Well, I'm writing this post from then International Soul Winning Workshop in Tulsa, Oklahoma. I've really been fed these last few days and am thinking that when we get back home, we need to work on a workshop of our own for Sunshine. I'm brainstorming a little bit here and could use as many ideas as I can get. I would like to work on increasing the PASSION of reaching out to people in our community with the love of Christ. Ways to establish relationships with lost people who need to know the Lord. Feel free to post any ideas you might have in this area.
We seem to rely on inviting people into the church assembly as the main way of teaching the Word, when actually the Word says we are to GO into the world with the word. GO does not mean we have to go to the other side of the world to reach people, it could be GO down the street. The story of the good Samaritan is a good example of how to be a good neighbor. I always thought of this story as applying to me as an individual, but what could we accomplish if we took this view of our neighbor as a group and apply the lesson to areas where the need is in our community now!
Saturday, March 29, 2008
Let's Help Our Neighbors
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4 comments:
For starters... I'll repeat a concept that has become important to me - We have to think of evangelism less as selling a product and more like making friends.
What I am saying is that metaphors conjure up a certain sets of behaviors. If we conceive of our mission as the befriending of the community, we might think differently than if we limit our thinking to church services and religious activities.
Nothing wrong with church services or the sales metaphor, but it seems that this well of ideas has dried.
Angel Food is an approach to create a point of contact between folks from Sunshine and folks from the community by providing cheaper groceries. So far, it is working. However, I will confess that I struggle with how best to proceed from here.
I look forward other's thoughts and ideas.
Angel Food is a wonderful example of how we can reach out to people to satisfy their physical needs and establish pathways that could lead to a greater understanding of the love of Christ.
Here is another thought. While in Tulsa I ran into a group that trains church members to form a Critical Crisis Response team. Say there's a student killed in a car wreck, a stabbing, a shooting, a suicide, etc. The team responds in a time of great need.
Like I said, this is a brainstorm and ideas are welcome on a small and large scale. And I know we have programs at the present that serve many areas. Some ideas might work very well in programs we have, such as a response team made of doctors, nurses, chaplains that are presently in our medical group.
Let's brainstorm a little more.
Here's something--
Working in the area of benevolence, I have faced frustrations that are common to those who have been involved in the work before me here at Sunshine and those involved in the work from other congregations.
As a middle-class individual, I have no first hand knowledge of how life works for low-income folks, nor do I have any understanding of the "system". I, like most congregation's benevolence workers, am poorly qualified to do good work in this area.
When we think of reaching our community for Christ, we don't often think of becoming knowledgeable about low-income subcultures and local welfare policies as part of that effort. Yet, it seems to me that it is!
As emphasized in Scott's post, "Go" means we move toward the target, not the target move toward us.
On April 17th about 7:00pm at First Christian Church (3rd & Gay, Portsmouth), somebody from Ted Strickland's office will be presenting information about the Ohio Benefits Bank (OBB). The OBB is designed to help Ohioans of moderate and low income receive governmental services and benefits.
I have no idea what opportunity the OBB might mean for Sunshine. I think they will be looking for people to get involved. As a benevolence guy, this excites me. I hope many others can get excited too. I hope others can connect the dots between heavenly things like the salvation of souls and worldly things like our local welfare system.
Ohio Benefits Bank info-> http://governor.ohio.gov/Default.aspx?tabid=480
If they have some ways to really help, the OBB could be a great thing if our involvement only meant becoming familiar with the programs and helping those in need with the application processes. The same with other governmental forms of assistance, just knowing what is available and how to apply is a big step forward.
Great idea!
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