Sharing our life in Christ together and the mission of God
On this blog, I primarily focus on the gathering of the church… that is, times when believers gather together with one another.
These times are extremely important to the life and maturity of the children of God. We need one another, and we need to spend time with one another – or, as I like to say it, share our lives with one another. I believe this is part of the mission of God – seeing his children grow in their understanding of him, their trust in him, their unity with one another, and their way of life in demonstrating who he is.
However, there is another extremely important aspect of our life in Christ: taking part in the mission of God toward those who are not (yet) followers of Jesus Christ.
Last week, I wrote a couple of posts about “organic church life.” But, what about “organic church life” towards those who are not in Christ? How does our relationship with God and with one another stretch out to those who are not (yet) part of God’s family?
I’ve written about this some before, and I will probably write about this more in the coming weeks. But, for now, I want to ask you this question:
Do you have any examples of how sharing your lives with other brothers and sisters in Christ resulted in a positive impact for Christ among those who are not (yet) followers of Jesus?
I would expect “leaders” to get off the path now again…after all they are human like the rest of us. It’s when they stubbornly persist on that same path even when it is clear to everyone they are headed in the wrong direction and insist on reproaching anyone for questioning their “authority”, and suddenly toss people out on their ear that it gets a little tricky. It’s important for leaders and congregants to remember that everyone is human, commits sins and gets distracted. If a leader can’t say “Opps” and the congregation can’t say “don’t worry about it, we’ll find the way back” then what is a church community for? I think a church that can’t do that is like a dysfunctional family.
Cindi,
Did you intend for this comment to go on my previous post about leaders guiding you off the path?
-Alan
I was a part of a small group for a while where one of the brothers worked at a rescue mission. He brought many people from the mission into the group. There they received a visible expression of Christ. They saw people loving each other, caring for each other in a way that couldn’t have been expressed by a single missionary. They got to see a loving family in action.
I love to bring people into a organic Christian family so they can see a more complete picture of Christ than I as an individual can show them. Christ presents himself through many gifts and no one person has them all. A one anothering community can show love-preaching only tells about love.
Rod,
Thanks for the example! Did the people from the small group ever spend time at the rescue mission together?
-Alan
No I don’t remember spending much time there as a group but we probably would have if asked. The chaplain who was part of our group brought people from the mission there to help integrate them into a community outside of the rescue mission. Living in the christian community of the rescue mission is very helpful for the men to overcome their addictions. However after they graduate from the year program and get placed in churches the once or twice a week community is often not familial enough to meet their relational and spiritual needs.
Rod,
Thanks for the answer. I love to see groups of Christians taking their community (in Christ) out to the world. I’m finding that it’s rare though…
-Alan