Discipleship Archives - Page 30 of 167

In this post, Sam Riviera continues his series of posts on how to be the church in your community. He asks what it looks like to proclaim the Gospel to your neighbors.

Many talk about being the church, but few know how. We understand church as those who follow Jesus, not just in “doctrine” or “belief” but out into the streets, among the people, mingling with them and loving them where they are. Being the church is as simple as loving the person in front of you right now.

Here are some examples of how this looks in our own life as we “preach sermons of love” where we live.

The Cheeseburger Lady

Yesterday I needed to pick up a couple of things at Costco. Since I had a little extra time, I visited all of the free food sample tables. I even tried a few of the samples, but mostly I talked to the people working the sample tables.

My first stop was the cheeseburger lady. Ravenous people who obviously hadn’t eaten in weeks grabbed wedges of cheeseburgers midair before the cheeeburger lady could even set the tray on the table. The tray was empty by the time she sat it down. Other people loudly complained to the cheeseburger lady that they didn’t get any. As she cut up more cheeseburgers behind a Plexiglas shield, one man reached his hand behind the shield, grabbing a chunk of cheeseburger, even when the cheeseburger lady asked him to please not do that.

The rude, unappreciative mob departed when the cheeseburgers ran out. The cheeseburger lady looked frazzled. I figured we had two or three minutes to talk while the next batch of cheeseburgers was warming in her little oven. I asked if she was having a bad day, and told her I understand because I used to be a caterer and experienced similar things – rude people grabbing food. She said it is true, that people are not nice to her, and that no one ever says thank you.

As the cheeseburgers finished cooking, we laughed together like old friends. Before the next mob arrived, she told me I could have as many samples as I liked. I took one, and made a special point of thanking her and telling her how much I appreciate her being there. The entire scenario probably took less time than it took you to read about it. I made a dear friend in less than three minutes. She was laughing and smiling and waved goodbye as I left.

I visited four more sample people. All were smiling or laughing when we parted. They made my day. I hope I helped brighten theirs. No Bible tracts, no Bible verses, no invitations to a “church service”. Just noticing and loving people. Maybe Jesus doesn’t visit Costco. If Jesus did, He’d probably stop by and chat with the cheeseburger lady (before going to the park).

Jesus Came to the Dance

After Costco I went home and my wife and I got ready to go to our weekly dance in Balboa Park, the largest park in San Diego. The building where we dance is often frequented by homeless people. After the dance had begun, a filthy homeless man walked into the room where we were dancing.

Standing near the door where he entered, I greeted him. He said “God bless you.” Homeless people frequently tell me that, so I didn’t think much about it. I headed to the kitchen where I was preparing ice cream for the break, and the homeless man appeared to be heading for the door.

However, after I left the room, he mingled with the dancers and told them he is Jesus. My wife recognized that he is probably suffering from mental illness. She asked him if he would like to step out on the patio with her and tell her about himself. They went out on the patio. The man told my wife about his doctor and treatments and then walked toward the zoo.

Was he a filthy mentally ill homeless person who thought he was Jesus, or was he in some sense Jesus? We may never know, but I know the church was there to treat him honorably and kindly and to listen to his story.

As we continue this series, we will continue to look for the church in the streets of San Diego “preaching sermons of love.” Have you seen the church in your community? Have you been the church in your community? Have you seen Jesus in your community? Please feel free to share your stories below.

Be the Church in Your Community

Want to be the church in your community but don't know? Here are some posts which not only explain what it means to be the church in your community, but also gives concrete, practical examples of what it looks like and how to be the church whatever you do and wherever you go. Remember, you ARE the church, and wherever you go, Jesus goes with you!

If you have questions about how to be the church in your community, please let us know in the comment sections below, and we will try to write a post which answers your question.

Give Gifts to Children in Shoe Boxes

By Jeremy Myers

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If you are looking for a way to share the love of Jesus with people around the world who are less fortunate than ourselves, I highly recommend participating in Operation Christmas Child.

Operation Christmas Child is run by Samaritan’s Purse, and provides a way for you to give gifts to children all over the world. Following the directions on their site, you pack a shoe box with gifts, take it to a drop-off center, and then let Samaritan’s Purse do the rest.

Here is a short video about a boy whose life was changed by a shoe box:

We participate in Operation Christmas Child every year, and it is one of the highlights of our Christmas season. Below are some of the things my wife and daughters wrote about packing shoe boxes for children around the world:

The Importance of Giving Gifts to Others

These simple gifts that come is shoe boxes have the potential to open a child’s heart to the love of Jesus Christ. We see so many times in the gospel how Jesus offers a tangible gift of healing before he offers His gift of love, life, forgiveness. I believe these shoe boxes do the same thing.

Children all over the world are hurting and broken through no fault of their own. Many have lost all they had in a hurricane, earthquake, or tsunami. Others have gone through a war that ransacked their village and took the lives of their family, often leaving them orphans. Still other children have endured torture at the hands of slave owners, or have witnessed torture at the hands of enemies.

Children around the world are asking, “Is there anyone that loves me?” , “Am I worthwhile to anyone?”, “Where is a God that loves me?”, “What did I do wrong?”, ” Why is this happening to me?”, and “Does anyone care?” These are the cries of so many children’s hearts, and by sending a shoe box to them, we can help provide some answers to these questions.

How can a simple shoe box answer any of these hard questions from children?

First, these shoe boxes bring HOPE! When we first started making these shoe boxes several years ago, my girls would ask why we couldn’t send them more, like a trunk load of stuff to each kid. “This toothbrush won’t last forever, mommy,” they would say. “And what happens if they loose this necklace, or if this bear gets too dirty? Mommy, this is not enough. If this is all they get for Christmas, we need to send them more. Much more!”

With tears in my eyes I answered that although I so badly wanted to adopt all the children of the world and give them all warm homes, food for their tummy, and loving arms to wrap around them, I cannot. As much as I would love to be able to send billions of dollars to heal their war torn lands and fix their water problems, I can’t.

But there is one thing I could do, I told my girls, I could send them HOPE, and hope is a powerful gift. Hope in ones heart allows you to persevere when you otherwise would not, it allows you to find joy in the most troubling of times, and HOPE in a loving God allows you to believe that someone loves you, cares for you, wants the best for you, and will be there for you forever. This is hope that moves mountains.

No, a shoe box won’t feed the hungry child who receives it. The shoe box won’t educate them, it won’t get them parents. Although there are actually many stories where children do find parents through these shoe boxes. Check out the video below.

But one thing a shoe box does bring is hope, and as my girls now know, hope–especially in a living and loving God–is the most powerful thing we can offer someone.

So this year as you start the process of getting gifts for your family, please also begin a tradition of giving shoe boxes to children around the world that are longing to feel that powerful, tangible touch from the God that loves them. Please give the gift of a shoe box that will lead to the gift of everlasting life.

How Our Family Packs Shoe Boxes

Our family has packed shoe boxes for 15 years, and every year our girls say it is their favorite part of Christmas. Really! They plan and prepare for packing shoe boxes all year long. They save their money to buy small gifts. They look for the biggest shoe boxes in the stores. They look for toys and gifts on sale or on clearance that would fit well into their shoe boxes.

There are many ways to pack a shoe box, but the best way is straight from your heart. At the time of this post, there is only ONE MONTH until the collection time for shoe boxes. The National Collection Week is November 18-25, so you might want to get started today by clicking on the links below that will take you to the Operation Christmas Child site for all the information you will need to get started. If you have any questions about shoe boxes, what to put in them, or how the process works, I would be happy to answer them in the comments section below.

I will leave you with the words of my daughters. When asked to write why they believe shoe boxes are important this is what they wrote.

Kahlea (age 7)

I think it is good to give kids shoe boxes because it is very important to them. It means a lot to them. It makes them happy and gives them the hope that Jesus and others love them.

Selah (age 9)

I think it is important to pack shoe boxes because little things make kids happy and gives them hope. It is also fun to pack shoe boxes!

Taylor (age 11)

I think it is important to send shoe boxes because it gives the kids joy when they have so much sadness. the shoe boxes also teach them that Jesus loves them and that they are important. And it gives them hope, which is a powerful thing when everything is going wrong around you.

From the mouth of babes comes the simple truth that a small gesture of love reaps the large harvest of hope in a loving God.

Please take some time to visit the links below on how to pack a shoe box, and to learn about how you can help children around the world find hope in a God that loves them. The first link has a video about how to pack a shoe box.

Shoe Box Links

When Life is Hard, Remember that Jesus Struggled Too

By Jeremy Myers

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Life is hard.

I think sometimes the stress and troubles of life get so overwhelming, we feel like each day is worse than the one before. Sometimes we feel like the main point of life is just getting through it so that we can eventually die and be free from the pain and frustration of life.

But sometimes life is hard because we don’t have anyone to go through life with us, or who really understands just how hard life can be.

So I was encouraged today to read a post by Dave Criddle called “The Jesus who Struggled.” Here is an excerpt:

Jesus had anxiety for the future

Knowing what’s going to happen doesn’t always help. Jesus knew what lay ahead of Him as He prayed in Gethsemane, but He still struggled with it (Luke 22:39-44). He knew it was God’s will, but He didn’t want it to be. He knew it was right, but He didn’t want it to happen. He was scared about what was to come. He knew that struggle.

Jesus experienced political maneuvering

Jesus’ opposition didn’t like Him and they were scared of Him, but they didn’t deal with it openly. They engaged in back room deals, gossip, half-truths and outright lies. They were plotting (Matthew 21:46). And Pilate (John 18:28–19:16) knew there was no real case against Jesus. But instead of saying so, he tried the politically-sensible way out – Barabbas. That didn’t work, but instead of sticking to His convictions that Jesus was innocent, he let Jesus be crucified to keep the people happy. All politically-motivated. He knew that struggle.

Jesus felt far from God

While He had mostly enjoyed a very close and intimate relationship with God in His life, as He hung on the cross God was nowhere to be seen or heard or felt. ‘My God! My God! Why have you forsaken me?’ This wasn’t imagined. God had turned His face away. When we feel God is distant, God’s Son knows how we feel. He knew that struggle, too.

Go read the rest of the post here: The Jesus Who Struggled

If you have ever found yourself thinking that life is hard, it may be helpful to remember that Jesus has gone through the same struggles as well, and He understands. He wants to walk with you through these struggles and trials so that you don’t have to face them alone.

Tithing $50,000,000,000

By Jeremy Myers

25 Comments

There are about 10 million tithing Christians in America who give an estimated $50,000,000,000 annually to their churches and other charitable causes. That’s $50 billion!

Arthur Sido at The Voice of One Crying Out in Suburbia alerted me to this study, which was originally reported on Christianity Today, and he asks how churches spend this money. He says this:

This gets back to the broader of issue of our love and indeed worship of money in the church, an idolatry that is a near perfect reflection of the broader American cultural obsession with money. I absolutely affirm that we have a serious problem with how money and the church relate but I don’t think it is the same problem we hear about so often. We don’t so much have a giving problem in the church, what we really have is a spending problem. Where is our spending as the church focused? Is it outward or inward and which is more Biblical?

The New Testament church was outward focusing in….

Caring for the needy, such as widows among the church.

Concerned for the welfare of Christians in other locations that were suffering.

Supporting the evangelistic work of apostles/missionaries/evangelists who were traveling and preaching the Gospel.

The New Testament church was not concerned with…

Mortgages, interest payments, building projects, utilities.

Salaries for religious employees.

Material and curriculum for Sunday school.

Supporting the hierarchy of religious organizations like denominations and seminaries.

That is right on target! (Go read the rest of the article here: Are We Outward Focused or Inward Focused? Follow The Checkbook To Find Out)

Tithing and Money

I have written similar ideas before about how the church spends money it receives from tithing, and what could be done with this money instead (e.g., How the Church Can Solve the World Water Crisis, Liquidating our Property, and Money, Missions, and Ministry.

What if the churches around the country took JUST ONE TENTH of the tithing money they bring in in tithes every year, and put it toward rescuing young girls caught in human trafficking? If we tithed on our tithing income, we could give $5 billion every single year to some cause. What sorts of causes?

Though there are thousand things we could do with this tithing money, just take one example that has been heavy on my heart in recent years… rescuing girls from human trafficking.

A rescue center was recently started in Seattle called “The Genesis Project.” (It is featured in the movie, Rape for Profit.) As far as I can tell from their financial statements, they started the project and funded it for well under $1 million (2011 Tax Return, 2012 Balance Sheet). To date, they have rescued 87 human trafficking victims.

So imagine with me…. if churches around the country decided to use just 10% of the money they bring in to help start and run other centers like The Genesis Project, we could start 5000 of these centers…. in just one year!

There are only about 600 cities with populations of over 50,000 people, which means we could put one center in every single city with a population of over 50,000, and still have 4,400 centers that could be started in cities with larger populations.

This is just one example. Obviously, there are large number of worldwide needs that could be addressed. World hunger. Water needs. Health and humanitarian disasters. Schools. Orphanages.

Churches often look at these worldwide problems and say, “It’s too large!” But then we go spend billions of dollars on buildings, parking lots, and soundboards.

I am convinced that most of the world’s problems could be solved if we in the church just spent our tithing money in different ways.

Imagine what the church could do with $50 billion if we decided that nicer buildings, better parking lots, and newer soundboard were not a priority? If Jesus had $50 billion every year, how would He spend it?

How to Be the Church In Your Community

By Jeremy Myers

26 Comments

It is popular today for people to say, “Don’t go to church; BE the church.” Everybody nods their heads at this, but few actually know what it means or how to truly “be the church.” With this post, Sam Riviera is starting a series of posts on how to be the church in your community. If you have ever wondered how to be the church in your community, you don’t want to miss a post. I will try to put one up each Monday for the next several weeks.

When most people in our culture think of church, what comes to mind?

Most people think of church as a location with buildings and property, or as an organization. When asked about our relationship with “church”, people usually ask us “Where do you go to church?”, “What church do you belong to?” or “Where is your church”?

While that understanding of church is common, my wife and I think of church as “those people who follow Jesus.” For some, that may include properties, buildings, programs, staff, and all the other accouterments that go with the organizational, institutional understanding of church. For some of us, it does not.

While we find it important to gather with other believers to share the common hope we have in Jesus, we do not limit that to the organizational, institutional scenario. We try to “be the church” in the community – every single day.

What Does It Look Like To “Be The Church In The Community”?

As we proceed through this series, I will give various examples of what this looks like for us and encourage you to share examples of what this looks like for you in your community. None of these examples are intended to be a model for you to follow. Instead, they are only instances that will not only help us to dream of what it looks like to be the church in our communities, but also help us to live out our calling to follow Jesus in our communities.

A Day in the Life of Being the Church

What does a typical day of “being the church in the community” look like for us? I doubt that there is such a thing for us as a typical day, but I will describe what it looked like for us today.

After spending the morning on jury duty, I came home and changed to go running. First, however, I watered plants and pulled weeds for a neighbor who is out of town. Then I talked with another neighbor whose wife recently left him. I invited him to our upcoming block party.

After running, I talked to another neighbor about some details for the upcoming block party that she is helping us organize, then greeted another neighbor, a widow who told me her phones had not worked for two days and she could not call anyone because she had also lost her cell phone. A couple of hours later, we had determined that there was a problem with her phone system, and had found her cell phone so she could report the problem with her landline to her landline provider.

After my wife came home from work we walked through our neighborhood before leaving for our evening class. We greeted several neighbors, then drove to class. After class, we discovered a backpack in the parking lot next to our car. We opened it (No, it didn’t explode) and found a driver’s license, credit card and other personal items for a person vacationing from out of the area. With the help of a friend who has a smart phone app that found a phone number for the address on the driver’s license, we reached the owner of the backpack and arranged for her to pick up her backpack.

It Takes Nothing Big to Be the Church.

As you can see, nothing about our day would be material for a book or a mini series. It would never be the sermon illustration for a mega-church sermon. Yet we see days like this as a somewhat typical day of being the church in the community.

To be the church, all we do is keep our eyes and ears open to the people around us, and try to show them love in whatever way we can.

In future posts we will look at various other ways we have sought to be the church in the community, will give examples of other people we know who are being the church in their communities, and will encourage you to give examples from your experience.

Be the Church in Your Community

If you have questions about how to be the church in your community, please let us know in the comment sections below, and we will try to write a post which answers your question.

Being the Church is Loving the Person in Front of You

The Cheeseburger Lady

Jesus Came to the Dance

Be the Church in Your Community

Give Gifts to Children in Shoe Boxes

The Importance of Giving Gifts to Others

How Our Family Packs Shoe Boxes

Shoe Box Links

When Life is Hard, Remember that Jesus Struggled Too

Jesus had anxiety for the future

Jesus experienced political maneuvering

Jesus felt far from God

Tithing $50,000,000,000

Tithing and Money

How to Be the Church In Your Community

What Does It Look Like To “Be The Church In The Community”?

A Day in the Life of Being the Church

It Takes Nothing Big to Be the Church.

Be the Church in Your Community

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