Abundant Resources

When we think we don't have sufficient resources to do what God is calling us to do, we can be courageous and look to Jesus as our example.

First, Jesus notices... 

he always notices what's happening.  

Jesus beckons us to notice
and to have compassion.

... Jesus crossed to the far shore of the Sea of Galilee (that is, the Sea of Tiberias), and a great crowd of people followed him because they saw the signs he had performed by healing the sick. Then Jesus went up on a mountainside and sat down with his disciples. The Jewish Passover Festival was near.

When Jesus looked up and saw a great crowd coming toward him, he said to Philip, “Where shall we buy bread for these people to eat?” He asked this only to test him, for he already had in mind what he was going to do.  JOHN 6:1-6

One of the disciples responded with and excuse...

Philip answered him, “It would take more than half a year’s wages to buy enough bread for each one to have a bite!”

How often do we respond in the same way?  Jesus notices and speaks, we hear and fail to notice, or find excuses to not have compassion enough to act.  We think we don't have the resources, when in fact, God has all the resources we need!  We may not have them in our hand, and yet, when we take a look around, there they are!

Another of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, spoke up, “Here is a boy with five small barley loaves and two small fish, but how far will they go among so many?”

The resources are all around us.
When we take what may seem like a meager amount to Jesus,
he has the ability to bless and multiply them into enough!

Do we fail to look or take those meager provisions to Jesus because we don't really believe he can multiply them?  Jesus never panics, he never worries, and he is never in a hurry.  

Jesus said, “Have the people sit down.” There was plenty of grass in that place, and they sat down (about five thousand men were there). Jesus then took the loaves, gave thanks, and distributed to those who were seated as much as they wanted. He did the same with the fish.

Jesus orchestrates the distribution of food

with complete confidence that there will be enough

When they had all had enough to eat, he said to his disciples, “Gather the pieces that are left over. Let nothing be wasted.” So they gathered them and filled twelve baskets with the pieces of the five barley loaves left over by those who had eaten.

It is only after the crowds see the miracle that they truly believe Jesus is the Prophet, the promised Messiah, who was to come into the world. By choosing to not notice and act upon what Jesus may be prompting for us, we are prohibiting those watching from the blessing of seeing evidence that Jesus truly is the promised one of God. 

After the people saw the sign Jesus performed, they began to say, “Surely this is the Prophet who is to come into the world.”

Jesus notices.
He has compassion.
He asks his followers to seek a solution.

My friends at FiveTwo say it this way:  The five thousand plus were fed by five loaves and two fish belonging to one of the five thousand plus.  The disciples were blind to the resources in front of them and blind to Jesus’ power to multiply them.  

Jesus notices.
He has compassion.
He asks his followers to seek a solution.
And... everything the we need to serve the community is already in the community.  It just needs to be brought to Jesus for blessing. 

I challenge you to notice what may be all around you, not only what you have in your hand!

Rights, Privileges, and Responsibilities

Graduation is an end and a beginning, that special moment when one holds all the preparation of the degree in their hands with the anticipation of how it will be utilized. 

It is much the same 

with the gift of faith from God!

For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.

So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer.  Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!  All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation.  We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God.  God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.  2 CORINTHIANS 5:14-21

When a person graduates and receives an educational degree, 

the President of the University confers upon the graduates 

"all the rights, privileges, and responsibilities appertaining thereunto."  

In receiving that degree, the reality is that the graduate has almost no new rights nor privileges; however they do have a new status and with that the associated responsibilities that have been conferred.  At this moment of transfer, they are now challenged to live up to all the potential for which the degree has prepared them.

It is much the same when we receive the gift of faith.  

In the world around us we don’t have new rights or privileges; however, we do have a new status with God and the rights and privileges associated with the Kingdom of Heaven.  In the realm of the world, the person of faith doesn't have any new rights or privileges, but what she does have is the invitation and challenge of living up to the responsibilities of a person who is reconciled to God.  

God has called you and me to help others become reconciled to God also.

Paul implores us on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. God made him who had no sin to be son for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.  

"Righteousness” is defined as “one who lives in accord with divine law.”  As we pray the Lord's Prayer, "Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done, On earth as it is in heaven," we can recognize that it is the Lord who has entrusted us demonstrate God's mercy and grace in this world and communicate the Good News of salvation through Jesus' redeeming work on the cross.   

So, enjoy your new status and exercise your new responsibilities well!

Shifting Gears- Outreach into Mission

Photo by brownpau

In recent months, I've been in the midst of clergy from a variety of Christian denominations.  Many are serving waning congregations, experiencing frustration, and being drawn into a rediscovery of mission.  While challenging, these are exciting times as we experience God's movement right before us!  

A SHIFT is happening...

I've been a Christ follower since the mid-1980's.  During my time in the church, outreach has been the mission focus of the local church, and mission was done by specially trained personnel who went to foreign fields and was funded by members of the local church.  Outreach was close and Mission was far away.  

The United States is now the 3rd largest mission field in the world.   

OUTREACH is shifting into MISSION

OUTREACH tends to take a congregation-centric approach, where mission expansion is limited to a geographic region around the congregation.   Generally, the congregation’s leaders determine the ministries and areas of focus and recruit congregation members to support and participate in them.  The way most church-goers have been trained for outreach is generally limited to assisting in church-sponsored programs and in inviting people to the church to be discipled by the pastor and certain trained leaders at the church location. 

MISSION tends to take a deployed-missionary approach.  Missionaries have a sense of being sent to help a certain group of people know Jesus.  Before a missionary is sent off to foreign lands, they receive training, develop a network of support, and are prepared to disciple the people that they are serving in the location of the people.  

A Missionary thinks differently,
instead of thinking how does s/he get people
to come and join what s/he's doing,
s/he considers how to join others in what they're doing
and look for opportunities to share the Good News of Jesus.   

In order to approach domestic outreach
in the same way as foreign mission,
two major shifts are necessary

Shifting where activity is focused

preparing everyday missionaries

to join people where they are.

Shifting the responsibility for discipling

equipping and resourcing everyday missionaries to walk 

a journey of discipleship with the people that they are serving.  

WHEN a normal part of the conversation becomes about encouraging God's people to consider whom God is calling them to serve and disciple, the focus for where people spend their time will begin to shift.  

WHEN we celebrate the sending of a domestic missionary, our focus shifts from a sense of loss in the local congregation, to a sense of gain for the Kingdom.  

WHEN we see the local congregation as a hub, a center for worship and a center of discipling, equipping and deployment, the congregation's FOOTPRINT shifts into a
 REACH, and the kingdom begins to expand with renewed vigor!