Witness - Jeremiah's Vow

Lent 2023 | Day 13: The Gospel’s Challenge, Pt 2

In the Gospel, there is built into it the expectation of growth. Like all seeds, the plant is hidden within it. And until it is planted, nothing will come of it.

The challenge we looked at yesterday was related to the internal confrontation the Gospel creates. Until and unless we accept the Gospel’s definition of reality regarding our sins, we will struggle to enjoy God’s promises.

The other challenge the Gospel offers is one related to action. To put it another way, this challenge is offered on the other side of salvation. Once we have accepted the work of Jesus for our sins, we are exposed to the mission the Gospel points to.

When Jesus ascended into heaven, he left instructions with his disciples. He told them to go into the whole world teaching whomever they found to obey Jesus’s commandments. These are simple instructions. However, they would require unwavering devotion to the message of redemption.

In the Gospel, there is built into it the expectation of growth. Like all seeds, the plant is hidden within it. And until it is planted, nothing will come of it.

The continued expansion of the kingdom of God requires our consistent proclamation of the Gospel. This does not mean everyone will become a preacher, evangelist, or teacher. At least not in a vocational sense. But everyone who has believed the Gospel has a duty to find ways of communicating what they have received with others.

We are all called to serve in the kingdom. And because we all are beneficiaries of the grace of God, we should cultivate the skills to share what we have received.

Now, I know that this sounds like too much to ask. But, it really isn’t. There are as many ways to communicate the Gospel as there are people in the world. Each of us has a unique life from which we can find a connection with others. We don’t all have to say the same words to be faithful heralds of the same message.

For too long, the responsibility of every believer to build up the courage to share their story of faith has been missed. At almost every turn, Jesus told the people he healed or ministered to not to say to others. But, the impact of what Jesus did was so great, most people ignored Jesus and shared about him anyway.

Consider what God has done for you. Think deeply about what it means to have been saved from a life of sin and restored to fellowship with God. If that is not enough motivation to at least share it with one other person, what are we really saying about the Gospel? About God and our salvation? About Jesus?

My purpose today is not to shame anyone. It is however a reminder that what God has done cannot be repaid. God has never and will never ask for that. So, framing this challenge in that way is neither fair nor appropriate.

We should be convicted about our role to participate in sharing the Gospel. Not in some legalistic way. But rather as an expression of our love and appreciation for what God has done for us. And what he is doing within us.

This is the Gospel’s other challenge. That we would do what Jesus said would be the task of all who claim his name.

Lent 2023 Series

Why is our evangelism broken?

A friend posted the following question on Facebook. I wanted to respond, but I did not want to blow up the thread. So, I decided to take some time to think about the question and respond more fully (mainly for my sake).

On to the question.

Should our focus lean more towards training church members to invite someone to church so they can hear the gospel or on training them to share the gospel without a church invite in mind?

Let me make a couple of observations right at the beginning.

I believe framing of the question is all wrong, but I understand (at least I think I do) why it is asked this way.
The problem the Church has to address is its insistence on defining/describing the church as a location.

I want to unpack my two observations a little more fully. This is an important issue and one that we have to work harder at addressing in the Church.

First, I believe the question is all wrong.

Why? Because it poses a question that God, Jesus, the Bible, the apostles, church history will NEVER be able to answer. And the reason the question won’t be answered is that it doesn’t actually identify a problem the aforementioned saw as an issue. The idea of inviting people to go to a location to receive information has been completely foreign to the life of the church.

The notion of “thought leaders,” “content matter experts,” “influencers” and gurus is a modern innovation. This is not the way that people generally looked for answers to their questions. Life was the great teacher. And the people you did life with were the primary source of learning and growing.

To go a little deeper here, the Church does not have a focus, it has a mission. Christians don’t do training, we engage in discipleship. We don’t invite people to church, we receive them into the body. The church is not the place to hear the Gospel, ~~it’s where believers receive instruction for Gospel mission~~ it’s when believers assemble to receive instruction for Gospel mission. Until we straighten out how we are thinking and talking about these issues, we will continue to have issues.

Second, we have to stop talking about the Church as a place. Period.

The Church is everywhere. And, there may be expressions of that one Church in local congregations. And, those congregations may meet in a variety of locations. But there is still and always will be one Church. No matter how messed up the people who make her up.

This is something I’m actually working on myself. I don’t want to invite people to church. I want to invite them to visit our fellowship, or to come and enjoy our community, or attend our gathering. Anything that makes the invitation about the people present.

We have to move away from using the concepts of marketing and branding as the lens through which we interpret the Church’s identity and purpose. These are tools. Tools that we should redeem. But when the tools become the means by which we understand who and what we are, it may be time to check our hearts!

Can I Get a Witness?

Over the last few weeks our pastor has reminded the church of the vows that we made when we joined the church. I serve in a United Methodist Church and there is one question that all new members are asked by our pastor as they accept the responsibility of being members of our local church.

Will you be loyal to this congregation and uphold it with your Prayers, Presence, Gifts, Service and Witness?

Each of these vows has served as the basis of the series on Discipleship that Pastor David has been leading us through. This week we focused on the final vow, that of witness. Pastor David asked me to write the front page of the newsletter helping our church orient their thoughts for the week as we get ready for Sunday Services. You can read it below.

Continue reading “Can I Get a Witness?”