I find myself struggling to see the forest for the trees! I am wondering (without much wandering) why people say they want to body to grow but do not do much to bring that growth about. To me that is like saying I want a child and then not spending time with you spouse or doing the paper work (and funding) to adopt!
I see the church being willing to reach out to Samaria and the ends of the earth; at least funding the out reach to these places. Judea again if I can pay some one to do it OK! Now Jerusalem, where we should be doing the out reach on a daily basis and helping our fellow missionaries reach folks well does God really want me to do that? Yes, Virginia God does and God may desire that you go instead of another who is aware of the need but for whatever reason is not equipped to meet that need or maybe you (or another) are the ones God desires to meet the need! I think the idea of a team approach to most out reach is a wise idea! I also think that at times a person who is outside the team may see a need that the outreach team can meet. Also a team member may see the need and not be the one to meet the need for many reasons; none of which has to do with giftedness of said team member. I see the need for a team as many fold; the first is then it is the church doing the outreach not one individual. I am not sure how to put this into words; but here I go in an attempt to try; there is person or family with the need. This person/family has no relationship to the church except the one member of the church who is aware of the need. If the person/family with the need receives ministry from the person (church member)who is aware of their need ; what is the person/family with the need going to think? I know what I would think --- thank you "john" for meeting my need; I am happy YOU CARED ENOUGH to help in my time of need! Now, had some other(s) of the church gone to the person/family (especially if a number does so/had done so) would that not reflect more on the church caring than just the one person who is aware of the need --- even if both said that it was a church base ministry?
The need I speak of was a death in a family that is not part of the church except that a child in the family comes to the children's ministry programing. I think that we lost an opportunity because some felt that the person who was already connected to the family through bring the child who is a nieghbor to the person's grandchild should have just taken care of the need. While I am sure that the person could have done so; we the body of Christ had an opportunity to show the love of Jesus to a family in stress and grief and that just might have brought a person/family into the kingdom; forget they may have come into the church and enriched it as well!! [rant off]
I see the church being willing to reach out to Samaria and the ends of the earth; at least funding the out reach to these places. Judea again if I can pay some one to do it OK! Now Jerusalem, where we should be doing the out reach on a daily basis and helping our fellow missionaries reach folks well does God really want me to do that? Yes, Virginia God does and God may desire that you go instead of another who is aware of the need but for whatever reason is not equipped to meet that need or maybe you (or another) are the ones God desires to meet the need! I think the idea of a team approach to most out reach is a wise idea! I also think that at times a person who is outside the team may see a need that the outreach team can meet. Also a team member may see the need and not be the one to meet the need for many reasons; none of which has to do with giftedness of said team member. I see the need for a team as many fold; the first is then it is the church doing the outreach not one individual. I am not sure how to put this into words; but here I go in an attempt to try; there is person or family with the need. This person/family has no relationship to the church except the one member of the church who is aware of the need. If the person/family with the need receives ministry from the person (church member)who is aware of their need ; what is the person/family with the need going to think? I know what I would think --- thank you "john" for meeting my need; I am happy YOU CARED ENOUGH to help in my time of need! Now, had some other(s) of the church gone to the person/family (especially if a number does so/had done so) would that not reflect more on the church caring than just the one person who is aware of the need --- even if both said that it was a church base ministry?
The need I speak of was a death in a family that is not part of the church except that a child in the family comes to the children's ministry programing. I think that we lost an opportunity because some felt that the person who was already connected to the family through bring the child who is a nieghbor to the person's grandchild should have just taken care of the need. While I am sure that the person could have done so; we the body of Christ had an opportunity to show the love of Jesus to a family in stress and grief and that just might have brought a person/family into the kingdom; forget they may have come into the church and enriched it as well!! [rant off]
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