I Love to Make Flyers
I can design them, save them, send them off to the printer, all from my couch. I can update a web page, edit articles, write blog posts, all while my three children are running around the house, and I’m sipping on my morning coffee. This is easy for me. These are things I’m good at, things I enjoy, and things I can do from home (where the real work and ministry is in my life while my children are young).
Does it sometimes bother me that I have to leave early, miss completely, or bring my children along to many church functions? Does it get under my skin when I can’t even volunteer for events my husband plans and implements?
Yes!
It bothers me sometimes. It used to bother me a lot. Now the only thing that bothers me is communicating via email, sending draft after draft, revisualizing and starting from square one. But, how I feel when the finished product is printed out on shiny white paper, a collection of vivid colors, and ready to put into the hand of a possible friend!
This [hasn’t always been] the Life
Before I found myself mothering 3 kids under 4 I held several offices in my local church. I led out in women’s ministries, praise team, Pathfinders, church board, outreach leadership committee, and many other things through the years.
I, like many before me and many to come, was stretched pretty thin. Oftentimes when we figure out we’re good at one thing, or enjoy one thing, we feel like we should do more. Oftentimes when we’re good at one thing, or enjoy one thing, others think we should do more. What we as a current church, and the church of the New Testament has figured out is that sometimes we are wrong.
Mission first
As I stated in a previous post, many of us Adventists do not fit the “mold” that has become the identifier of the church. Some of us believe differently about some topics, some of us dress differently, participate differently, but the important thing to remember is that we should all be doing the same thing.
Many when they hear the word “mission”, especially in our church probably think of far-away lands of mud huts and indigenous tribes learning to read the Bible. This may be accurate to a point. The church has made great strides to reach every country in the world with the Gospel, but why?
I wonder how many Adventists actually know the Mission Statement of the Seventh-day Adventist Church. It reads like this:
“The mission of the Seventh-day Adventist Church is to make disciples of all people, communicating the everlasting gospel in the context of the three angels’ messages of Revelation 14:6-12, leading them to accept Jesus as personal Savior and unite with His remnant Church, discipling them to serve Him as Lord and preparing them for His soon return.”
We should always measure our “doing” by this mission. As a church family we should know it, live it, do it.
For several decades we have fallen into a rut of “Revelation Seminars” and “Evangelistic Series” where we depend on these things to do the work, fulfill our mission. This is just a gross misunderstanding of our own mission statement!
Do these meetings serve a purpose? Of course! However, there are many other things that we can do to fulfill the church’s mission. The mission statement is full of verbs.
History vs. His Story
When I was in college as an English Education major, countless papers taught me a very important rule. There is a difference between passive and active language. History books are written as most textbooks are, passively, giving the credit to no one, and remaining neutral to all topics. On the contrary, stories, in order to capture the attention of the audience, are often told in vivid imagery, explanations, and dialogue.
If we are passive about the gospel, neutral and generic in the telling, not only are we boring, but we will not be successful in completing our mission. Looking at it again you can see there are many verbs. I like to take the ings off of verbs to make them active. If I do this with the verbs in the mission statement they become: make disciples, communicate the gospel, lead to accept Jesus and unite with His church, disciple them to serve Him and prepare for His coming.
There’s not an office for that!
Call me crazy, but it doesn’t seem there is a church office that fulfills these things. It seems to me that anyone can do these things with the power of God. Maybe your church participates in a mentoring or discipleship program. That is a fantastic way to fulfill this mission. Still other churches may not, and individuals must take it upon themselves to mentor and disciple others.
It is essential to keep in mind that these things, this discipleship and teaching, is best done in the manner that Jesus showed us. He did this one-on-one. He chose twelve men to work alongside Him. He chose these twelve to follow Him, learn from Him, and eventually teach of Him.
Jesus didn’t organize large, expensive events before inviting others to follow Him. He invited them to follow and learn. He said “I will make you fishers of men”. He didn’t take them to a service or event. Following Him was the event!
There’s room enough for all of us
Imagine if everyone in your church family chose 12 individuals to mentor or disciple. Imagine if those 12 chose 12 more. The Bible models this plan for us, through the ministry of Christ.
Here are some more resources to help:
For pastors/leaders: iFollow Discipleship
Discipleship overview: “Before you say yes…”
For kids/parents: Kids in Discipleship
General discipleship resources: Revival and Reformation
Image courtesy of cooldesign / FreeDigitalPhotos.net.
