Greetings,
Normally I send out the church letter on Tuesday, but this week I was away, attending our association of churches' Annual Enrichment Conference with Craig and Susan and the Aguirre family. I took Eden, my youngest, and we had a great time growing in our love for Jesus and each other.
I was drawn into the conference sessions as the speaker was calling us to a deeper understanding of living gospel centered lives as leaders in our churches and challenging us to call each of our congregations into a deeper walk with Jesus in all aspects of your lives. I am always so proud of the job Jesus is doing within our fellowship when I go to these conferences. The Lord has blessed us in so many wonderful ways and so many of you are living your lives with Christ at the center and with the compassion of Christ being shown through you.
John 17:13-19 is such a beautiful prayer from Jesus. As believers increasingly become the minority, we will see the world truly growing to hate us. There are a lot of opportunities for us to demonstrate the love of Jesus to the many around us. We are not of this world any longer. I pray that we all exemplify the true love and compassion of Jesus this week, no matter what the cost. May Jesus receive all of the glory, honor and praise! God is so good to us.
Love you all,
Chris
Greetings,
When I say “make disciples,” what response does it evoke in you? To many people it feels like a difficult and involved program of taking people who know a little about God and teaching them how to know more about God. It feels daunting and exhausting and like I need a degree in theology in order to truly “make disciples.”
Jesus though that making disciples was such a big deal that it was the main message in his resurrection. He conquered death! Rose from the dead! He could have filled any coliseum, given a lecture, demonstrated healings in masses. Instead, he chose to spend time with a few people, and challenged them to spend time with other unbelievers, telling people of the story of God.
When you share the resurrection story of Jesus, you are doing the work of making disciples. When you ask people if they know why Jesus is such a big deal, you are disciple-making. When you talk about what God is doing and has done in your life to someone that doesn’t believe, you are doing gospel-focused discipleship. Evangelism and discipleship are not exclusive. They are one in the same. You make disciples by declaring Jesus rose from the dead to those who haven’t heard, or haven't yet believed, the good news.
What is keeping you from talking about Jesus’ resurrection to people who don’t know Jesus? What’s keeping you from obeying the command?
Are you ashamed of the gospel? I don’t think many of us would admit to that. Are you afraid? Most are. I’m not going to say there is nothing to fear. It is scary, but God is bigger, the Holy Spirit is in you, and you have the victory over anything that can come against you because of Jesus. Even death itself. Maybe Satan has convinced you to over-protect your privacy, over indulge in entertainment, or maybe stay busy with “good” things. Satan is satisfied with the Christian that studies and meets with fellow Christians as long as they are not sharing the great news of Jesus with those that haven’t heard.
Proclaiming the gospel is the only way to make disciples. Yes, you can show the gospel by your actions and wait for them to ask you a question. But that is not how Jesus commanded it. The onus is on us to be the ones going and teaching. I’m not talking about deep theological stuff. Teaching people to obey Jesus’ teaching means that you encourage the person to read the Bible. That’s where His teachings are. I like to challenge a person to pray before reading the book of John and ask God to make himself known to them. If they do it, then their heart is humble and God is always faithful.
I have been finding myself getting busy and I need to realign my personal priorities to include much more time being allocated toward making disciples and encouraging disciple makers (a.k.a. you all) to be making disciples.
Loving and obeying Jesus is our way of life!
Love ya,
Chris
Greetings,
For most of my life, I was in the construction business where I specialized in making messes while creating something and then cleaning it up so that it looked pretty. In our ministries, we are about bearing each other's burdens, which can become very messy very quickly. We are also about living in such a way that glorifies Christ at every turn. Being okay with a mess as a church allows us to open our arms to those whose lives are a mess. A neat and tidy church only encourages members to hide the messes in their lives. The Way of Life way is to live authentically while proclaiming Christ in word and deed to all around us.
Ministry in foreign places can be really messy as well. We are excited to be doing as much work as we can in Rosarito, Mexico, at the orphanage we have been supporting for the past four years. Even though we are not exactly at the point we thought we would be when we started out, it has been exciting to watch the amazing things the Lord has done through this project.
In addition to the work in Rosarito, this year our elders (Matt Jones, Sergio Aguirre, Craig Smith, Steve Hoskins and Tim Edleblute) have set out a vision for planting churches as an expansion of our foreign missions outreach. Our goal is to locate 5 places where a gospel centered church is greatly needed and begin the unique and significant task of developing a church and providing a qualified pastor. This is a great adventure and the Lord has already begun bringing people into our path that have a similar heart.
I wish that I knew exactly how this is all going to look. I like the idea of a clean and neat organization that will run just as we would have imagined. I would love to have a clear and concise picture of what planting 5 churches looks like in the next ten years. I can wish all I want, but the only way to see this happen is by our commitment as a body of Christ to start walking in a direction that we feel confident the Lord is leading us. We have many wonderful places in the world that need the gospel to be clearly proclaimed. We have the tools to train and equip people for the good work set out in front of them. I am excited to see this vision of 5 new churches planted on foreign soil. May our Lord God receive all the credit and glory for such an ambitious goal!
Our goal for our foreign missions special offering this week is $10,000. This money will help us to begin work on the church planting vision as well as continue to see what God has for us to do for Him in Rosarito. Please pray with me for this goal and about what God wants each of us to give. May He get all the glory!
Love ya,
Chris