© 2019 Christy K Robinson
A couple of my pastor-friends recently posted questions about church growth, evangelism, and what might make a church more relevant in the 21st century than in the "olden days."
My comments suggested that a big problem for an organized church or denomination is "doing evangelism" for the purpose of proselytizing members, instead of being a friend, being a volunteer because help is needed, being a companion in time of stress, being a consistently kind person, BEING.
"Being" is a verb. God identifies himself as "I AM," a form of the verb "to be." In our Bibles, this is written as LORD, with all-caps.
When Moses asked to see God in a physical way, the Lord revealed himself in characteristics -- in being.
Then the Lord came down in the cloud and stood there with him and proclaimed his name, the Lord. And he passed in front of Moses, proclaiming, “The Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin. Exodus 34:5-7 NIV
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| You don't have to DO the talking, but you can BE the soft place to fall. |
God reminds his people that he had done nothing but good for them in bringing them out of slavery and establishing them with security and safety and prosperity, but then they cheated on him by whoring after false idols (things that steal our focus or attention to the detriment of our souls). Those who remained thought they could appease God by doing things like making huge donations to the church, and providing expensive sacrifices to be burned.
But God said that he wasn't impressed by, or seeking, those donations or acts of public display.
With what shall I come before the Lord and bow down before the exalted God?
Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old? Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, with ten thousand rivers of olive oil? Shall I offer my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? He has shown you, O mortal, what is good.
And what does the Lord require of you?
To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God. Micah 6:6-8 NIV
Think of this proverb in terms of relationship, not material goods: “It's criminal to ignore a neighbor in need, but compassion for the poor—what a blessing!” Proverbs 14:21 MSG.
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| Sometimes being a compassionate person means doing good deeds. |
In all our relationships, if we are feeling and practicing those virtues for the sake of love, the work will get done.
In the scores of churches and denominations where I've served as musician, elder, Bible teacher, and other roles -- that were growing and vibrant, and where people loved to bring guests -- the successful, godly, positive ones were where congregations kept Christianity simple: Love God, love others as yourself.
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Christy K Robinson is author of
these books:
We
Shall Be Changed (2010)
Mary
Dyer Illuminated Vol. 1 (2013)
Mary
Dyer: For Such a Time as This Vol. 2 (2014)
The
Dyers of London, Boston, & Newport Vol. 3 (2014)
Effigy
Hunter (2015)
And of these sites:
Discovering
Love (inspiration and service)
Rooting
for Ancestors (history and genealogy)
William and Mary Barrett Dyer
(17th century culture and history of England and New England)
Editornado
[ed•i•tohr•NAY•doh] (Words. Communications. Book reviews. Cartoons.)
Facebook comment:
ReplyDeleteHilda Valenzuela Wendtland -- I love your article, it is very true. We don’t go to the park anymore to be with the homeless community. When we often did, we made it a point to spend an hour or two with them just sitting, talking and getting to know them and this is why. I would have done the same as everyone else if I had not experienced what we did the first time we visited. When we sat for an hour or two I can testify of at least 3 different people dropping food of for them. Specially in the weekends and holidays it could be a dozen organizations. Cars, vans specially stop and people come out of it with food. Pizzas, sandwiches, roasts, Costco chickens, dozens of tacos from Del Taco or Taco Bell. The list goes on and on. By mid morning they already have food to throw away, most days. Homeless do not like to sound ungrateful so they are polite and pleasant. The community at large do not really want to sit and talk to them, they smell, they are not all capable of deep conversations. Although I have found most homeless at the park to be twice as pleasant as most church members.
Anyways, that has been our experience year after year, month after month. If you do not have time to sit and talk, do not give food or money. They are not pets, they are human beings. The Creator In the flesh is standing in front of us when we approach a homeless person, a refugee, someone going through a hard time. Why would you just feed Him? Wouldn’t you like to say hello and spend 30 minutes with Him?
You write beautifully, I love your articles