This morning, I heard a very simple message, from the chair of our Evangelism Commission, on how we could each help grow the church, in a way that seems very attainable and simple. It just takes one person.
Who is the one person is that you might bring to Christianity, and into a deeper relationship with God. Think of a friend, or a relative, or a co-worker, or maybe a neighbor.
We who are here in church today have come to be Christians through several different ways, through different upbringings, through different Sunday school teachers; we each have different ideas. We’ve all come to know God at different stages / times in our lives. This is what creates the body of Christ, the arms, the legs, the ears, the voice.
What we all have in common, though, is that we all have had teachers: Maybe they were friends, or parents/grandparents, or a co-worker, or a neighbor.
We were taught: how to find peace in our lives, how to be content, who God is, who Jesus is; what churches do; How to care for others, how to console, How to greet the man on the street, how to pray; how to gain strength through praying. We learned what is meaningful to God.
And now we have become the teachers, the ministers.
It is our Baptismal and confirmation promise to spread this Good News as it was taught to us.
It is a gift. A life changing gift. A gift to be proud of.
We need to teach the public what main-stream Christianity is about. We must teach them what does go on inside these walls. And what we do outside these walls.
All it will take for us to double our membership here at Wesley is for each of us to bring just one person to this church this year. 250 active members would become 500. In 2 years, 1,000. 3 years, 2,000.
Gandhi once said, “We must become the change we want in the world.” Let us become that change.
Think of whom you can bring to Easter Service next week, or to a church function, to the plant sale, to the July 4th celebration, to our softball games, to Wanakee!
We need to be teaching Christianity to those who are unchurched, to those who have never been to Sunday school, those who don’t know what to expect inside this sanctuary. Those who don’t know the Lord’s Prayer or the Sermon on the Mount.
We are those ministers, those teachers.
Think of someone you can help.
Continue to pray for that person.
Let God guide you.
Amen!
All of my poems are copyrighted by Raymond A. Foss, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012. All rights reserved. Contact me at Ray Foss for usage. See all 19,320+ of my poems at http://www.raymondafoss.blogspot.com Poetry Where You Live.
Sunday, April 01, 2007
Evangelism 101: It just takes one person.
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