As you read this article, think about the community where you live. Think about the people, all kinds of people with a wide variety of circumstances and situations. There are kids in foster care (not far from your ministry center–building) who are desperately in need of an adult mentor. Sixty percent of the convalescent home residents in your community and neighboring communities sit alone and will never get a visitor before they die.
At the same time these people are suffering, there are “Christians” in your church family who continue to wonder what they should be doing... “what does God want me to do, what am I qualified to do?” These same folks have the time and resources to make a difference, but for some reason they’re stuck at the starting gate... doing nothing while the serious needs of people, downtrodden and victimized, are going unmet all around them.
Jesus said in John 14:12, “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father.”
God is challenging us to believe in Him, to do big things in this world, big things that will undoubtedly involve caring for people who are hurting. Can you imagine if there was a consistent influx of fresh ministry ideas coming from your congregation's members to help those in your community? These needs combined with the “people resource” available in your congregation and the biblical mandate to address that need is enough to bring about a substantial change. (Matthew 28:19-20; James 1:27)
Imagine if people in your congregation were initiating contact with community agencies, building positive relationships, and securing partnerships for fresh new approached to outreach ministry. Mission work does not have to expensive, or involve travel to far off foreign lands to serve the needs of hurting people. Outreach should first be local, targeted, and focused on our own communities. That’s what Jesus said... and we ought to listen carefully to His vision of how the gospel would be proclaimed (Acts 1:8).
Imagine if visitors were coming to your church, not only to check you out, but to experience more of the love they consistently receive from your congregation’s members as a result of outreach... caring for those in need.
The goal of every assembly of believers is to find ways to mobilize, to motivate one another, to get out and do something about meeting the practical everyday needs of people in your community.
Our mission is simple... we need to act like the “Church” we are, instead of just going to a place we call church. We need to act like the people of God–doing, caring, serving, meeting needs whenever possible and wherever we can.
Don’t say you can’t do it, or you don’t have enough “people” resources to develop outreach efforts. You do! God designed His "Church" to rely on volunteer-led ministries. Okay, what next? You pick up the phone and call the local cash-strapped social service agencies in your community who desperately need volunteer assistance and you partner with them. Local agencies cannot begin to address the needs in the community because most city’s have serious budget deficits. The local church family can fill these gaps. Get out there and do something that raises community awareness of who you are and who you represent... the Lord of Lords... Jesus Christ!
Are you convinced that there is a tremendous amount of firepower sitting in your congregation able to do the work? God has a plan to unleash this power and to do something God-honoring in your community. HE needs you to step up and accept the challenge and begin doing, not just watching... wondering... pondering... what should "we" be doing?
Act like Jesus... adopt his attitude of being ready to help whenever and wherever he could. Jesus was Prepared to do something, had a simple Purpose behind what He did, and did not let Pain [personal inconvenience] hinder Him. He also utilized the Holy Spirit’s Power and was fueled by a Passion to help “widows and orphans” and He never quit on people. (James 1:27)
We can assemble these same attributes and attitudes in our Christian walk in serving others. We are Prepared to do something (Eph 2:10) and have the same Purpose as Jesus: obeying God (1 John 5:3). We will experience Pain and a bit of discomfort, but it does not always have to hurt or inconvenience us; it can lead us to righteousness (Heb 12:11). We have the Holy Spirit’s Power available to us (Acts 1:8), and we will need to exercise Passion in order to do everything God has called us to do (Luke 9:62).
Jesus said of true believers in Matthew 7:16, “You will know them by their fruit.” If God can bring about practical change in our individual lives, why can’t we be used by HIM to bring about practical change and improvement in our communities?
Our greatest desire should be to see our congregations working in the streets, doing something about the pain and brokenness of unbelievers. We have the solution to life’s pain and suffering... it’s Jesus! Let us be the hands and feet of Jesus to those in our own communities.
In the end, we are not going to be held accountable for the size of the ministries we built. We will be judged on the size of the impact we made with those ministries. Ready... Set... GO... DO... SERVE!
