It was a celebration of the gospel of Jesus Christ…
I’m something of a “what’s next?” kind of guy…so I asked God to give me an answer to that, for our church…
So I started reading in the NT all the things that happened after Easter, after Christ’s resurrection…and boy did I find some interesting stuff! Here’s a brief overview of what’s next in terms of Easter…
-certainly met with His disciples as a group, many times over the 40 days before His ascension…focused exclusively on His disciples…so that He could provide Acts 1:3 “many convincing proofs that He was alive…”
1) changed the lives of certain individuals (had personal encounters with a few key individuals that transformed them forever – gave His personal attention to certain people who really needed Him…met them at their point of need…)
• Mary Magdalene - Jn 20 (comfort for her sorrow)
• Thomas - Jn. 20 (assurance for his doubt)
• Peter – Jn 21 (restoration and recommissioning)
• two disciples on the road to Emmaus – Lk. 24
(insight, hope and passion)
2) spoke about the kingdom of God Acts 1:3
• started a kingdom, missional movement
3) empowered His disciples with the Holy Spirit
Lk 24:49, Jn 20:22, Acts 1:4,5,8
4) gave His followers a mission
Mt 28:18-20, Lk 24:47-48, Jn 20:21, Acts 1:8
Summary of Jesus’ post-resurrection activities: launched a missional movement…our language today, developed a culture of outreach…
-it appears that everything Jesus did with His disciples after His resurrection was intended to launch a mission, inaugurate an outreach movement…to send His people on a mission to reach people…to invite people to join Him on His mission which is to seek and save the lost…to develop a culture of outreach…
…and then He organized a church around His mission…He started building His church as the God-given means of getting His work done on the earth…
“God does not have a mission for His church; He has a church for His mission”. Christopher Wright.
We so easily get it backwards…we think that the church exists for us first…meet our wants and needs… (expand)…
…that’s how we become inward focused and that’s how mission gets pushed down the list of priorities…
I’ve been thinking a lot about a church culture of outreach…especially in the past several months…our LC has been thinking and praying about this too…when we had our retreat last Sept and asked the Lord, “What’s next?” this is what He seemed to be saying to us…
What is a church culture of outreach?
-an atmosphere and mindset where connecting with people becomes a way of life…both inside and outside the church…an outflow of the gospel life of Christ…
…natural, not forced or phony… a willingness to sincerely engage with another person…not just to preach the gospel at them, but to be kind, friendly, helpful, loving, interested…
-it is an “others-focus” where we step out of our comfort zone of familiarity and get to know other people…
-and we do this because of a God-given, growing heart of love for people that comes from God’s heart of love for people…out of a life that has been impacted by the gospel…
When a church has a culture of outreach, it has an atmosphere pervaded by relationships…not that you’re best friends with everyone, but that you can relate to anyone with Christ-like love…
But it goes further: a culture of outreach is also formed by a missionary mindset…that we see ourselves as people who are sent by Christ into this world to bless others, serve others, help others…tell others about the gospel of Jesus and His love…tell them our story about how Jesus has changed our lives…
One of the things I am most proud of about our church is that we are very missions-minded. We see it in the many missionaries we support; the ones we have sent out from this congregation…the awareness we generate in our services, missionaries that we hear from regularly in our services: the partnership with Marare thru FH; many short-term mission trips…Alpha course, ESL…the Persecuted Church around the world…
…not to mention those of you who are engaging people in your neighborhood, workplace and sharing Christ’s love with others…sharing the gospel…so commendable…God’s blessing is on a church that is involved in missions…
But the thinking of the average person in the average church goes like this: we have a missions program; our church supports missionaries; there are people called to be missionaries. I am not one of them.
I am not a missionary. I am not called or trained to tell others about Jesus, so I will give to missions and pray for missions, but I will leave it up to the missionaries or those who have the gift of evangelism to do the work of missions…
The sad thing about that way of thinking is that we excuse ourselves from the call of God given to each of His people to go and make disciples, especially those we come in contact with everyday in our world…
…sure, not everyone will be a career missionary, but we’re all called to have a missionary mindset…as the called and sent people of God into our world to love and bless and serve the people God puts in our path…
eg neighbor dinner…told them the story of how we found our house…God wanted us here to get to know you…
Developing a culture of outreach goes beyond formal missions…goes beyond a missions program, ministry…a culture of outreach is not just a planned, programmed approach to engaging people, it is natural, organic, the overflow of the life of Christ filling in us…
-having a culture of outreach is not adding a whole bunch of new activities to your already busy life…it is living your life with a mindset that is willing to look for the God-given opportunities to touch someone’s life…
eg Ralph’s story…
A Biblical Snapshot of a Church Culture of Outreach
Acts 2:42-47
They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles.
All the believers were together and had everything in common. They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts.
They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.
How does God develop this culture?
-good question, because the Lord does have an equipping strategy for us to develop a church culture of outreach…and it is: the four things we mentioned earlier:
1. Jesus changes our lives
2. teaches us about the kingdom of God
3. empowers us with the Holy Spirit
4. gives us a mission
-this will be the outline for my next four messages…
…but before I get to those, you will have the wonderful blessing of hearing from 2 very gifted teachers, who not only communicate God’s word effectively but they themselves live out this calling in their everyday lives…
Audrey and I are getting away for a break and a rest, so next Sunday Pastor Joel David…then the Sunday after that Dr. David Williams…
So this is what’s next…this is where we’re going…we are joining the post-resurrection purpose of God…developing a
culture of outreach…the very thing He did after His resurrection and what He is still doing with His disciples today…
A Safe Place to Start
-there is one simple step we can take today to help us further develop a culture of outreach in our church…a very easy, safe step: start by talking to someone right here in our own church that you don’t know very well…say hi to someone…maybe have a brief conversation…can’t fail…
“Hi I’m…and what’s your name?” Have you been here for a long time or a short time?”
Another great place to further develop a culture of outreach is at the communion table…spending time focusing on the love of Christ shown to us through His death on the cross…
…this is the best place to have our hearts filled with the love of Christ for people…for our mindset to be formed around mission…and for our lives to be brought into alignment with God’s purpose for our lives…
Prayer…Worship…