As people enter our doors this Easter Sunday, will they see us as real people worshiping a real Savior? Will they enter a community of grace? Tim Chester, in his excellent book, You Can Change, lists some great questions to discern if your church is a community of grace, and thus attractive to broken, needy sinners.
Are people open about their sin or is there a culture of pretending?
Is community life messy or sanitized?
Are broken people attracted to your community?
Is conflict out in the open or is it suppressed?
Are forgiveness and reconciliation actively pursued?
Do you constantly return to the cross in your conversation, prayers and praise?
Whenever I have spoken about evangelism, the number one question I get asked is, “How do I witness to my family.” Often the question is posed with tears and anguish. So I decided to tackle this emotionally charged topic by focussing on the goodness of the gospel, the high priority of family, and the complexity of communication. My goal in writing this book is to offer people hope by pointing them to scripture and telling a variety of stories of others who have witnessed to family.
Sometimes it’s difficult to discern the validity of a child’s profession of faith. We complicate things further when we look for the wrong thing. When I started out in ministry I remember someone telling me that a child’s love for Jesus is a good indicator that he or she is saved. There’s some truth to that. Our faith should be evidenced by a change in our affections. We ought to love Jesus and hate our sin. Yet discerning how much a child loves Jesus is difficult to gauge. Indeed, many children grow up “loving Jesus” and admiring him as a great person. So the question of how much a child loves Jesus isn’t very helpful. A better question is how much does this child understand (and embrace) the love Jesus has for him. 1 John 4:10 says,
“Herein is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.”
This verse puts the emphasis in the right place. It’s not what I do for Jesus that saves me, it’s what Jesus has done for me. My salvation (and assurance of salvation) is not based on how much I love Jesus, it’s based on how much Jesus has loved me through his substitutionary death on the cross.
When we picture community in the church we usually think about sitting in a safe, comfortable home with our small group laughing and hanging out together. And that’s a good thing. We need that! But I often wonder if real community can only happen when we get off the couch and get into the lives of people and risk something for the gospel.
Alan Hirsch calls this communitas–the next level of community where individuals come together in a common mission that may include suffering and opposition. His thoughts are compelling:
What do you think? Do you agree with Hirsch? Can real community (communitas) happen without moving into the lives of people outside the church?
I saw this statistic today and thought it was worthy to share:
Top Five Times People Are Open To Considering Matters Of Faith…
* #5 – After the birth of a baby (28%)
* #4 – After a natural disaster (34%)
* #3 – After a major national crisis i.e. 9/11 (38%)
* #2 – During the Easter season (38%)
* #1 – During the Christmas season (47%)
Who will you personally invite into your church and into your home this Christmas?
A couple weeks ago at our Wed. night ministry to families (called SEEDS), I shared the gospel using giant silly bands! I got the idea from this great website and made it my own. The basic outline: God is the King (Gold Crown), We are Sinners (Black Heart), Jesus is the Savior (Red Cross), and Turn, Trust and Follow (Green Foot), is an easy way for kids to remember the gospel visually. Special thanks to Connie Homola for making these silly bands out of PVC pipe!
Hey all you moms out there! I just came across this new website called The Missional Mom. Here’s the description:
[At this site] you will find stories of missional moms from all over the world who will inspire you with their purposeful, God-driven lifestyles and choices. You’ll also find resources to help you in your own quest to become a more missional mom. We are all journeying together to embrace a countercultural approach to life, so let’s help one another along the way.
“Helen Lee has presented moms and families with a great gift in The Missional Mom. It is a great resource to help women understand and implement a missional life.”
It’s October and that means Halloween is on the horizon. So what are you going to do? As a pastor to families, I know this can be a hot-button issue. But I think it’s a good one for us to wrestle with in a spirit of humility.
I think the big question we need to ask ourselves is, “Where are all the unbelieving families going to be on Halloween night?” Answer: they are going to be out trick-or-treating. According to the National Confectioners Association, 80 percent of adults in America plan to give out candy to trick-or-treaters, and 93 percent of children plan to go trick-or-treating. So here’s the deal. If the rest of the world is out there trick-or-treating, isn’t it our responsibility to be out there as well in a way that does not compromise our faith in Christ? Although I’m aware of its pagan roots, I think it is possible to participate in Halloween without celebrating evil. Indeed, most families think of Halloween as a fun night of just dressing up and getting candy.
This Halloween every family in your neighborhood is coming to your house. Let’s live out the mission of God in our neighborhoods (Matt. 28:18-20). Let’s permit the children to come to us (Mark 10:14). Let’s love our neighbors and let our light shine (Matt. 5:16). Let’s give out the best candy in the neighborhood. And let’s pray for opportunities (Col. 4:2-6). Who knows … Halloween may serve as a little step into the hearts of those who live around us who so desperately need a Savior.
Note: As you know, this year Halloween falls on a Sunday. This is how we’ve handled that issue at our church. We will continue to meet for our regular Sunday night service, but before and after that service we also encourage our people to be lights in their neighborhood.
In this short video Hussein Rashid and Joseph Cumming share their thoughts on the Ground Zero mosque controversy. I found Joseph’s comments to be very helpful in thinking about how Christians should respond. How does loving our neighbor as we love ourselves (Matthew 22:39) impact our view on this? How does Jesus’ command to do unto others as would have them do unto us (Matthew 7:12) impact our view on this?
