Continued from yesterday...
So we as a church body seek to live and breathe grace, which
makes for a beautiful environment when we do it, and reminds us how much we
need grace when we neglect to do it. As
in any culture, many seemingly unrelated aspects of the culture are truly
inter-related and integrated. A culture
could not exist without all of the individual parts. Some of the main parts of our church culture
are an attitude of grace, an involvement by the majority in some sort of
ministry, and a sense that good works are essential to our witness. Church does not exist unto itself, but exists
to reach out. If we stop growing, like
any living cell, we begin to die.
Such a perspective also helps keep the church from spending
too much time in what Neil Cole calls the “Christian ghetto.” (church3.0, pg. 54). We don’t want to lose contact with our
unsaved neighbors, family members and friend.
The community does not exist to serve the church. Quite the contrary, the church exists to
serve the world. Its primary mission is
spiritual. The gospel is very good news
from God to man regarding the hope we have through the person and work of Jesus
Christ. It is revealed through His Word,
the Bible, and is communicated by members of His family, who affectionately
call each other “brother” and “sister.”
Through an understanding and acceptance of this good news by faith, man
experiences a new birth. Something
marvelous and mystical happens. One’s
relationship with his Creator changes.
One’s heart is stirred. Living
water begins to flow from the inside out.
If we lose either a clear focus on the communication of the
Word of God, or an outward-looking vision to reach those not yet part of the family,
the church quickly is diminished, and degenerates into a sort of glorified
Kiwanis chapter or a bizarre sub-culture where “God bless you” loses all its
sacred meaning, and ends up being Christian-speak. In our young church, we resist using hermano and hermana as the standard, catch-all greeting, all too common in
other churches. Why? Because it’s too easy to use “brother” and
“sister” as a cover-up to the fact that I don’t remember someone’s name! Love remembers your name. I can’t imagine Jesus greeting one of us in
heaven, and hesitating a bit… “Hey,
Peter, what’s this guy’s name again….?!”
Back to Jessica, and
her daughter Jessica, and her son Alexis.
Two weeks ago, Jessica the mother prayed to accept Jesus as her Savior. Last week, both Jessica, now thirteen, and
Alexis, now nine, also prayed, putting their faith in trust in the Lord. Both Mayra and Aurora commented that they
both ended up crying as they witnessed the tender, sincere, honest prayers of
two young kids.
I remember seeing Jessica seated by the water tower last
year, talking to a friend, watching her kids play basketball. We have now run a total of six ten-to-twelve
week semesters of community center activities, with a closing ceremony at the
end of each one. Jessica brought her
kids to our activities from the very first course. Her children benefited from our good works,
done in Jesus’ name, offered with an open hand—free of charge. She saw God’s love in action, even though she
did not actually attend any formal church activity till nearly two years
later.
Over the past two years we have offered guitar and keyboard
classes, baking classes, and 3-4 days of English classes every week. Mexican folkloric dance and even country line
dancing, martial arts and knitting classes, as well as basketball and street
hockey have been offered to the community at no cost to them. One of our church members offers physics and
math classes on Saturday morning, and others have helped paint an evangelistic
mural that gives a constant, 24/7 witness to the truth and power of the gospel,
right in the middle of the community in which we minister. We have hosted several medical brigades,
where dentist and medical care is offered free of charge, and a local Christian
veterinarian gives rabies shots free of charge.
We’ve cut a lot of heads of hair.
The liberating aspect of good news combined with good works
is that are message is fortified by the strength of our praxis, our community-impacting works. Such an integrated approach is a seed-sowing
one. Results are not automatic or
quick. But when people realize that your
consistent smiles and friendship, combined with something that is truly
beneficial to their lives, is not motivated by money or by some ulterior motive
(at least not one that they understand), at some point they just might be
interested in the “why” behind your service.
They will be much more open to hear about your Savior, if they feel some
of His love first.
When Jesus was asked what were the greatest commandments, He
answered, “Love God with everything within you, and love your neighbor as
yourself.” Maybe He was on to something.
Quote of the Day: Matthew 5:13-16
“You
are the salt of the earth. But what good is salt if it has lost its
flavor? Can you make it salty again? It will be thrown out and trampled
underfoot as worthless.
“You are the light of the world—like a city on a hilltop that cannot be hidden. No
one lights a lamp and then puts it under a basket. Instead, a lamp is
placed on a stand, where it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your good deeds shine out for all to see, so that everyone will praise your heavenly Father.
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