Today we’re going to do things a little differently. For the next four weeks we’re going to think about church. We’re going to consider the Big Picture of what church is and how church is what it is.
Let’s begin by briefly reminding ourselves of those core values, mission and purpose statements we committed ourselves to in January.
The five core values
1. A clear commitment to Christ
2. Genuine, authentic Christian lifestyle
3. Commitment to one another
4. Committed to serve and to reach our community
5. The centrality of prayer and worship in everything we do
The mission
To know God and to make God known
The purpose
To love people into a deep and growing relationship with Jesus Christ
For us, this describes the basis for being a great church. To help us realise this vision, we’re going to apply ourselves to four key themes:
Today we’re looking at the journey.
Understanding the journey
#1 Principles
Offering support
Teaching
Non-judgmental
At this point the congregation divided into small to groups to answer these three questions:
Who is on your heart at this time?
What groups of people are on your heart?
What should we do differently to help these people and groups move one step closer to God?
#2 Overcoming Obstacles
Cultural: Things like background and upbringing.
Social: Lifestyle choices
Theological: What do I truly believe? Is Dan Brown right or is the apostle Paul right? Why should I believe what you say is true?
Spiritual: Sin, the Bible tells us, leaves a person spiritually blind.
#3 How did Jesus approach the journey?
Bill Hybels in Just walk across the Room identifies 5 lessons from the master:
1. Bridge the chasm
2. Ask a question
3. Practice patience
4. Beware of rabbit trails
5. Give hope to the hopeless
Maybe as important as the things Jesus did, are the things he didn’t do. He didn’t:
- Start in the wrong place: Theology with Nicodemus but not with the Samaritan woman
- Dominate the conversation: He let the other person set the boundaries of the conversation. They had “stop/go control”. Yes, he asked good questions, he pushed doors, but I get the feeling that if the woman had said, “Let’s not go there,” Jesus would have changed direction.
- Criticise for the sake of criticism
Conclusion
So, if we agree that everyone in somewhere on a spiritual journey, then we must ask ourselves not only what the church needs to do differently to help these people but what are we going to do differently to be a spiritual guide or friend to the lost and missing we know and meet day after day.
So let me finish by asking you this one question: What are you going to do differently from now on to help those around you meet with God?
