missio

Today, I want to write a little about presence. Churches are supposed to have presence, simply because our God has presence. He has presence in His creation (Romans 1), in His people (Genesis 1), and in the person of Jesus (John 1). If we are to be like Him, and are to imitate Him, then we are to have presence. But what does this mean? Presence is simply this: a local existence that cannot be ignored. So what are some of the ways that we at Harmony have tried to have a presence in our community? Here’s a list:

1. We meet in a public gathering place. In our case, it’s a nightclub/bar/restaurant.
2. We volunteer and work closely with our city’s organizations and committees. We work closely with Uptown Greenville (link). We work closely with the Pitt County Task Force to End Homelessness. We are present at city council meetings.
3. We have a marketing presence in the community and on the nearby college campus. We post flyers. We have invite cards. We have a nice website.
4. We serve our community. Harmony has provided volunteers for Umbrella Market. We have given out free water. We have helped students move in to their dorms. We gave them free water. We will be providing volunteers for the upcoming Freeboot Fridays during football season. We will have a presence at the football games.
5. We have shirts and signs. It sounds simple and maybe even capitalistic, but when you combine that with the above items, you start to see people recognizing your presence.

Today, a young lady who calls Harmony home was standing a bus stop. And someone, seeing her Harmony shirt, asked her if she went to Harmony. And she was able to, through conversation, invite them out to hear the Gospel. Because they saw a sign at a bus stop, and a lady with a shirt, it led to a conversation which may lead to a conversion. Who knows?

Presence is powerful.

What are you doing to cultivate presence in your church/small group/life?

Distance, with regards to the Gospel, is a vitally important concept. In fact, it’s basic to the understanding of the Gospel. Jesus, by way of the Incarnation, shortened the distance between heaven and earth, and indeed, God and man. We are by default far from God, but through Jesus, we are reunited and reconciled to God.

My thinking on this is that, as we are supposed to imitate Jesus, aren’t we as Christians supposed to shorten the distance between the culture and Jesus? In my mind, there are two barriers or “trenches” between the Southern, Bible-belt non-regenerate person [ sinner for short ] and a saving knowledge of Christ, as given by the Church (Ephesians 3:10).

The first barrier is that of culture. The Church, in their mind, is outdated, antiquated, irrelevant, judgmental, and hypocritical. And for the most part, they are right. But as Christians, the cultural barrier is our responsibility. We are to build a bridge over this trench ourselves, with assistance from the Spirit. That is, our job is to shorten the distance between the sinner and Christ.

The second barrier is that of sin. Sin separates man from mankind, man from self , man from creation, and ultimately, man from Creator. This barrier we (both sinner and saved) are incapable of overcoming. This bridge is built, this distance shortened, by God Himself. The Father sovereignly elects to reveal His Son by His Spirit to the unregenerate, the distance is infinitely shortened between sinner and Savior, and yet another prodigal returns home to His Father.

My question to you is this: how can we as Christians shorten the distance between sinner and Christ? That is, how can we overcome the first barrier, that of culture?

Comments?