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‘Being A Worshipping Community’
This morning, we come to the end of our series on ‘The Five Core Values of A Gospel People’. We’ve already focussed upon the fact that we are called to be a prophetic community, an inclusive community, a sacrificial community and a missional community, and this morning we conclude by considering what it means to be a worshipping community.
I think that, in some ways, this is the most difficult of the core values to comprehend fully, because we take it for granted that we are a worshipping community – after all, we here every Sunday morning, aren’t we? We worship God every week by singing hymns, by reading the Bible, by saying prayers, by listening to God’s word – so that makes us a worshipping community, doesn’t it?
And my answer would be: “Well, ‘yes’ in one way, but ‘no’ in so many other ways.” For so long – probably from the very beginning of time – we human beings have had a very limited view of worship and of what worship is (and I stress the word ‘very’). We have tried to put it neatly in a box and confine it to a specific time and place within our lives. We open the box and take it out when it suits us – maybe Sunday mornings, or at Christmas, or at funerals – and then we try to put it back in the box until the next time it suits us to take it out again.
In truth, worship just isn’t like that – or, at least, it shouldn’t be. Worship – within the Christian context – means ‘declaring the worth of God and glorifying His name’, and that surely mustn’t be confined to one day of the week, or a few occasions each year, it must be part of our daily lives and permeate every aspect of our lives. Remember what Paul wrote to the Christians in the city of Corinth? He said:
“Whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.” (1 Corinthians 10:31)
Our worship and our witness, he says, are not confined to the worship service, but extend to whatever we do. Why is that so? Because we are Christ’s representatives on earth – the Church is the Body of Christ – and so how we live our lives and how we relate to people reflects upon Christ and His heavenly Father. In his letter to the Colossian Christians, he writes:
“Whatever you do or say, do it as a representative of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God the Father.”
You see, we must live our lives to the glory of God, recognising that this is our act of worship for Him. Paul goes on to say in the same letter:
“Work willingly at whatever you do, as though you were working for the Lord rather than for people.”
There must be no divide between how we conduct ourselves in church and how we conduct ourselves outside it, at work, at school, at the supermarket, in the restaurant, or wherever we may be. And that point is pressed home by God in chapter 1 of the Book of Isaiah – God says:
“What makes you think I want all your sacrifices? ... When you come to worship me, who asked you to parade through my courts with all your ceremony? ... I want no more of your pious meetings. ... Wash yourselves and be clean! Get your sins out of my sight. Give up your evil ways. Learn to do good. Seek justice. Help the oppressed. Defend the cause of orphans. Fight for the rights of widows.”
Our whole lives must be worshipful, pointing away from ourselves and towards God and helping the oppressed and vulnerable. If they are not, then whatever we do in church on Sunday mornings and evenings is meaningless.
And that’s my first point this morning:
being a worshipping community is a full time occupation (not a hobby, or a pastime)
For the Christian, the whole of life is sacred and can’t be divided into different pigeonholes.
The second point I want us to think about today is this:
being a worshipping community is a whole body experience
I want to approach this in two different ways. The first way I want to look at it follows directly on from the previous point I was making.
Just as our worship as a community cannot be confined to just one day of the week, or to just one setting, neither can it be confined to one part of our being. Let me explain ...
The apostle Paul often referred to the early church as a body – the Body of Christ. For instance, in Romans 5, he says that “we are many parts of one body, and we all belong to each other.”
For a moment, let’s think of being a worshipping community in terms of the human body.
And, first of all, I think it’s true to say that
the worshipping community will worship with its heart
Worship must be a response of the heart, in that there must surely be some emotional response to all that God has done for us. If our hearts do not overflow with love and joy and thanksgiving for the sacrifice of Jesus Christ the Son of God, who gave His life on the cross and bore our sin, so that we might be saved from condemnation and reconciled to God, our heavenly Father, then there is something seriously wrong with us.
In verse 1 of that modern worship song, “Jesus, we celebrate Your victory”, it says this:
It was for freedom that Christ has set us free,
No longer to be subject to a yoke of slavery.
So we’re rejoicing in God’s victory,
Our hearts responding to His love.
That really is an essential part of worship: our hearts responding to His love. It is an emotional thing to realise just how much God loves us and to recognise the lengths He was prepared to go to save us and so it’s inevitable, I think, that we will respond emotionally in worship. That is why there are quite a lot of modern worship songs that are not theologically deep, but are highly emotionally charged and allow the worshipper to express their deepest feelings in music.
And yet our worship as a community, and as individuals, must be much more than an emotional response, much more than merely a thing of the heart. So, it is good that ...
the authentic worshipping community will also worship with its head
God has not only given each of us a heart, but also a brain and He expects us to use it in worship. With it, we are to discern what is right teaching and what is not – at the beginning of his letter to the Philippians, the apostle Paul writes this:
“I pray that your love will overflow more and more, and that you will keep on growing in knowledge and understanding.”
And in Proverbs 3 we’re told:
“My child, don’t lose sight of common sense and discernment. Hang onto them, for they will refresh your soul.”
We are called upon to us our intellects, our wisdom and our powers of discernment as we worship, so that we are not misled and so we don’t worship in an inappropriate way – if we are led purely by our emotions, there is a real danger that we will. We must look to be made mature in our faith, so that “we won’t be tossed and blown about by every wind of new teaching.
I spoke a few minutes ago of the Christian songs which encourage and enable us to make an emotional response to God’s amazing grace. Well, there are of course also those Christian songs and hymns which feed our minds and build up our Christian intellects – traditional hymns like many of those written by Charles Wesley and Isaac Watts; and newer songs such as ‘In Christ Alone’ by Stuart Townend and ‘From heaven You came’ by Graham Kendrick.
But being a worshipping community is not just about listening to our hearts and exercising our brains, it also entails using our hands
And by that I mean more than just raising our hands when we sing! The truth is that we also worship God as we serve others: by obeying God’s commandment to love our neighbours as ourselves, we offer Him the most authentic form of worship. In Isaiah chapter 58, which we read earlier, God describes to the Israelites the sort of worship He really wants – He says:
“Free those who are wrongly imprisoned; lighten the burden of those who work for you. Let the oppressed go free, and remove the chains that bind people. Share your food with the hungry and give shelter to the homeless. Give clothes to those who need them and do not hide from relatives who need your help.”
The sort of worship God describes is practical: it’s about righting wrongs and offering help and support to the most hurting and vulnerable people in society.
The implication of what God says in the Book of Isaiah and elsewhere is that, unless we get this aspect of worship right, what we do in church on a Sunday is of little consequence.
And being a worshipping community also includes a willingness to use our feet
As we heard when we thought about what it means to be a missional community, God also commands us to ‘Go’ – to go and make disciples. This means moving outside the church building and taking the gospel to our communities. As we get out there and tell others of God’s grace and mercy, we are declaring His worth, we are giving Him our worship.
So that’s one sense in which worship should be a whole Body experience: we need to worship with our hearts, responding emotionally to God’s love for us; we need to worship with our heads, discerning the truth and declaring it; we need to worship with our hands, in the service of others; and we need to worship with our feet, taking the gospel into our communities.
But it’s also true to say that worship should be a whole Body experience, because it should involve every person in the Church, not just the limited few.
In the Church, we believe in the priesthood of all believers – the apostle Peter wrote:
“You are living stones that God is building into His spiritual temple. What’s more, you are His holy priests. Through the mediation of Jesus Christ, you offer spiritual sacrifices that please God.”
Every one of us has a role to play in making the Church a worshipping community – you see, worship is not a spectator sport ... everyone is expected to participate and bring to it the gifts that God has given them. That might be through getting involved in active service within the community – for example, by becoming part of our ‘Green Team’ which will be doing a monthly litter pick-up – or through helping in some outreach activity, like Messy Church. Or, it could be by offering to do the Bible reading every once in a while on a Sunday morning, or to lead prayers every now and then. If you think you could do either of those things, do let me know after the service, because that would be of great help to me.
So, this morning, we’ve learnt that being a worshipping community is a full-time commitment; that it should engage every aspect of our being, our emotions, our intellects and our actions; and that it is the responsibility of the whole Body of Christ, not of just a select few.
Let’s conclude in prayer ...
Monday, 13 July 2009
Friday, 3 July 2009
Sunday June 28th, 2009
Being A Missional Community
This morning, we’re continuing with our study of the ‘Five Core Values of a Gospel People’. We’ve already considered how we are called to be a prophetic community, an inclusive community, and a sacrificial community; now, we are going to think about how we should be a missional community.
A missional community? Don’t I mean a missionary community? Well, yes, in a way I do, but the difficulty about calling anything ‘missionary’ is that it conjures up a picture of people being sent overseas from this country to take the gospel to foreign climes – but that is only part of the idea. Being a missional community actually involves everyone in that community accepting the responsibility of promoting the gospel wherever God has placed them – it isn’t merely the responsibility of a few people whom we call ‘missionaries’ and then send out to distant lands. Mission must be a part of the DNA of each church fellowship and each church member.
We are meant to be a missional community, because God Himself is a missional community. Just consider the words of John 3:17 – “God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him.” God sent his Son into the world – mission is about being sent by God and Jesus was sent by God to save the world.
And, of course, there’s the Holy Spirit – later in John’s Gospel, Jesus tells His disciples: “I will send you the Advocate — the Spirit of truth. He will come to you from the Father and will testify all about me.”
As you can see then, the Holy Trinity is a missional community – God doesn’t stay put in heaven, organising everything from there; no, He comes among us and gets His hands dirty, so to speak. As Paul writes in Philippians:
“[Jesus] gave up his divine privileges; he took the humble position of a slave and was born as a human being. When he appeared in human form; he humbled himself in obedience to God and died a criminal’s death on a cross.”
And what is more, God sends His people out to continue the work of the kingdom. At the end of Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus says to His disciples:
Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.
Notice that Jesus uses the word ‘go’ – “go and make disciples” – He doesn’t call upon us to stay within the confines of the church building, but to be out and about in the world, bringing people to a knowledge of what He has done for us all.
It’s strange, but for so long the Church in Britain has not taken on board the nature of that commission. Oh yes, it’s chosen and ordained gifted people to go out as missionaries to Africa, Asia, South America and all other parts of the world, but has itself largely relied on being attractional – that is to say, it has stayed in its buildings and waited for people to come to it, rather than going to where the people are.
Many local churches have concentrated on making their premises more pleasing to the eye, their music more contemporary, their projects and activities more extensive, as if these things alone will attract more people into the church. But, usually, they won’t. Why? Because, for the average non-Christian, there is no reason to go into a church building, outside of the occasional wedding or funeral. And, even if going to church ever does cross their minds, many would find stepping over the threshold a major challenge because of the vast cultural chasm between the world and the church. So, we need to find a ...
Meeting place
Being a missional community is not about saying to people ‘Come to us’, rather, it’s about us being prepared to go and meet with them, wherever that may be. We need to meet and interact with people in the places where they feel more comfortable – the coffee shops, the pubs, the places of sport and leisure. For example, a group of us in Churches Together in Barnstaple are organising an evening at a coffee shop in the town centre which will include music from local Christian musicians – a venue and an occasion to which Christians can confidently bring their non-Christian friends, without any danger of a cringe factor.
I know, also, of an initiative called ‘Pints of View’, which involves holding informal question and answer sessions on all sorts of topics in the lounge bar of pubs.
These are not hard-hitting, Bible-bashing evangelistic meetings, but work on the basis that the Church needs to be out there, building relationships with people in order to have an opening – at some stage – to tell them the Good News of Jesus Christ.
Of course, chaplaincy is also an example of the Church going out to meet people where they are. The hospital or hospice chaplain can bring comfort to hurting people; the workplace chaplain can listen to the anxieties and troubles of working people; and sports chaplains, like myself at Barnstaple Town, bring the light of Christ into ordinary people’s existences in other ways. And each church member can do the same in his, or her, walk of life.
Another way we can be a missional community is through ...
Shared Projects
A couple of weeks ago, when we were considering what it meant to be a sacrificial community, I mentioned that the local church needs to be prepared to work with other community organisations, and to do so with the minimum of fuss. This is also a feature of the missional church. Shared projects – whether initiated by the church, or already existing – provide the opportunity to establish significant connections within the community.
Just think about what happens when men get together to do an activity, like some DIY job, or a round of golf, or cooking on a BBQ – they talk, they open up, they share stories, and relationships are begun or strengthened.
Or what about when women get together to do some gardening, or to do some task in the kitchen, or to go for a meal and a drink in the evening – again, they talk, they open up, they share stories, and relationships are begun or strengthened.
Likewise, when we Christians get involved in community projects, or community events, or community sport, we meet with others who are not-yet-Christians – and, again, we talk, we open up, we share stories, and relationships are begun and strengthened.
And within such relationships, seeds are planted, nurtured, brought to maturity, and made ready for the harvest. Shared projects and community involvement – significant features of missional fellowships.
With that in mind, following on from the ‘Tidy Up Our Town’ initiative, the Town Council is asking community groups to form ‘Green Teams’ to undertake green projects around the town. This is a great opportunity for us to get involved again and build these significant community relationships. I am planning to do some litter-picking on the morning of Thursday July 10th – if you’d like to join me for an hour or two, let me know after the service and I’ll order the equipment.
Anyway, moving on, the next feature of a truly missional community is that it consists of ...
Contagious Christians
You know, Jesus Himself was contagious: everyone He touched, or who touched Him, found healing, forgiveness and wholeness – He passed it on. For example, remember how the haemorrhaging woman reached out, touched the tassel of His robe and received instant healing. Or, how about the man with leprosy whom Jesus touches and heals, then sends to the priest for verification. Or, then there’s the woman who washes Jesus’ feet with her tears and dries them with her hair – He tells her that her sins are forgiven. And, in the same way, He declares that the sins of the paralysed man who is lowered through the roof are forgiven.
You see, Jesus is contagious – through His touch, through His word, God’s mercy, God’s grace, God’s love, God’s forgiveness is transmitted to the poor, the vulnerable, the abused, the rejected.
A missional community consists of Christians who are contagious. To illustrate, let me share with you a case study from the Baptist Union booklet ...
A group of Christians began working with young people in a poorer part of Cardiff. There was a high truancy rate at the local schools. Young people were under-performing in their studies. Out of school activities were very limited and drug and solvent abuse was widespread.
The group developed a number of initiatives – going into schools, running after-school clubs and providing holiday activities. They developed a youth centre which became a haven for many, and the project has had a marked effect upon the young people and upon the quality of life in the area.
The staff always prayed together each day, and the young people began asking about what they did when they prayed. The young people wanted to come along and join in.
The staff felt that they ought to let them, but were at first uncertain. Gradually dozens of young people were meeting to sing, pray and listen to scripture, and in time the organisers realised a church had begun.
This is contagious Christianity – God’s people touching the lives of others in Christ’s name and bringing transformation.
Now you may feel as though you are last person who is able to bring transformation into people’s lives, but just listen to what Jesus said:
“The truth is, anyone who believes in me will do the same works I have done, and even greater works, because I am going to be with the Father. You can ask for anything in my name, and i will do it, because the work of the Son brings glory to the Father. Yes, ask anything in my name, and I will do it!”
And, on top of that, what was it that Jesus told His disciples, when He appeared to them after His resurrection?
“If you forgive anyone’s sins, they are forgiven. If you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.”
We are called to be contagious Christians, transmitting the mercy, grace, love and forgiveness of God in the world.
So far, my emphasis has been that a missional community is one that is out there, with people, where they are, getting alongside them. Which might suggest that church buildings are surplus to requirements – but the final point about being missional communities is that local churches must be ...
Houses of Hospitality
The local church has, of course, to be prepared to welcome new people, extending the hand of fellowship and friendship to those who hear the good news about Jesus Christ and respond. That will mean receiving people as they are and helping them to feel that they belong, rather than expecting people to immediately conform to our way of thinking.
It will also entail a willingness to explore their particular needs – physically, emotionally and spiritually – and seeking to address them, rather than having a one-size-fits-all attitude. Jesus Himself always found out what each person’s particular needs were and then responded appropriately, whether it be with a physical healing, a pronouncement of forgiveness, or a piece of teaching – He recognised each one as an individual in need of the knowledge of God’s love.
We need to welcome and love the stranger and to be a house of hospitality in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Conclusion
This morning, I’ve only been able to scratch the surface of what it means to be a missional community – it would take a whole series of sermons to do the topic justice, but I pray that you will be inspired to return to the Bible yourselves to read more of what it has to teach us about being missional.
To God be the glory! Amen.
This morning, we’re continuing with our study of the ‘Five Core Values of a Gospel People’. We’ve already considered how we are called to be a prophetic community, an inclusive community, and a sacrificial community; now, we are going to think about how we should be a missional community.
A missional community? Don’t I mean a missionary community? Well, yes, in a way I do, but the difficulty about calling anything ‘missionary’ is that it conjures up a picture of people being sent overseas from this country to take the gospel to foreign climes – but that is only part of the idea. Being a missional community actually involves everyone in that community accepting the responsibility of promoting the gospel wherever God has placed them – it isn’t merely the responsibility of a few people whom we call ‘missionaries’ and then send out to distant lands. Mission must be a part of the DNA of each church fellowship and each church member.
We are meant to be a missional community, because God Himself is a missional community. Just consider the words of John 3:17 – “God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him.” God sent his Son into the world – mission is about being sent by God and Jesus was sent by God to save the world.
And, of course, there’s the Holy Spirit – later in John’s Gospel, Jesus tells His disciples: “I will send you the Advocate — the Spirit of truth. He will come to you from the Father and will testify all about me.”
As you can see then, the Holy Trinity is a missional community – God doesn’t stay put in heaven, organising everything from there; no, He comes among us and gets His hands dirty, so to speak. As Paul writes in Philippians:
“[Jesus] gave up his divine privileges; he took the humble position of a slave and was born as a human being. When he appeared in human form; he humbled himself in obedience to God and died a criminal’s death on a cross.”
And what is more, God sends His people out to continue the work of the kingdom. At the end of Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus says to His disciples:
Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.
Notice that Jesus uses the word ‘go’ – “go and make disciples” – He doesn’t call upon us to stay within the confines of the church building, but to be out and about in the world, bringing people to a knowledge of what He has done for us all.
It’s strange, but for so long the Church in Britain has not taken on board the nature of that commission. Oh yes, it’s chosen and ordained gifted people to go out as missionaries to Africa, Asia, South America and all other parts of the world, but has itself largely relied on being attractional – that is to say, it has stayed in its buildings and waited for people to come to it, rather than going to where the people are.
Many local churches have concentrated on making their premises more pleasing to the eye, their music more contemporary, their projects and activities more extensive, as if these things alone will attract more people into the church. But, usually, they won’t. Why? Because, for the average non-Christian, there is no reason to go into a church building, outside of the occasional wedding or funeral. And, even if going to church ever does cross their minds, many would find stepping over the threshold a major challenge because of the vast cultural chasm between the world and the church. So, we need to find a ...
Meeting place
Being a missional community is not about saying to people ‘Come to us’, rather, it’s about us being prepared to go and meet with them, wherever that may be. We need to meet and interact with people in the places where they feel more comfortable – the coffee shops, the pubs, the places of sport and leisure. For example, a group of us in Churches Together in Barnstaple are organising an evening at a coffee shop in the town centre which will include music from local Christian musicians – a venue and an occasion to which Christians can confidently bring their non-Christian friends, without any danger of a cringe factor.
I know, also, of an initiative called ‘Pints of View’, which involves holding informal question and answer sessions on all sorts of topics in the lounge bar of pubs.
These are not hard-hitting, Bible-bashing evangelistic meetings, but work on the basis that the Church needs to be out there, building relationships with people in order to have an opening – at some stage – to tell them the Good News of Jesus Christ.
Of course, chaplaincy is also an example of the Church going out to meet people where they are. The hospital or hospice chaplain can bring comfort to hurting people; the workplace chaplain can listen to the anxieties and troubles of working people; and sports chaplains, like myself at Barnstaple Town, bring the light of Christ into ordinary people’s existences in other ways. And each church member can do the same in his, or her, walk of life.
Another way we can be a missional community is through ...
Shared Projects
A couple of weeks ago, when we were considering what it meant to be a sacrificial community, I mentioned that the local church needs to be prepared to work with other community organisations, and to do so with the minimum of fuss. This is also a feature of the missional church. Shared projects – whether initiated by the church, or already existing – provide the opportunity to establish significant connections within the community.
Just think about what happens when men get together to do an activity, like some DIY job, or a round of golf, or cooking on a BBQ – they talk, they open up, they share stories, and relationships are begun or strengthened.
Or what about when women get together to do some gardening, or to do some task in the kitchen, or to go for a meal and a drink in the evening – again, they talk, they open up, they share stories, and relationships are begun or strengthened.
Likewise, when we Christians get involved in community projects, or community events, or community sport, we meet with others who are not-yet-Christians – and, again, we talk, we open up, we share stories, and relationships are begun and strengthened.
And within such relationships, seeds are planted, nurtured, brought to maturity, and made ready for the harvest. Shared projects and community involvement – significant features of missional fellowships.
With that in mind, following on from the ‘Tidy Up Our Town’ initiative, the Town Council is asking community groups to form ‘Green Teams’ to undertake green projects around the town. This is a great opportunity for us to get involved again and build these significant community relationships. I am planning to do some litter-picking on the morning of Thursday July 10th – if you’d like to join me for an hour or two, let me know after the service and I’ll order the equipment.
Anyway, moving on, the next feature of a truly missional community is that it consists of ...
Contagious Christians
You know, Jesus Himself was contagious: everyone He touched, or who touched Him, found healing, forgiveness and wholeness – He passed it on. For example, remember how the haemorrhaging woman reached out, touched the tassel of His robe and received instant healing. Or, how about the man with leprosy whom Jesus touches and heals, then sends to the priest for verification. Or, then there’s the woman who washes Jesus’ feet with her tears and dries them with her hair – He tells her that her sins are forgiven. And, in the same way, He declares that the sins of the paralysed man who is lowered through the roof are forgiven.
You see, Jesus is contagious – through His touch, through His word, God’s mercy, God’s grace, God’s love, God’s forgiveness is transmitted to the poor, the vulnerable, the abused, the rejected.
A missional community consists of Christians who are contagious. To illustrate, let me share with you a case study from the Baptist Union booklet ...
A group of Christians began working with young people in a poorer part of Cardiff. There was a high truancy rate at the local schools. Young people were under-performing in their studies. Out of school activities were very limited and drug and solvent abuse was widespread.
The group developed a number of initiatives – going into schools, running after-school clubs and providing holiday activities. They developed a youth centre which became a haven for many, and the project has had a marked effect upon the young people and upon the quality of life in the area.
The staff always prayed together each day, and the young people began asking about what they did when they prayed. The young people wanted to come along and join in.
The staff felt that they ought to let them, but were at first uncertain. Gradually dozens of young people were meeting to sing, pray and listen to scripture, and in time the organisers realised a church had begun.
This is contagious Christianity – God’s people touching the lives of others in Christ’s name and bringing transformation.
Now you may feel as though you are last person who is able to bring transformation into people’s lives, but just listen to what Jesus said:
“The truth is, anyone who believes in me will do the same works I have done, and even greater works, because I am going to be with the Father. You can ask for anything in my name, and i will do it, because the work of the Son brings glory to the Father. Yes, ask anything in my name, and I will do it!”
And, on top of that, what was it that Jesus told His disciples, when He appeared to them after His resurrection?
“If you forgive anyone’s sins, they are forgiven. If you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.”
We are called to be contagious Christians, transmitting the mercy, grace, love and forgiveness of God in the world.
So far, my emphasis has been that a missional community is one that is out there, with people, where they are, getting alongside them. Which might suggest that church buildings are surplus to requirements – but the final point about being missional communities is that local churches must be ...
Houses of Hospitality
The local church has, of course, to be prepared to welcome new people, extending the hand of fellowship and friendship to those who hear the good news about Jesus Christ and respond. That will mean receiving people as they are and helping them to feel that they belong, rather than expecting people to immediately conform to our way of thinking.
It will also entail a willingness to explore their particular needs – physically, emotionally and spiritually – and seeking to address them, rather than having a one-size-fits-all attitude. Jesus Himself always found out what each person’s particular needs were and then responded appropriately, whether it be with a physical healing, a pronouncement of forgiveness, or a piece of teaching – He recognised each one as an individual in need of the knowledge of God’s love.
We need to welcome and love the stranger and to be a house of hospitality in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Conclusion
This morning, I’ve only been able to scratch the surface of what it means to be a missional community – it would take a whole series of sermons to do the topic justice, but I pray that you will be inspired to return to the Bible yourselves to read more of what it has to teach us about being missional.
To God be the glory! Amen.
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