A month ago I asked several members of our church to share their interpretation of Ephesians 4, Matthew 22:34-40 and I Corinthians 13. Each of these scriptures reflects a part of the Christian message on love; love of God, love of neighbor, and unity in the Body of Christ. The question was how do we, as a church, embrace and reflect this to others? It is a challenge to be authentic with faith and love because we get in the way. But we are called to get out of the way and let God flourish instead.
This question about how we live faith and act out of our faith is a critical question for any church. The answer will, in effect, define our vision and purpose for the church. If we are seeking to get our own way, we cannot love God or neighbor. They are mutually exclusive. However, when we seek to live out of “Love in Motion”, as we described for our fall campaign to raise church funds, we are always being asked to do something that takes us out of our comfort zone. God did not invite us into His Kingdom to live in comfort. I know this goes against some understandings that are out there, but God called us to be servants and serve him and him alone. So, love in motion, or love in action, or demonstrating our love for God and Jesus to a hurting and wounded world is the call on the church. We need dedicated, committed Christians who are willing to give more of themselves than would feel comfortable. This calls us outside of ourselves and into God’s work. This is the goal and purpose of the church. Any Church!
At Christ UMC we are exploring the particulars of how that might look. There are five practices that make the church effective in this endeavor.
1. Passionate Worship: To give to God our heart, mind, soul, and body is the call to worship passionately. It is the responsibility of the pastor and the worship team to find ways to “Connect God to People, and to Connect People to God” When we do this with passion we are worshipping with all our heart, mind, soul, and body.
2. Salty Service: Many have been programed to fill out or turn in “Salty Service” cards. You may or may not know why. The conference and district and pastoral leadership needs to know how we are doing in serving our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. One method to do this is by filling out those cards. It helps us track and be accountable for our service to the community. Jesus said, “as you do it unto the least of these you do it unto me.” Well, how do we know we are acting on that unless we have a way of tracking?
3. Extravagant Generosity: This of course has to do with giving. We track our giving to the church and to missions as a way of looking at how committed we are to serving Jesus. As Jesus said, “Where our heart is, there our money will be.” We put our dollars toward the things that matter in our life. If we give God a little portion of our income then that reflects our faith and commitment; if we give generously that reflects a larger faith and commitment. So, extravagant generosity measures this and holds the church accountable to be serious about giving.
4. Radical Hospitality: Most churches, including Christ UMC, are friendly churches. We know one another, we care for one another and we show this through acts of kindness toward one another. But God calls us to act the same way toward the stranger, the one in need, the one left out. Radical Hospitality measures this commitment of the church toward reaching out to a community without expecting something in return. Just like we do for friends in the church. We need to look at how we accomplish this.
5. Intentional Discipleship: This measures the commitment to learn and grow as Christians and as servants of Jesus. It goes to not just Bible studies, but to acting on being a Christian and servant of Jesus. There are levels of faithfulness that are reflected by how one does the above four Practices. That level has to do with our Intentional desire to grow in the faith.
All these practices and our church’s desire to love God and neighbor fit together as we seek to put into action a plan to live out of these practices in the process of loving God and neighbor.
During 2012 we will be making an ongoing effort to lift these practices up, talk about them and build them into the life of how we do things. But in particular, we will focus on Intentional Discipleship. This will be our 2012 focus. It will also be reflected in Salty Service which we will still measure and in Passionate worship which we will strive toward. But in particular we will be seeking to grow people in their faith and in the acting out of their faith.
God Bless
Pastor Bill
