The Bible begins with God creating a world that He claimed to be good. God created the land, seas, light, dark, animals, and plants, and He saw that something was missing. Then He created man and woman, giving them the responsibility to care for His creation (Gen 1:27-31). In Genesis 3, the Bible tells of a massive rebellion by a small number of people that affected billions for generations to follow. Since the day that Adam and Eve ate of the fruit from the tree of the knowledge and good and evil, God has been seeking after a right relationship with His people. Gailyn Van Rheenen writes, “Mission does not originate with human sources, for ultimately it is not a human enterprise.” God’s plan has been a mission of redemption for His people since the man and woman disobeyed. Andreas J. Kostenberger and Peter T. O’Brien state, “From the first glimmer of the gospel in Genesis 3:15 to the end of this age, however, mission is necessitated by humanity’s fall into sin and need for a Savior, and is made possible only by the saving initiative of God in Christ.” God has been active in His mission to seek after His people; He went looking for man and woman in the garden (Gen 3:9). This same pattern is evident throughout the Bible. In both the Old and New Testaments, God commands His people to seek after others who will become His people.
On Any Given Sunday
Five or six years ago we made an intentional decision as a staff team to move our high school students (9-12 grade) to a serving role on Sunday morning. We had read about the nationwide trend among new college freshman who were leaving their home church’s youth ministries to attend college and not getting involved in a local church near their universities. We wanted to change this trend and see LifePoint students committed and plugged in to the local church during their college days. We believed serving in a local church ministry was key to keeping students and families plugged in and committed.We spent time studying and learning from other churches who had made the move we were embarking on with our students. We saw the difference it was making in their churches and in the lives of the students who were involved. As a staff team we decided the risk of upsetting the “apple cart” was worth it. This new ministry would be called Max Impact.
The move was not fully accepted at first, probably due to our team not communicating effectively. Some people didn’t want their high schooler involved in serving and there were students who didn’t want to serve so we provided one (1) Bible study class for those who needed a place to be on Sunday mornings. This class revolved around God’s call to serve, sacrifice and understand how we were S.H.A.P.E.d to serve.
Fast forward to today, the difficulties of the early days are gone and people are settled into the new normal of Max Impact. Yesterday, I watched as kids lead out in our stage crew. In fact, there were 4-5 students whose parents are vitally involved the Production and Worship Arts area currently. Students were leading in worship in Student Ministry and now students are training other students to lead also. It is a blast to see the culture of raising leaders firmly being passed on to another generation of Christ Followers.
Thank you LifePoint Church for being willing to take the risk and for creating a culture were serving is valued. If your High School student is not serving on Sundays please see David McCaman and he will help them get plugged in to ministry.
Which One Are You?
What is your preference for the type of church you or your family attends or would attend if they meet with a church gathering?
More Traditional
More Non-Traditional
More Organic/Missional/Incarnational
Remember, all of these are preference based. So, you are not better, more spiritual or more righteous because you prefer one over the other.
Weigh in and let me know.
What Did Jesus Do On Earth?
Jesus was dedicated to the mission of God, His heavenly father. Jesus told those who were seeking to kill Him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of his own accord, but only what he sees the Father doing. For whatever the Father does, that the Son does likewise” (John 5:19). On yet another occasion, Jesus stated that His purpose was “to seek and to save the lost” (Luke 19:10). Jesus spent His ministry demonstrating to His disciples how to be about His father’s activity. He told parables about seeking after lost sheep, lost coins, and lost sons (Luke 15). Jesus even sent His disciples on a trip to seek out people who were lost spiritually to tell them about His purpose in coming to earth (Luke 10:1-12). Jesus was the perfect example of being about the mission of God.
Before Jesus ascended back to heaven to be with His father, He commissioned the disciples to take on the activity of God. He commanded them to be on mission with God to reestablish the spiritual kingdom of God on the earth. The mission was and is God’s plan. The disciples would now take up the mantle of missions on the earth. Missions, as defined by Avery Willis and Henry Blackaby, “is the activity of God’s people—the church—to proclaim and to demonstrate the kingdom of God cross-culturally to the world.”
The disciples spent the rest of their lives living out God’s purpose for His followers and training others to be committed to the mission of God. God commissioned His one and only son, Jesus, to seek after His purpose in an active manner. Jesus, in turn, called each of His present and future disciples to be about the same activity and purpose He was about while He walked the earth. The commissioning recorded in Matthew 28:18- 20 gave the disciples their ultimate purpose for reestablishing the kingdom of God in the world, and that commission stands today as the clarion call for all of Jesus’ present-day followers
Is God Still Active in The World Today?
God has been passionate about saving people from their sin and shame since the time of Adam and Eve. From the moment Eve believed the lie of the serpent in Genesis 3:6 and disobeyed God’s command, until today, God has been reconciling sinful man unto Himself for the purpose of reclaiming the glory that belongs rightfully to Him (Isa 42:8). Jeff Lewis writes, “God’s passion for his name and his glory is the supreme reason for his actions in the world.” The actions of God are purposeful. Proverbs 19:21 says, “Many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of the Lord that will stand.”2 Peter is quoted in Acts 13:36, “For David, after he had served the purpose of God in his own generation, fell asleep and was laid with his fathers. . . .” Scripture makes clear that God is purposeful in His actions. In The Biblical Basis of Missions, Avery Willis states that God is on mission. “By mission,” Willis writes, “I mean the total redemptive purpose of God to establish his kingdom.” Since the day of rebellion in the Garden of Eden by Adam and Eve, God has been seeking actively to reestablish His kingdom here on earth. The activity and purpose of God continue today in the work of the local church. Since God is on mission, His church should be about the same activity that the heavenly Father is committed to seeing advanced.
What is the activity of God in the world today?
What are some of the evidences of God’s activity in the world today?
