In the first chapter of Acts Jesus says something interesting to His disciples when they ask Him when He will restore the kingdom to Israel. (Silly disciples, always looking for a physical & political kingdom. Wrote about our modern day obsession with that here)
He says, “…you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth.”
I find it interesting because He didn’t say that we will be His witnesses in all the third world countries once a year after we’ve written support letters to our family and had an amazing bake sale to raise money for the missions trip! Let me interject immediately for those of you fuming. My Dad runs a mission organization called B.O.T.A. and I’ve been going on short term missions trips for the past decade. Short term missions are amazing, life changing experiences and I am going on one this year. That’s not my point. My point is that a lot of American churches have their vision blurred when the word “serve” comes to mind.
It’s interesting to me that Jesus used three geographical locations that were in the vicinity of where they were living, working, sharing community with people. It’s after those three locations do we find “and even to the remotest part of the earth.”
I’m 25 so I’m in that age group that wants to change the world but I think Jesus wanted the disciples to see what was right in front of them before they went traveling by sea to the other side of the world. What impact have we truly made if we spend one week in Mexico changing the lives of the people but come back and spend fifty one weeks doing nothing in the community where we live. Believe it or not, there are people who don’t know Jesus that live down the street from you!
At the Journey Church we believe that loving and serving God are our greatest responsibilities as a church so we got out and did something. This year we continued a Bartlett Love Tradition that involves us going around the roughest parts of our community and handing out Turkey dinners but we don’t just give food. This is our pitch, “Hello, we’re from a local church (thank you Tim and Jamie for instilling that it’s not about growing the name of an individual church but the Church as one body!) and we’re giving away thanksgiving dinners. Would you like one?”
After that they say yes or no and after that yes or no comes, “Ok, is there anything you would like us to pray for?”
What happens next can only be described in photographs by Robert Madrid.
How do you serve your community? Leave a comment and let me know!
Tags: acts, community, jordan welch, Josiah, Josiah Potter, love, missions, outreach, robert madrid, thanksgiving, the bartletts, The Journey, The Journey Church, turkey
