From Sitting to Service

For those of you that were here on Sunday, much of this is repeated; however, I feel that it is something we need to keep being reminded of. If we are going to get people to stick with the church, and if the church is going to have influence and a voice 20 years from now, we must reach the next generation by moving people from sitting to service.

We must go beyond getting them to come and listen to our speeches, and actually involve them in the community of believers and get them connected through service. The Democratic Party understood this in the recent election. Karl Rove was commenting on this after last Tuesday's election. He said, sure, they got young people to congregate in stadiums to here Senator Obama speak, but while they were there, they registered them to vote and got them to volunteer to help in the campaign. They then stayed in constant contact with them and encouraged them in their service. What was the result? We are now talking about President Elect Obama, while the McCain camp is pointing fingers at one another and asking what went wrong.

Could it be that they like the church have relied on their ability to get people to come and listen to their speeches, when they should have been actively recruiting them to serve!?!

The Church must compete in the Battlefield of Ideas. But in order to do that, we must be making an obvious difference in our communities through service! I believe Obama gave young people 3 things, that we as a church better give to them, if we want to keep them.

1. He gave them a cause (ending global warming, global poverty, economic injustice, etc.) We must give them the greatest cause (reaching people for Christ, meeting spiritual needs by meeting practical and physical needs). James says that we must not only have faith, but works to back up our faith (James 2:14-18, 26).

2. He gave them a community (a place where they could be with people of similar ideology and find encouragement). Isn't this what church is essentially about. We must get people into the community by actively recruiting them to join small groups. We must also provide on-line communities, and we have through facebook and other avenues, where people can find encouragement through the week.

3. He connected them to the party and campaign by giving them a job to do. In the church this is so critical. We are so cynical and untrusting that we don't get anything accomplished. WE MUST GET PEOPLE TO WORK AND GIVE THEM A JOB TO DO, WHEN GOD SENDS THEM TO US!!! We must get over our pettiness and quit building our own kingdoms and start building Christ's Kingdom. We must allow people to be creative and not stiffle them when they are being led to serve.

God's Kingdom and our Cause are too big and great for any one of us to be able to accomplish it on our own. We must work with people of like faith, and move people off the pews and into the harvest fields.

Mat 9:37 Then saith he unto his disciples, The harvest truly [is] plenteous, but the labourers [are] few;


Mat 9:38 Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth labourers into his harvest.