GETTING OUT THERE - PART 3

2 Peter 3 speaks about the fact that God’s delay in returning to earth is directly tied to his heart for people’s salvation.  “He is not willing that any should perish but all should come to repentance.”  This makes it incumbent on the church to be involved in taking the good news of God’s forgiveness and salvation to all people.  We at CCC want to be witnesses for Christ in the places we live, work, go to school, and shop.  As such we’ve identified ways to connect people to the gospel.  The five areas we would like to be effective in are:

Community Engagement

Support Ministries

Events of Connection

Evangelism Training

International Students

Over the last two weeks we identified things we are doing in the first two areas listed above.  Now on to the third...

To complete the picture we would like to create events that are interesting to people in our community to which our people can invite them.  Events like a Christian Comedian, Christian Illusionist, events along those lines.  We also want to build relationships with international students, kids needing friendship while living in a new culture and setting, away from friends and family.

In addition we all could benefit from taking seriously opportunities to learn to share our faith effectively.  It is well said that competence breeds confidence.  When we feel competent in sharing the gospel message with people it is a whole lot easier to open up spiritual conversations.

As we move into the next 12 months, it is my heart that we, the people of CCC, will move “reaching out to others” to the top of our list of things to be involved in.

GETTING OUT THERE - PART 2

The church is God’s chosen vehicle with which to accomplish His mission on earth, namely, to make disciples of all peoples.  Centerville Community Church desires to be on mission with God, committed to living Christ and sharing Christ in such a way that people’s hearts are open to God’s love, forgiveness and eternal life.

Last week I laid out the things we are doing as examples of Community Engagement.  Today I want you to be aware of opportunities in the area of Support Ministries, the second component of our five core foci.

SUPPORT MINISTRIES

Celebrate Recovery – Led by Adam Leigh and a strong team of people who understand the value of this ministry, Celebrate Recovery helps people get healthy from past wounds and addictions.

Divorce Care – Led by Kathy Purple and Dave Gillespie, Divorce Care brings hope and healing to people during the grief and pain of divorce.

Miami Valley Women’s Center – Though not a direct ministry of CCC we have many people involved in bringing hope and help to women and men dealing with a crisis pregnancy.  This Christ honoring and Christ centered ministry is led by Cindy Good, executive director, and through its ministry hundreds of women and men are loved in Jesus’ name and given biblical and practical help.  It is a joy to hear the testimonies of those who have given their lives to Christ.

Those are the ministries we are currently involved in.  We would like to add the following as leaders are identified:

Grief Share – A ministry to those dealing with the grief and pain of lost loved ones.

ESL – English as a second language – A ministry helping people from other countries develop English speaking skills.

Financial Counseling – Helping people create paths to financial freedom and peace through the biblical principles God has given us.

Feel a draw to any of these ministries?  I’d love to hear from you.

GETTING OUT THERE

I know.  The blog looks a bit long, but hang in there with me.  Important stuff sometimes takes a little more room.

We have been talking about getting Messy, taking faith filled risks to get the Good News of Jesus to others.  There is no greater message of eternal hope than the good news that Jesus loves us so much He went to unfathomable lengths to show us that love, even death on a torturous cross.  Yet as believers in Jesus we confess that our efforts to connect to people who are on the outside of faith is often subpar .  In our commitment to be a church that loves God and loves people we want to enter into people’s lives with the heart and love of God in practical ways, thereby opening doors to share His full redemptive love in Christ.

Two Sundays ago I mentioned an Outreach Model that we want to follow.  It includes five different categories that we want to participate in to connect us to people more intentionally.  I want you to get familiar with them, and look for areas of interest where you would like to be involved.    We honor Christ and his death when we do that.

CATEGOROES

Community Engagement

Support Ministries          

Events      

Training          

International Students 

For the next three weeks I want to relay to you what we are doing to keep walking into the lives of people in each of these areas.  The FIRST, Community Engagement.  Here we go...

MINISTRIES

The Castle – Kirk Smith is heading this up.

          A ministry to mentally challenged people who spend week days in Adult Day Care.    

          We provide a Monthly meal for lunch that is cooked up in our church kitchen during Cooking Night.   

Joes Java - Amy Lane oversees this ministry.

A holistic ministry helping underprivileged people in need of food, clothes and spiritual healing.  We provide a monthly lunch.  

Food2Go/Blessings in a Bag - Gina Smith, Bob Clemons are on top of this one.                      

          Providing donated food on weekends for children in need K-6.  

Shoes 4 the Shoeless – Rachel Ennis, Elizabeth Presher, and Lisa Carlin are launching this one.

Coming in June we will be helping provide shoes to children in need who have outgrown the shoes they have, or are wearing worn out shoes.  Look for details over the next few weeks.

Dayton City Mission – Gilbert/McCann Community Group have been faithfully serving.

One of our community groups goes to the mission on a designated Thursday night to help serve food and clean up.

Love Packages – Ralph Bishop has blessed this ministry with his leadership.

Providing Bibles and books for ministry overseas.

Miami Valley Women’s Center -  Served by a number of church volunteers.

Supporting and mentoring women and men who find themselves in a crisis pregnancy.

Here is my dream.  I will serve as Outreach Director overseeing all five major categories.  In addition we would have people from the congregation step up to lead one of the five categories, working with people interested in specific ministries under those categories.  Additional ministries may be added and others may end.  What we do under those categories is fluid.  

So there you have the first category.  Next week you can see what is going on in Support Ministries. 

CLUTTER - REPOST

I was looking at my garage the other day.  Then I looked at my basement.   I couldn’t believe the stuff that has been piling up over these past two years.  Things had been placed orderly and neatly.   Now shelves designed for car stuff, lawn stuff, kids toys, school memorabilia, books, pictures could all be labeled “miscellaneous”.   What happened?  What happened is what we call “clutter”.  

That word clutter is never used in a positive context.   It is saying we have allowed a lot of stuff to accumulate where it really doesn’t belong.   That’s not saying the stuff isn’t good stuff.  It’s just too much of it.  Everything just starts to crowd out the stuff that should be front and center.  It looks messy after a while whether it’s our home, mind or life.  So we have garage sales, or we take things to Goodwill, or bag them up to give our kids (so they can deal with the clutter.)  

Clutter can happen in our spiritual lives, too.  I have bookmarks in four books.  Two magazines are on my desk waiting to be read.  I’m in three Bible studies, involved in two service ministries, in church for worship, (where I hope I can get my mind and heart focused), administrate and lead the church’s mission and vision, meet with staff, give pastoral care. 

Spiritual busyness can cause clutter.  All good stuff, but maybe too much stuff where I lose sight of what needs to be front and center.   

Did you notice something missing from the above list?  P-R-A-Y-E-R!  And it is never clutter.  It should always be front and center.  So keep that in mind when you take inventory of your spiritual life.  Has a lot of good stuff crowded out the best stuff?  Does prayer have its rightful place?  Make sure no “clutter” chokes it out or covers it up.

Lord, keep teaching us to pray!

A LIFE VERSE

Do you have a life verse, that special passage in the Bible that spoke to you so emphatically when you read it that its impact has never been forgotten, it shapes your heart and life, and you keep returning to its truth?  

Mine is II Corinthians 5:14, 15.  “For the love of Christ controls us, having concluded this, that one died for all, therefore all died; and He died for all, that they who live should no longer live for themselves, but for him who died and rose again on their behalf.”

I drew from these verses the same things the apostle Paul did.  Christ’s love on the cross, where He bore my judgment in His sinless body and I was given eternal life through His death, was so amazing, so incomprehensible it could lead to only one conclusion, “If He, the very Son of God, died for me, I can do nothing else, but live for Him.”

Reviewing these verses from time to time help me evaluate how I’m doing.  It helps me make needed attitude adjustments, revise my perspective and priorities, remember what really matters in life, how I am to live.  Having a life verse can be a helpful tool.  It can be God’s chisel that He uses to keep shaping our hearts.

Do you have one?  If not, read the Word and let the Spirit of God connect one to your heart and mind.