Daring Teens To Share

Hello everyone...
Here is that article I told you I would post on the our Blog in the service yesterday. You can find the original article by Greg Stier here

Blessings!
-PK
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Ask any teenager what means most to them on this earth and most of the time the answer will come back centering around their friendships, relationships and/or how they are viewed by their peers. Evangelism risks all of these to follow the command of Christ and, as a result, triggers exponential spiritual growth in the heart of the evangelizing teenager.

When Abraham was willing to offer his son Isaac on the altar this was a courageous act that resulted in exponential spiritual growth in his own heart. According to James 2:22, “his faith and actions were working together and his faith was made complete by what he did.” In the original Greek language the words “made complete” could literally be interpreted “matured.” In other words, Abraham’s willingness to sacrifice what meant most to him resulted in accelerated spiritual maturity in Abraham.

What’s true of Abraham is true of Christian teenagers. When teenagers are willing to sacrifice their friendships if need be so that their friends can hear the message of Jesus it results in exponential spiritual growth. They pray more (because they are afraid.) They depend on God’s Spirit more (because they need His power!) And they study the Bible more (because they want to know how to answer any questions that their friends may have!)

Maybe one of the reasons why the majority of teenagers abandon their Christian faith after they graduate from high school is that they’ve never been inspired, equipped and deployed to reach their own circle of friends for Jesus before they graduated from high school.

Mormon high school teenagers are trained at “Seminary” class every school day from 6am-7am so they can be better witnesses for the Mormon church. When they graduate they get a backpack, a nametag, a bike pump and a map to our neighborhoods. For two years these young missionaries knock on doors and share their version of the Gospel message. After two years of door to door work their faith has been steeled and sealed for the long term. Maybe that’s why you don’t meet a lot of ex-Mormons. They own their faith because it, like a stake, has been driven deeply into their souls by their outreach efforts.

We are the true church of Jesus Christ (of everyday saints!) And if teenagers are unleashed on an evangelistic mission in their own schools their faith will be steeled and sealed for the long haul. As they choose to lay it all on the line to share Jesus with their friends, not only will they be used by God to save the souls of their friends, but their own souls will be transformed in the process.

Daring teens to share and equipping them to do it doesn’t just result in more lost souls being reached, it results in more Christian young people knowing, living and owning their faith for the rest of their lives.

A Story

Gilbert Bilezikian, in Community 101, tells a story that is worth repeating. It happened in the Willow Creek Community Church in Chicago. This is a church where ministry is recognised not as the privilege of the few, but as the divine call for all to invest themselves fully and joyfully in the work of the kingdom. Under the broad ministry umbrella of the church, more than a hundred subministries are in place, functioning around the clock or ready to respond to emergencies at a moment's notice. Most of those ministries were started because someone in the congregation saw a need, gathered a team of believers with similar gifting and passion around herself or himself, and, under staff coordination, launched a new dimension of outreach or community care sustained by volunteer lay workers.

One Sunday, as Bilezikian was standing at the back of the auditorium watching worshippers making their way out of the building, someone tapped him on the shoulder. Turning, he saw a shy, plain-looking woman with two small children standing quietly beside her. She said, "Dr. B, I want to thank the people of this church. It saved our lives." Intrigued by her statement, he asked her what she meant. In a flat monotone voice, without show of emotion, she told her story.

She had attended the church with her children and they had loved it. As a result she had received Jesus as her Saviour. Then, eighteen months previously, her husband had left her for another woman. He took the car and they had two months rent due on her apartment. There was no money and almost no food. She didn't know who to go to for help and all her neighbours went to work every day. She sat alone in the empty building crying all the time. She became sad and could do nothing. All that came in the mail was bills and letters from lawyers asking for money. She thought they might die and hoped that all three would die at the same time. Eventually she had the idea of going out in the middle of the night and searching her neighbours' garbage bins for food. Then, she said, a miracle happened:

One evening, the buzzer rang. When I opened the door, an angel of the Lord was standing there. She came in, saw my predicament, and left. That same evening, some people came in and brought a beautiful hot meal. A man and his son brought bags of groceries and children's clothes. They said it was all from the church's food pantry. Two people came with a little stack of twenty dollar bills and said the money was ours. I couldn't believe my eyes, for they were complete strangers to me.

The next day, the rent was paid and the phone reconnected. Two ladies came in, put a set of keys on the table, and said there was a car parked outside that was provided by the car ministry of the church and that it was mine. In the following days, they arranged for child care and gave me leads so I could look for a job. I did find a job and now we're standing on our own feet. I know we're going to make it. You see, Dr. B, this church saved our lives.

Bilezikian made a discreet inquiry and found out that the "angel" in the story was none other than the Sunday School teacher of one of the children. She had noticed the child's absence and had tried to reach the family on the phone. Upon learning that the phone had been disconnected, she assumed that they had moved away and removed the card from the file. But it was her habit to pray through the roster of children periodically. Each time she came to the name of this child she felt a strange unrest. Finally, she got up one morning, pulled out the family's address, located it on the map, and in the evening, after work, drove over - just in case.

Taken from http://www.christianity.co.nz/church11.htm

Some Midweek Fun!

Unbelievable.... when I saw this picture it was tagged "The greatest day ever"

The things people use their time for... ha...

-PK

FOLLOW UP from yesterday...

Here is the Video I showed yesterday

Kids Come And Celebrate At LifePoint This Summer!

A SMILE BOX for you

Debby Lloyd sent me this "smilebox" today of the dedication on Sunday...

Have a look at it HERE..

THANKS DEBBY!

Living SENT... not living "STAYED" : PART 2

Here is part two of the article I posted on Sunday... you can find the original version here.

"Words have meaning.  It is because words have meaning that we should take care in how we use them when speaking on the mission of God, and it is because words have meaning that we should use intentional language to involve all of God's people in all of God's mission. Words build and words destroy. Words cast vision and words halt progress. And words have the ability to lead toward a preferred future.
In church life, some words have become so codified that they may as well form a second Decalogue. Come forward, Bow your heads and close your eyes and the like are pregnant with both intended and unintended meaning. If we are to involve all of God's people in all of God's mission, we need to ensure that our articulations match our intentions.

Two decades ago, Lesslie Newbigin wisely reminded us of the need to consider context in language: "In some cultures a dog is seen as a member of the household and an object of affection; in others it is primarily a scavenger and an object of contempt. The word 'dog' has distinctly different meanings in the two cultures, and the full meaning of the word can never be exhaustively specified" (The Gospel in a Pluralist Society). In the same way that the context of dog has to be explored, the context of words like mission, missional, and global engagement must be explored and explained.
The second thing, therefore, that we need to involve all of God's people in all of God's mission is better language.
The government makes a distinction between military and civilian so that we will all recognize who is tasked with defending the country and fighting wars--the military. Leaders in the church have made an unhelpful distinction by the use of the words clergy and laity. The unintended consequence is that we are left with the impression that one group is tasked with engaging in ministry--the clergy. We know that is not so, so why not stop speaking as if it is?
It will help all of God's people to be involved in all of God's mission if we will do the work of both defining the mission and choosing an appropriate cultural articulation of the mission. As Stephen Neil has said, "When everything is mission, nothing is mission." The mission of God cannot be the catch-all that includes everything from folding bulletins, to picking up trash on the highway, to coaching a ball team, to the gospel infiltrating a previously unreached people.
Admittedly, this is made no easier by the fact that some terms cannot be agreed upon across Christendom. Try coming to unity on the meaning of kingdom or a solid definition for missional. You'll find a difficult task awaits. What can take place, however, is a local church can choose words that convey meaning in the context of that body. In turn, those words can define the mission of God, the work of the church and the role of the members. When that happens, all the members of your church can be involved in all of God's mission.
As we do this, I believe a church seeking to involve each member in God's mission--a component of any missional church--will intentionally include the motive of God's glory to be expressed among the nations. It is impossible to separate the mission of God from the glory of God since His glory is the goal of His mission. God's glory among every tongue tribe and nation can and should be a theme for every church. Habakkuk reminds us, "For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the LORD's glory, as the waters cover the sea" (2:14, HCSB).
So emphatic is God about His glory being displayed throughout the earth, that I don't think a church should call itself missional unless it is seeking to serve locally, plant nationally, and engage an unreached people group globally. Without a global vision, there will always be a missing focus resulting in a church out of balance. Rather than saying "all Christians are missionaries," I prefer to say, "All Christians ought to be on God's global mission." Remember, words have meaning. As we are careful to take context into account in our local churches, using words that clearly communicate what the mission is and what it requires, we can see a move toward all of God's people being involved in all of God's mission.

Living SENT not living "STAYED" PART 1

Here is a great article from Ed Stezer... it was posted today on the Christian Post.  I am continually amazed at How the Lord is speaking so clearly to His church.  I also thought it is a great way to follow up on what was said yesterday in our great Sunday am service together. 

Read it and tell me what you think?

"Most church leaders struggle with the ongoing issue of the people in the pews being passive spectators rather than active participants.

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Before we can consider how to help the patient we need a proper diagnosis, and a proper diagnosis begins with the question: How much of the problem is my/our fault - the very church leaders who are trying to solve it? Or, if not our fault, then the unintended side effect of our actions?

Consider, for instance, the architecture of most churches. People enter and sit in rows (like shelves at Wal-Mart) all facing the same direction (the stage) where performers alternately bless us, if things are going well, or entertain us, if they are not. By default, our gathering areas tend to passivity rather than activity. As a result, what members are asked to do when they leave the gathering is the opposite of what they were asked to do an hour ago when we were together.When we leave it's "Go and change the world," but when we are gathered it's more of "Hey, sit still and listen. Welcome to Coma Land. We'll wake you when it's over."

We need to engage all of the church in the activity God has for them. Our goal should be to move them from sitting in parallel rows to living in interconnected circles so that they might be engaged in the work of God wherever they go. It seems there are at least four ways that we can more effectively engage all of God's people in all of God's mission. These will be proposed and explored in this and three following posts.

First, we need a better hierarchy. I realize that many people may actually have a violently negative physical reaction to my use of the world hierarchy, but the fact remains that organisms require organization in order to remain healthy as they grow. A body without a skeleton may brag about its flexibility, but others will quickly point out its uselessness. There will always be a need for organization. Even if it is an organization of house churches, those single cells need structure. Our challenge is the right kind of structure.  Hierarchy sounds very "high church" coming from a "low church" evangelical like myself. But simply put, it is merely the system that a church utilizes to link the church together in its ministry and lead people to engage in God's missionary endeavor.

But, in church life we typically divide Christians into three tiers, beginning with "the lay people." These are generally viewed, and often complained about, as passive spectators. They show up on Sunday, have positions and help the ministry to function, but they are not the "professional ministers." They have other jobs like plumber, politician, homemaker and candy striper. You know - real jobs.  Next on the perceived ladder of church life (or calling) are those who have been "called to the ministry." These are the people paid to do the work of the ministry, i.e., Senior Pastors, Associate Pastors, Worship Leaders, and the rest of the "leadership team." They have answered the "call to the ministry," been trained, and now are the ones who do the ministry. Why not? They are the called and the trained.  On the top rung are those who are "called to international missions." These are those blessed souls who have left friends and family to go into the Congolese bush and engage government rebels with the gospel of Jesus. These are the "heroes of the faith" worthy of all our respect and honor - the cream of the ministry crop, so to speak. In the minds of many, they are in another ministry world altogether.

Unfortunately, for its common acceptance, this is not a biblical structure.

The Apostle Peter understood the calling on the life of every believer, which is why he wrote in his first epistle, "Based on the gift they received, everyone should use it to serve others, as good managers of the varied grace of God" (4:10, HCSB). People are called to ministry at conversion, not at some subsequent event. It is the ordinary who are called to ministry, not the extraordinary. All God's people are called to the ministry, all God's people are sent on mission. The only question is "Where?" and "Among whom?" As Charles Spurgeon, speaking of such a call, said, "Every Christian is either a missionary or an imposter."

Lay people tend to think of themselves as being there to support ministers in ministry, and ministers tend to think of themselves as being there to support missionaries in the field. The biblical picture is that all believers are ministers with different roles and assignments. Because of the false dichotomies, we have "lay people" who miss great opportunities to serve God in greater ways than they might otherwise imagine. Every believer should be alert to the call of God and ever vigilant to respond as Isaiah did, "Here I am, send me."

In other words, God wants us to put our "yes" on the table and let Him place it on the map. Ours is not to first determine where, ours is first to lean into obedience and let God work out the ministry and logistical details. Where we serve is secondary to how we serve. Our members should be living sent, not living staid. Until we remove the unbiblical hierarchy that imposes and reinforces a false view of ministry, we will continue to struggle to involve all of God's people in all of God's mission."

The Video I Spoke About This Morning

I pray this is blessing for you...

-Pastor Kevin

General Conference 2010

Hello From Edmonton,
Lots to tell you about our week here. Here is a link to the conference blog... if you are interested...
Fill you all in on Sunday...

-K