This is an excerpt from the Moderator’s Address given at Celebrate 2010, the annual conference of the Fellowship of Grace Brethren Churches in July in Cincinnati, Ohio.
God designed us to shape eternity in a positive way. Just as He constantly seeks to redeem people, so we are happiest when our lips and our lives direct people toward peace with God.
Kameron Jones from the Norwalk, Calif., Grace Brethren Church, and Jordan Bradley from the Peru, Ind., Grace Brethren Church, are ready to tackle the next job during We Care Miami Valley.
Our network of churches has formally endorsed the Commitment to Common Mission (CCM) which has a purpose-multiplying disciples to the glory of God-but three passions: church-planting, leadership development, and integrated ministries.
Now, on the surface, these passions seem like things only a denomination or a very healthy church could do. But I want to suggest every ordinary believer-regardless of the health of his or her spiritual family or church-can declare the gospel, build up other believers, and minister to the poor.
Our national ministries worked together to produce a booklet entitled Springs of Life, which describes a simple way to shape eternity by making disciples. The essential “pieces” of a Spring of Life show up in Luke 10 when Jesus commissioned 70 of His ordinary followers to be His ambassadors.
In that passage, Jesus sent those ambassadors out “two by two,” emphasizing the principle of cooperation. While Christ stripped away every other source of external support, He wanted them to have a partner so that they could pray together, protect and empower each other, and together display the presence of Christ. [“For where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them.” Matthew 18:20 NIV]
Do the people with whom we regularly interact in the non-religious spaces of our lives see us “in community” with other believers? If not then that powerful dynamic that Jesus spoke of is absent from our witness in our neighborhoods, workplaces, schools, and clubs. Paul spells it out clearly in 1 Corinthians 12:27: “Together you are the body of Christ. Each one of you is part of his body” [CEV, emphasis added].
Connecting with a partner presupposes that you have already identified a place for your Spring of Life. This is the principle of location. In verse 5, Jesus encouraged the teams of ordinary believers to enter a household in their target city and then stay there
eating whatever their host might provide. Because there were only two of them, they wouldn’t overwhelm that group with their presence. However, because there were at least two they would bring the presence, power, and proclamation of Christ into that group.
In the same way, God has arranged our lives so each of us is involved with a certain segment of society-we each have a certain set of neighbors, work associates, or classmates. If God is sovereign, then we need to begin to realize that wherever we go, He has been
there before us, preparing people to hear the message of the gospel.
Jesus urged His followers to stay in the same house (Luke 10:7), emphasizing the importance of valuing our context and practicing constancy. Why? Because making a disciple-just like becoming a disciple-takes time. We may be able to open someone’s eyes
to the need for the gospel and they may even pray a prayer of salvation with us, but statistics show that simply getting an individual to that point has virtually no impact on his or her life unless that person enters a relationship with God’s people in a signifi cant way.
So, the final Spring of Life lesson in Luke 10 is the principle of proclamation. The plan that Jesus described in verse 9 was fairly simply: “heal the sick” and announce that “the kingdom of God has come near to you.” In other words, meet real needs and
share real truth. I don’t think that Jesus told His followers to heal first and speak second because the gospel of the kingdom is secondary. Rather it is so primary that it needs to be articulated by our life-how we serve as well as our lips-what we say.
Brothers and sisters, we were designed to shape eternity-to extend God’s glory by making disciples. But we really don’t need hundreds of people and dozens of service projects to do this. We simply need to pick a place in our every day life, recruit a partner,
and proclaim the gospel with our character, our conduct, and our conversation. So, take the plunge! Find a Christian friend and together begin your own Spring of Life!
Tom Hocking, the 2009-2010 moderator of the Fellowship of Grace Brethren Churches, encouraged conference attendees to find their own Springs of Life to share the gospel.
The 2009-2011 moderator of the Fellowship of Grace Brethren Churches, Tom Hocking, is challenging Grace Brethren churches in the U.S. to unite in a commitment to make disciples through training leaders, planting churches, and adopting holistic ministries. He is the pastor of the Bellflower Brethren Church in Bellflower, Calif.