Lately I have been reading a book called "From The Sanctuary To The Streets: Insights and Adventures in Power Evangelism" by Charles Bello & Brian Blount.  Charles has been a Vineyard pastor for over 25 years and Brian has been doing the stuff for over 25 years as well.  You may remember that during the SCATTERED 2011 conference, Robby Dawkins also recommended this book and had it on his table.  

Anyways, this book of some great personal stories and even some great stories and reminders of things that John Wimber, founder of the Vineyard churches said, for instance:

• Talking during his now famous, Signs & Wonders Conference, John WImber said that Luke 4:18- 19 was Jesus' personal job description.  And that as followers of Jesus Christ, our job description was also to be Luke 4:18- 19.  Just as a reminder, this is what it says: “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor.”
• This is our job description as followers of Jesus.  This is how we are supposed to make the Kingdom of God tangible in people's lives around us, wherever we are at.  
• Something else that John Wimber used to tell his church is, "The meat is in the street."  In the book it says... "In our age of consumerism, Christians can collect spiritual experiences or acquire biblical knowledge and mistakenly believe that spiritual maturity and happiness can be measured by the size of our personal libraries or the strangeness of our religious encounters... Wimber reminds us that maturity in the Christian life is never relegated to simply acquiring more knowledge or esoteric experiences; it is forever linked holiness, obedience and mission- the walking out of our faith.  Holiness is obedience turned inward; mission is obedience turned outward.  We are called to outwardly focused obedience to the great commission of Christ." 
• Look up Matthew 28:18- 20... this is known as the Great Commission.  You will see that Jesus promises us that as we go to the streets to make disciples... He will always be with us.  The authors said, "God moves in the sanctuary [the church building] to heal the church; God moves in the streets to heal the world."  

So what does this mean for us?  

This week is Halloween.  For the most part it is Thursday, October 27 from 6p- 7:30p.  As you know, Halloween can both be spiritually dark... and physically dark.  We are going to have a bunch of kids coming to your door Trick or Treating... and there are going to be thousands of kids all over the streets.  They are going to have parents with them.  There are going to be lives that need healing, lives that are oppressed by and in imprisoned to sin.  There are people that need the Kingdom of God the most.  While my small group and others are going to be doing servant evangelism by giving away hot dogs, drinks, etc... there is a street full of people that need your prayers.  So you don't need some outreach program to go... you don't need a pastor or leader there... you are the Kingdom of God in your neighborhood.  Jesus said this is Matthew 10 [from The Message]... "Go to the lost, confused people right here in the neighborhood.  Tell them that the kingdom is here.  Bring health to the sick. Raise the dead. Touch the untouchables. Kick out the demons. You have been treated generously, so live generously. "Don't think you have to put on a fund-raising campaign before you start. You don't need a lot of equipment. You are the equipment..."

This is your commission... GO this week and make the Kingdom of God tangible in somebody's life...

Next week... I am going to share some stories from people that have been out doing the stuff.  There are some pretty cool ones out there!

 

For this week's "Missional Monday", I want to do some re-capping and some practical points from the SCATTERED Conference this weekend and from Robby Dawkins' message this weekend.  

If you were not able to be there, you really missed a GREAT weekend of people being equipped to go out and do the stuff of the Kingdom... by praying that sick would be healed, sharing words of knowledge, etc.  The Kingdom of God was extended all over Lancaster & Fairfield County this weekend and people received healing, encouragement and experienced the love of God.  Even though that stuff was AWESOME... the GREATEST thing was that 150 or so people where obedient to step out of the boat and go pray healing for and to step past their comfort zones, to take RISK and in some cases even strikeout.  But for those that kept swinging for God to show up... we were rewarded to see God show up.  

Some things that I wanted to share with you today are some of what Robby shared with us and thoughts I had from a missional perspective... remember missional means that we are living as God's people on mission to make the Kingdom of God tangible to everybody around us... no matter where we are.  

I know that for many people the stuff that we have shared on Missional Monday, may be scary for you.  For some, this expectation may even be new for some people that have been church most of their lives. 

I get that and know where you are coming from, BUT... like Robby said that... "Having FAITH in God, It all boils down to RISK... you gotta take RISK.  It is not about our attitude, how many prayers we have... it is about us taking RISK & stepping out.  It is us stepping out into something hard for it to be real risk." The more RISK it takes for us to go out and pray for people... the more FAITH it takes on our part.  If it takes low faith to do so something... then it also means there is little & no risk.  It is about our availability to go and taking a RISK... the more the RISK... the more it opens for God to show up.  Robby also said... "It is going to take us setting our selfishness aside and for us to be available to be used by God and for us to make sure that God gets glorified in what we are doing.  

Robby's church does outreach all the time to the gay bars of their community, and he said, "the darker the atmosphere, then more of an opportunity there is for the Holy Spirit to show up."  When you go to the darkest places around you... it gives you more opportunity for the light of God to shine.

If you are like me, I work for a pretty godless company.  Some times it seems like they almost look for new ways to go against the things of God.  It is a pretty dark place.  Or maybe, where you live at or maybe your kids' school is a dark place... it doesn't appear that God has any light in some of these areas in your life?  

Here are some quick things to remember:

• Low RISK... no FAITH
• High RISK... HIGH FAITH
• When you go to the darkest places around you... it gives you more opportunity for the light of God to shine. 

So here are some practical steps & thought for you to ask yourself this week and to seek out to do:

• This week, what does missional mean for you?  Who, what, where and how will you make the Kingdom of God tangible this week?  
• What is going to take great FAITH & RISK on your part to go and bring the Kingdom of God this week?  
• Where is the darkest place, darkest life that needs you to shine the light of Jesus this week?  
• Who is it you are going to pray for healing this week?  

I would love to hear your stories?  Email me any stories from your adventures!

malcolm [at] maljr[dot]com

It's time again for Missional Monday.  A time where we give some practical tools to you, as you live out God's mission for us make the Kingdom of God tangible for those around us... wherever you may be at.  This includes blessing people at home, at work, in your neighborhood, at the football field, at band competitions or wherever you are at.  Being missional happens in the everyday flow of life... generally not at a church event but in the natural rhythm of relationships & everyday life. 

Today, I am sharing an article on "30 Simple Ways To Be Missional In Your Workplace".  This is a GREAT article with some GREAT tips.  Another way to get some practical tools on how to be missional or to extend the Kingdom around you is to come to the SCATTERED Conference this weekend with Robby Dawkins at Lancaster Vineyard Church... here is the link to the info on our website: http://lancastervineyard.org/scattered/

"30 Simple Ways To Be Missional In Your Workplace"
Many times it’s difficult to find practical ways to be a blessing in your workplace. Rapid pace, mounting deadlines, or co-worker conflict can often derail even the best of intentions to say and show the love of Jesus at work.

Recently, Josh Reeves posted some very practical ideas for blessing others in the workplace:

1. Instead of eating lunch alone, intentionally eat with other co-workers and learn their story.

2. Get to work early so you can spend some time praying for your co-workers and the day ahead.

3. Make it a daily priority to speak or write encouragement when someone does good work.

4. Bring extra snacks when you make your lunch to give away to others.

5. Bring breakfast (donuts, burritos, cereal, etc.) once a month for everyone in your department.

6. Organize a running/walking group in the before or after work.

7. Have your missional community/small group bring lunch to your workplace once a month.

8. Create a regular time to invite coworkers over or out for drinks.

9. Make a list of your co-workers birthdays and find a way to bless everyone on their birthday.

10. Organize and throw office parties as appropriate to your job.

11. Make every effort to avoid gossip in the office. Be a voice of thanksgiving not complaining.

12. Find others that live near you and create a car pool.

13. Offer to throw a shower for a co-worker who is having a baby.

14. Offer to cover for a co-worker who needs off for something.

15. Start a regular lunch out with co-workers (don’t be selective on the invites).

16. Organize a weekly/monthly pot luck to make lunch a bit more exciting.

17. Ask someone who others typically ignore if you can grab them a soda/coffee while you’re out.

18. Be the first person to greet and welcome new people.

19. Make every effort to know the names of co-workers and clients along with their families.

20. Visit coworkers when they are in the hospital.

21. Bring sodas or work appropriate drinks to keep in your break room for coworkers to enjoy. Know what your co-workers like.

22. Go out of your way to talk to your janitors and cleaning people who most people overlook.

23. Find out your co-workers favorite music and make a playlist that includes as much as you can (if suitable for work).

24. Invite your co-workers in to the service projects you are already involved in.

25. Start/join a city league team with your co-workers.

26. Organize a weekly co-working group for local entrepreneurs at a local coffee shop.

27. Start a small business that will bless your community and create space for mission.

28. Work hard to reconcile co-workers who are fighting with one another.

29. Keep small candy, gum, or little snacks around to offer to others during a long day.

30. Lead the charge in organizing others to help co-workers in need.

You can also find the article at this link too... http://www.vergenetwork.org/2011/08/16/30-simple-ways-to-be-missional-in-your-workplace/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+VergeNetwork+%28Verge+Network%29