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Finding the missing link between Sunday in church and Monday actions
Church in the Community - Media Release in the Herald: 26 June 2023
Source: TCN / Trevor Jennings
Date Added: 2023-06-26
Category: General News, TCN News, Issues - General,
Date Added: 2023-06-26
Category: General News, TCN News, Issues - General,
The difference between what people hear on Sundays in church and what they do from Monday to Saturday is what we could call “the missing link.”
To me, the missing link is our understanding of our unique purpose in the building of God's Kingdom.
Without discovering our unique purpose, we will forever wander around trying to work out what God wants us to do and what His will is for our life.
The person who helped me discover my unique purpose was Dallas Willard.
Dallas speaks about two things.
Firstly, about our uniqueness as in Psalm 139 which he translates into unique purpose in God’s plan for our lives.
Secondly, he talks about our time and space.
Our “time" being the number of years that God has given us to fulfil our unique purpose on earth, and our “space" being the circles of influence where He has placed us to fulfil His plan.
What I found is that, in order to determine where God wants you to build His Kingdom, you must first identify your circles of influence i.e., family, friends, place of work, clubs, committees etc.
Each of us will have a different number of such circles.
This exercise could be a wonderful opportunity for you to review your involvement in a number of areas in your life and decide where God really wants you to be.
Criteria could include whether they are adding value to your life and whether they are places where you feel God has put you to spread His Kingdom.
Once you have identified your circles of influence, you will have discovered where l believe God wants you to be.
He put you there for a reason.
If you are not the epitome of the values Jesus taught us to the people in your time and space, they may never have another opportunity to meet Him in their lives.
The next step is to identify your gifting.
Paul says in 2 Timothy 1:6 that we should stir up our gifts.
To assist you to determine your gifts you need to complete a spiritual gifts assessment questionnaire which should be available from your church.
The questionnaire will help you to identify your strongest gifts.
Your family and close friends can confirm your gifting independently of the questionnaire.
Those are the gifts God wants you to use to play your role in building His Kingdom.
Once you know where God wants you to be and what gifts He has given you, you will know what He wants you to do there.
God wants you to use your gifts to spread His Kingdom in your circles of influence.
Although we may have the same circles of influence family, friends, employer and membership of clubs we have different gifts and therefore have different "jobs" to do.
You may have gifts of leadership, administration and teaching while I may have gifts of encouragement, counselling and help.
These gifts will help us determine what God wants us to do in our everyday lives. It is not God's plan that we are all either evangelists, pastors, teachers, prophets or apostles.
Nelson Mandela Bay has an amazing depth of leaders with a wealth of skills, knowledge, experience and wisdom and it is time for them to share their gifting with the broader community.
There are two ways one can get involved, namely: physically support already established initiatives or support them financially and/or in kind.
Churches already play a major role in meeting the needs of our destitute communities but regrettably the number of congregants actually involved are invariably a small fraction of their total membership.
We appeal to pastors to encourage all their congregants to become involved in the current issues and challenges of our broader communities.
The church has the power to make a meaningful difference.
The Church is by far the biggest network in the metro.
TCN has a database of 720 churches in Nelson Mandela Bay.
Taking an average membership of 100 per church, each of whom reaches out to 10 of their friends and acquaintances, our church pastors can influence more people than voted in NM Bay in the last election.
Imagine the difference it would make if each pastor spent just 59 seconds every Sunday praying and encouraging their congregants to practically show their love for their neighbours in their broader communities.
This would go a long way to addressing the three challenges that are speedily becoming real threats to us individually and our nation.
They are inequality, poverty and unemployment.
Many would like to include crime and violence, but these are merely a result of the above three.
We appeal to pastors and intercessors to help uplift the broader community by investing just 59 seconds of your time whenever you gather either on a Sunday or in groups to link the congregants in our church buildings to our neighbours on the “outside”.
We encourage all congregants and their families and friends to become involved in tackling one of the above challenges.
But, please do not reinvent the wheel.
There are already established church or charity NGO initiatives which are making a difference in the areas of inequality (through education, skills training and health); poverty (addressing food scarcity, education and training); and unemployment (through education and skills training).
Should you be interested in connecting with any already established initiative please contact us: info@tcn.org.za.
Trevor Jennings
Transformation Christian Network
To me, the missing link is our understanding of our unique purpose in the building of God's Kingdom.
Without discovering our unique purpose, we will forever wander around trying to work out what God wants us to do and what His will is for our life.
The person who helped me discover my unique purpose was Dallas Willard.
Dallas speaks about two things.
Firstly, about our uniqueness as in Psalm 139 which he translates into unique purpose in God’s plan for our lives.
Secondly, he talks about our time and space.
Our “time" being the number of years that God has given us to fulfil our unique purpose on earth, and our “space" being the circles of influence where He has placed us to fulfil His plan.
What I found is that, in order to determine where God wants you to build His Kingdom, you must first identify your circles of influence i.e., family, friends, place of work, clubs, committees etc.
Each of us will have a different number of such circles.
This exercise could be a wonderful opportunity for you to review your involvement in a number of areas in your life and decide where God really wants you to be.
Criteria could include whether they are adding value to your life and whether they are places where you feel God has put you to spread His Kingdom.
Once you have identified your circles of influence, you will have discovered where l believe God wants you to be.
He put you there for a reason.
If you are not the epitome of the values Jesus taught us to the people in your time and space, they may never have another opportunity to meet Him in their lives.
The next step is to identify your gifting.
Paul says in 2 Timothy 1:6 that we should stir up our gifts.
To assist you to determine your gifts you need to complete a spiritual gifts assessment questionnaire which should be available from your church.
The questionnaire will help you to identify your strongest gifts.
Your family and close friends can confirm your gifting independently of the questionnaire.
Those are the gifts God wants you to use to play your role in building His Kingdom.
Once you know where God wants you to be and what gifts He has given you, you will know what He wants you to do there.
God wants you to use your gifts to spread His Kingdom in your circles of influence.
Although we may have the same circles of influence family, friends, employer and membership of clubs we have different gifts and therefore have different "jobs" to do.
You may have gifts of leadership, administration and teaching while I may have gifts of encouragement, counselling and help.
These gifts will help us determine what God wants us to do in our everyday lives. It is not God's plan that we are all either evangelists, pastors, teachers, prophets or apostles.
Nelson Mandela Bay has an amazing depth of leaders with a wealth of skills, knowledge, experience and wisdom and it is time for them to share their gifting with the broader community.
There are two ways one can get involved, namely: physically support already established initiatives or support them financially and/or in kind.
Churches already play a major role in meeting the needs of our destitute communities but regrettably the number of congregants actually involved are invariably a small fraction of their total membership.
We appeal to pastors to encourage all their congregants to become involved in the current issues and challenges of our broader communities.
The church has the power to make a meaningful difference.
The Church is by far the biggest network in the metro.
TCN has a database of 720 churches in Nelson Mandela Bay.
Taking an average membership of 100 per church, each of whom reaches out to 10 of their friends and acquaintances, our church pastors can influence more people than voted in NM Bay in the last election.
Imagine the difference it would make if each pastor spent just 59 seconds every Sunday praying and encouraging their congregants to practically show their love for their neighbours in their broader communities.
This would go a long way to addressing the three challenges that are speedily becoming real threats to us individually and our nation.
They are inequality, poverty and unemployment.
Many would like to include crime and violence, but these are merely a result of the above three.
We appeal to pastors and intercessors to help uplift the broader community by investing just 59 seconds of your time whenever you gather either on a Sunday or in groups to link the congregants in our church buildings to our neighbours on the “outside”.
We encourage all congregants and their families and friends to become involved in tackling one of the above challenges.
But, please do not reinvent the wheel.
There are already established church or charity NGO initiatives which are making a difference in the areas of inequality (through education, skills training and health); poverty (addressing food scarcity, education and training); and unemployment (through education and skills training).
Should you be interested in connecting with any already established initiative please contact us: info@tcn.org.za.
Trevor Jennings
Transformation Christian Network
Source: TCN / Trevor Jennings
Date Added: 2023-06-26
Category: General News, TCN News, Issues - General,
Back to News IndexDate Added: 2023-06-26
Category: General News, TCN News, Issues - General,
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