We’re into our 3rd week now with Club 180. The first week we hosted the pizza night – then from there invited students to come Wednesday evenings at the Cafe. Our goal is to lift up the glorious gospel and pray the Holy Spirit awakens hearts to respond – lives revolutionized with God’s purpose.
Last week we shared about the condition of every heart and sin. This week we talked about the prison of guilt and the free gift of forgiveness in Christ. Everyone was attentive, I felt the grace of God and His presence in the room. God is working, please continue to pray.
What I long to see is a generation that catches fire with the love of God. I long to be around new believers that can’t ‘not’ share the great gospel, and look for creative means to break into peoples lives with it. This is the kind of generation my heart sees in prayer. I see it in Ukraine, I see it in Russia, and next week as we travel to Belarus I pray God opens our eyes to some of what He is doing there as well.
I couldn’t sleep last night with these desires flooding my veins. We need to see disciple makers raised. It’s easy to raise watchers, those that come to meetings and feel part of a comfortable Christian sub-culture. When I think of ‘church’ planting, too often the ‘icky’ feeling of creating a system, a comfortable Christian template emerges. I know my idea of church isn’t a perfect one – but I’m fairly certain what the world knows “as” the church is an imperfect one too. We should always be, I think, evaluating what we are building. In the end all believers want to see church edified, built up, strengthened and emboldened, but God is not limited by forms.
The bride of Christ is a spiritual, passionate, unified movement at its heart – a people moved by the love of God. Without this, it seems to race towards dead religion.
This movement is God’s answer to the devils destruction. It testifies that Christ was God incarnate, and His resurrection declares Him as rightful King and His people as heirs.
During my Christian journey, a key question has continually emerged in various settings, “What is the Church?” Most of us know by definition it’s the ‘called out’ (from the world) family of God, the ‘Ekklesia’ of God. I think we’ve focused too heavily on the ‘called out’ part but have neglected to measure ourselves by the ‘called to’ part. We’re called ‘to’ share in God’s mission, ‘to’ co-labor with Him in pushing back darkness, reproducing the experience of grace in others by lifting Christ up in all things.
As Christian leaders, which everyone should be or be aspiring to be at some level, we are called to raise up a new generation, that have specific qualities about them:
He is the one we proclaim, admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone fully mature in Christ. – Col 1:28
All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work. – 1 Tim3:17
for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ; – Eph 4:13
Whether you are a stay at home mom, teacher, farmer, student, missionary or currently unemployed – if you are a follower of Christ, you will come to a point where just listening isn’t enough. You will need to enter the mission of the Church on the earth, to replicate, to duplicate, to expand and fill the earth with more of the Glory of God – the Bride of Christ radiate like a torch in a dark valley. Those that shrink back from this will misrepresent the Father on the earth – they will work against the accurate portrayal of a risk taking, all consuming, Holy God that stopped at nothing to reconcile us former enemies.
I write often blogs like this with my own children in mind. Our blog I hope one day encourages them to journey with God in faith. I also write it as a prayer request – that God would answer this ‘desire’ for disciple MAKERS in and around us, new believers that will embrace quickly the call and privilege to go forward into this world and make disciples of all nations!
This new Club 180 is a small step, but one that I pray will also be used by God to raise up world changers – because He is able to do exceedingly above all we can ask or think! As long as there are open hearts that continue to come and hear the Gospel, we will be soberly delighted to deliver it.
Bruce & Deb