Inreach and teaching

Hahaha. I feel that I should throw in my own two cents. CCF has had a larger focus on Evangelism and outreach ministries this term. Not being a part of that, I'm not really sure how well those outreach attempts are working, just that I hear about their works once in a while. I've been part of too much "should we have Lifesong?" discussions to really want to get into outreach projects...haa.

I found it kind of interesting that, of all initiatives to start, the two newest ministries is Outreach (outward) and Caring (inward). And after listening Mikee talk about the importance of evangelism and outreach, in taking the Word to the people and being a lamp on campus, I feel that I should do a bit of the same for the ministry that I represent.

Lets start with the classic passage:
They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles. All the believers were together and had everything in common. Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.

- Acts 2.42 - 47 (Fellowship)

It's a good passage, describing to us what the first church is like. There is actually alot one can get out of this. But just in case, I'll write them out.

• Devotion to the Word (so the Bible was important to them) and to the fellowship (so was each other), to breaking of the bread (significance of Christ) and to prayer
  
• Wonders and miraculous signs...yes, the Holy Spirit was very visual in the time period.
  
• All the believers were together...well. They obviously hung out together. This one took a little more insight. Matthew Henry suggested that they separated themselves from the nonbelievers and poured the time into each other instead. Yet he also mentioned that they spent time with the Jews (recall that this is all happening in Jerusalem)
  
• Everything in common...There was alot of communal stuff. Sounds like Westcourt. Hahaha.
  
• Lord added to their number daily. Hmm. This entire paragraph talking about the early church, and this was the only reference to any form of outreach. From reading just this, one would think that the people didn't really even do anything. Just stuck to taking care of each other and teaching and praying and whatnot...and God did all the heart-tugging and pulled people in.
  

...he asked [Jesus], "Of all the commandments, which is the most important?"

"The most important one," answered Jesus, "is this: 'Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.'The second is this: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no commandment greater than these."

- Matthew 12.28b - 31 (Greatest Commandment)

• Love the Lord your God...the first 4 Commandments has something to do with this. Gotta be important.
  
• Love your neighbour...which pretty much encapsulates the remaining 6 Commandments. Assuming, that is, you don't steal or lie to people you love.
  

I think, ultimately, this is the point I want to get at. We can get so focused on the Great Commission's call for outreach, that we sometimes forget people don't know as much as we do, or are as connected in the church. "Seeker-friendly" environments may get people in, but if there is no followup, there is no growth. Oops. The environment we fellowship in must be one that is conductive to growth. For many (and I confess, myself included), CCF Friday nights is a time to hang out with people. I recognize the difficult for us to generate a program that will absolutely floor everyone. For many, the growth we obtain from CCF isn't in its Fridays...but from cell group discussions and non-official meetings, such as the Acts Bible study that's going on. But many people don't go to those things. How much do they grow then? Love your neighbour...yes, that means feeding them bread (or contextualized to Waterloo...hmm. It'd probably be Mikey's)...but shouldn't it include spiritual feeding too? And so if we can't take care of the people around us...and indeed ourselves either, how can we hope to rise up new followers of Christ?

"Not everyone who says to me, "Lord, Lord," will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, "Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?" Then I will tell them plainly, "I never knew you. Away from me, you evil-doers!"

- Matthew 7.21 - 23 (Sermon on the Mount)

Jesus has spoken. This will happen. And the thing is...these people believed they were followers of Christ...my pastor once told me that this is the passage that he fears the most. It is his job to figure out who are "Christians"...and who are Christians.

Don't get me wrong. I'm not downplaying the importance of outreach. Ultimately, Christ came to die on our behalf. But in all His spare time, He was performing outreach. He was adding to His number of disciples. He was teaching. If we say that baptism or communion are things we do these days cuz Christ did it first, then we can't discard evangelism as something insignificant.

Perhaps, we should take a look at our general call for outreach:
"All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."

- Matthew 28.18-20 (Great Commision)

• All authority...Jesus is in charge. Awesome. I serve Someone ownage.
• Go and make disciples...it has been pointed out to me that this chunk doesn't say "go and convert"...but "go and make disciples". What's the difference between a disciple and a convert? The same difference between people who only come on Friday nights and people who attend random Bible studies. The same difference between people who want to be spoonfed, and people who serve. The same difference between people who reach out, and the people who stay within their circles. What is the cost of discipleship?
• Baptizing...name of the Father...Son...Holy Spirit...and so we're instructed not to do this on our own powers. My blab is only so effective. It's really God at work here.
  

At the end of the day, Mikee could rant about outreach and I can rant about inreach, but seriously. We're only university students, nothing we have to say is really all that new. Our ideas are all at least two thousand years old, when Christ walked on this Earth. Our words are simply that, a bunch of words. A few references to the Bible. Alot of hand waving. All this is meaningless with the His conviction in you to drive you to want to tend to your neighbours, both inwardly and outwardly. Building His kingdom in the ways we've been called to...one person at a time.

Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good. To one there is given through the Spirit the message of wisdom, to another the message of knowledge by means of the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by that one Spirit, to another miraculous powers, to another prophecy, to another distinguishing between spirits, to another speaking in different kinds of tongues, and to still another the interpretation of tongues. All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and he gives them to each one, just as he determines.

- 1 Corinthians 12.7-11 (Spiritual Gifts)

This is a large chunk of the Bible study passage that will happen at CCF this week. A few remaining things...

• Although this passage is often cited as one regarding Spiritual Gifts, it actually talks more about Unity instead. If you keep reading in Chapter 12, the "One Body" passage is found. Things like inreach vs outreach. Charismatic vs Evangelistic. All these things are good and Biblical stuff. But without balance, without that unity, then they are pointless.
• And just as how the Spirit grants very crazy (tongues, prophecy, healing) gifts...He also grants some rather ordinary gifts (knowledge...in other passages, administration, mercy). Are any of these gifts better than others? No. They're all from the same Spirit. Same God. Each of them have their own place and purpose. And same goes for this inreach vs outreach bit.
  
• Actually. I take that back. There are actually three gifts that are better than the rest.
  

And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

- 1 Corinthians 13.13