Author: Wick

When is the last time you were involved in “evangelism”?  When we hear this, most of us think about a program through our church.  Maybe Vacation Bible School, or a mission trip, or that one time we happened to invite a friend to church, and hope they kept coming.  We may even think about the small group we’re a part of, and hope to “envelope” people into the larger church by the relationships built in the small group we’ve invited others to.

In Neil Cole’s, “Cultivating a Life for God“, he presents the simple idea he calls “Life Transformation Groups”.  He calls people who love Jesus, and want the good news of freedom from sin, and New Creation to spread, to be purposefully involved in evangelism.  Cole points out that a healthy church, perhaps even a church that is actually “being” the church, will have this type of thing happening.  Too often we rely on pastoral staff, or discipleship “programs”, or “step by step” introduction to the faith type classes, that often start a few months from now, etc.  Even in our own church, there was an instance of a woman who wanted to “come to Jesus”, but had to wait because of scheduling difficulties.  That probably shouldn’t happen.

The idea is simple, and seems like an exciting proposal:  1. Find someone of the same gender who desperately wants to change the direction they’re life is going, and is open to Christ.  2.  Meet with them on a regular basis doing three things: confessing sin, discussing scripture read the previous week (20-30 chapters a week), and praying for others who need to experience Christ by name.  3. Eventually you’ll invite another to join you, but when you have 4 people meeting regularly for a few weeks, split into two groups, and continue the pattern.

This seems like an easy thing, but I believe many of us will be faced with some realizations early on in the process.  First, many of us have relegated our experience of God to a “what He did in my life once upon a time”.  The regular meeting and accountability questions found in such conversations forces us to either confess our inactive faith in an Active God, or name what we believe God is working through our lives.  Second, most of us wouldn’t hide the fact that our usual diet of scripture (read as the Word from God, not as something to be studied) is much less than 20 chapters a week.  But to challenge ourselves to read more than we think we can handle (but can actually be accomplished in about 30 minutes a day or less), forces us to be open to full-context Words from God that can actually apply to our lives without needing a commentary or even a pastor to always explain it to us.

The potential for these intimate, self-sustaining, Spirit-led, naturally multiplying groups targeting actual life-transformation, and encouraging the continued life-transformation of those “already on board” seems like a pretty sweet thing.  The idea is that there is a world-wide church, with local bodies, with ministries/small groups, made up of life transformation groups.  If you’re interested, I’d definitely recommend giving the book a read, and maybe even throwing a few at others who want something more intimate than their small group currently provides.

Now I just need to find a guy who really really wants God to change his life alongside me…my guess is he doesn’t read my blog. 🙂

I know there were quite a few things that people could have done without this week.  Power losses.  Parents frustrated at finding places for their kids while school was off, but work was on.  Shoveling snow.  Slipping on the ice.  Injuries both minor and major.  Sorry to anyone who experienced this past week as a burden.  But for me, it was great. 🙂

It’s been a busy month.  I generally feel I do an okay job of balancing family life with work life with social life with personal life, etc.  Okay, maybe not always.  But this past couple months especially included quite a few things that couldn’t be changed/rescheduled/denied.  From the get togethers’, parties, and programs of celebrating Christmas/New Years, through the loaded January of 2011, culminating with the annual “Frostbite Senior High Retreat” (which went GREAT, thanks to all of Gods’ incredible volunteers/workers)…I entered this week needing to breathe slower.

It really wasn’t that bad here in Decatur, especially when looking at pictures from Chicago, and hearing amounts of accumulation from cities not too far from us.  7 inches of snowfall, give or take, with a few inches of icy snow at the bottom.  Sure, it’s been slippery.  Yeah, many of us have gotten stuck or had to help someone else out who got stuck.  But in the midst of it all, great things happened.

I’m my neighborhood, and possibly yours, there’s an unspoken assumption of relationship.  Kinda like being “Facebook Friends” with a vague acquaintance, many of us assume we’re friends simply because we live in the same neighborhood.  But nothing breaks the ice and develops actual friendship like walking down the street with your shovel…having time and ability to offer.  It was great to connect with a few people who normally pass like ships on a mission.

But even greater were the moments at home.  Nothing spectacular was created.  We didn’t use the time to work on a specific project that needed done.  The bathroom faucet still leaks.  But we threw pillows and blankets on the floor to enjoy a movie or two.  I got to stomp my wife in Scrabble (okay, it was “Upwords”, and it was pretty much neck and neck all the way).  We made food and ate together.  We danced to Veggietales, and realized Ruby is already mouthing/singing the words as best as she can.  I even read a little bit with some freshly roasted coffee.  It was beautiful.

May we make effort in the next month, to assist “Sabbath moments” in breaking through.  They are needed, both in relationships with those around us, and especially with those we share a home with.  God can do great things, when we slow down a bit more…(or are slowed down). 🙂

Many of us have in our “living as New Creations” comes in the form of an inability to speak about what God has done/is doing in our lives.  I see this often in my teens, whose usual high decibel level drops significantly at the question, “What is God doing in your life?”  For whatever reason, we kind of approach the topic as this picture might suggest:

 

Are you different today because of Christ?  Tell someone.  Is God doing something in your heart and life right now?  Talk about it.  Do you desire God to move in your life in a new way?  Confess that desire, and pray with someone.

1 Peter 3:15 – “But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect,”

Step 1 from this verses seems to be “have hope”.  Obviously this is the same source of hope for everyone, but the verse here doesn’t say “say _____________” when people ask you the reason for the hope that you have.  Why not?  Because it’s YOUR story.  What God has done/is doing in your life.

A good place to start may be asking the question – “What is the story I would tell someone else right now?”