My Worship Revolution

Last night we were back at Life Group after 3 weeks.  It was great to be together again.  To catch up with each others holidays.  And to think about what 2008 can bring for us individually and as a group.

This past Sunday we started a series called "Revolution: Dare To Change The World."  A 5 week series on how each of us can contribute to making a significant difference in the world.  The first week was all about the foundational truth that Christ was God himself, incarnate.  And now it is our job to live out an incarnational life…being Jesus to the people around us.  Being Christ’s ambassadors.  Not bringing people to God, rather taking God to people.

It was a great time last night of discussing what that looks like and recognizing that it’s really not our job, but God does all the work when we’re obedient.  Here’s the thing about being Jesus to the world, though…it means you actually have to be in the world.

There is one thing I hate more than anything else when it comes to full time ministry.  Before you know it, you’re in Life Group with Christians, you lead worship with Christians, you hang out in your free time with Christians, and although you got involved in ministry because you love seeing people who don’t follow Jesus experience radical life change, you no longer know any of them yourself.  It’s something that Rachel and I have been chattin about for a while now.  And I’m talking about more than just going out of your way to say hi to a neighbor every so often.  I mean really doing life together.  Being a part of a "tribe" that is outside the Christ follower bubble

It’s what I miss most about a "normal" job.  And in the church world people sometimes act like we should do this cause we have something to give but nothing to gain in the process.  The truth is, some of my greatest relationships have been with those that didn’t know Christ.  People who stretched my own ways of thinking cause they were different from me.  People who had huge hearts with so much to give and so many amazing experiences for me to learn from.

So that is my personal challenge this year.  I’m trying to figure out exactly where that is that I can make those relationships.  I’ve had a few ideas, but they haven’t quite panned out cause of time commitments, so I’ll let you know what I figure out.  It’s even tougher when you consider I already work at balancing ministry and family, but this is a priority and something I need to be willing to sacrifice for.

I know there are a number of readers here who do ministry occupationally.  How about you?  What are you doing in your life to stay connected to people in "the world."  How are you being incarnational and acting as Jesus to the people around you?