 “The Preference Driven Church.”

In the first century the gathering of Christians on the first day of the week, was the big day of the week.  It was the focal point of lives for all the believers. They honored Christ with the sharing of the love feast.  They spent time with one another.  They studied God’s word together and they sang with their hearts, praising the Lord for all He had done for them.

In modern times we have seen a shift to what I would call the “preference driven” church.  The preference drive church is one that has a consumer focus and has a self-serving attitude. The new trinity being served is me, myself and I instead of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.  In the Preference Driven Church the members become judges, scoring all the performances going on around them.  The worship leader and his song selection are judged, other participants in the audience alongside them are judged.  The preacher is judged by content, quality and length of message. Seemingly worship has become like judges at a diving competition or watching a gymnastics meet.  The Preference Driven Church scrutinizes every detail of the Sunday morning searching for something to blame for the emptiness that is felt after the gathering finishes for the day. Not realizing the emptiness comes from taking the focus off of God.

It does not have to be that way. God did not design worship to be the biggest distraction of their faith, causing people to come with the expectation of getting something. God designed worship to be a time of Giving.  Giving encouragement to one another. Building up one another. Reaching out to one another. Helping those downtrodden by the world. Welcoming those who have been defeated to a race which they can win.

God expects us to give back to Him as we come together each first day of the week.  He wants us to greet each other cheerfully.  He wants us to sing to Him and to each other.  He expects us to sacrifice.  This sacrifice for His altar is to be from our first fruits, the best we have. 

God expects us to be touched by His word each time we meet together.  The Word according to God is a lamp for us to walk by.  His Word was written to change our behavior and draw us close to Him.

As you worship take of the idea that it is not about me today. It is not about us today.  It is all about the God that we serve and His Son who went to the cross for us.  His Son asked this of us, “Can you follow me.”  Can you follow him!