| Raising Commitment | ||
| World Harvest Church > About Us > Vision |
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| A church with an apostolic dimension wins people to Christ and trains them to grow in their commitment to Him until they can make disciples for Him. 1. Save and train all people We reach all people for Christ and train every born-again person to do the spiritual works that God has assigned. a. Win all for Christ You reach all people for Christ because God wants every person to be saved. And then he told them, "Go into all the world and preach the Good News to everyone, everywhere" (Mark 16:15 NLT). • To 'preach' is to tell our firm belief and urge people to accept it. The focus of the Great Commission is preaching the gospel to all people at all places. • Beginning from where you are, help people to increase in their understanding of the gospel until they can choose to receive salvation given by the Savior Jesus Christ. The Lord isn't really being slow about his promise to return, as some people think. No, he is being patient for your sake. He does not want anyone to perish, so he is giving more time for everyone to repent (2 Peter 3:9 NLT). • God 'does not want anyone to perish' means He is eagerly waiting for every person to repent and respond to the gospel of salvation. b. Train all for ministry You train all believers to do spiritual works because God has created them for this purpose. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them (Ephesians 2:10 NKJV). • God has planned and created us to do 'good works'. Because you have been my partners in spreading the Good News about Christ from the time you first heard it until now. And I am sure that God, who began the good work within you, will continue his work until it is finally finished on that day when Christ Jesus comes back again (Philippians 1:5-6 NLT). • 'Good work' here is referring to their partnership 'in spreading the gospel' with Paul which God had started and intended to complete. • 'Good work' is primarily the works done for evangelism and spiritual growth. • Since all people are created for doing good works, evangelism is to be done with the hope of seeing the people winning souls and making disciples one day. So we continue to preach Christ to each person, using all wisdom to warn and to teach everyone, in order to bring each one into God's presence as a mature person in Christ (Colossians 1:28 NCV). • You begin evangelism with the vision of diligently training all people to become ministering Christians even before you go out to preach the gospel. 2. Raise spiritual commitment The Lord Jesus worked on people of five different levels of spiritual commitment. • Ministering to the community (The multitudes), • Feeding the crowd (The five thousand who followed Him wherever He went), • Gathering the congregation (The five hundred Christ appeared to after His resurrection), • Challenging the committed (The seventy or seventy-two, which probably grew to a hundred and twenty later. They were sent out with spiritual authority and power), and • Mentoring the core (The Twelve, who were sent as apostles to take nations). You establish believers by raising them from one level of commitment to a higher level until they are able to do good works. • Take them from community to crowd congregation committed and eventually, core. When they have reached the core move them out to the community for ministry. • The five commitment levels co-relate with the five spiritual dimensions. a. Win the community The community is the unchurched living near your church. • The community consists largely of people yet to believe in the Savior, some who have little knowledge of the gospel, and a small number of Christians not belonged to any church. • A church that works on a large number of unsaved people will grow numerically. • They are the people you have befriended, the people in your circle of influence, the people going through transitions, and those caught in difficulties. • The community has no commitment to your church. • Evangelism is for winning the community into your church. The Lord Jesus coached His disciples to win people in five stages. • Ask God for a great response (see Luke 10:2, 17-19), • Go to where people would listen (see Luke 10:1, 3, 5-6, 10), • Observe felt needs of responsive people (see Luke 10:7-9), • Minister to the needs of responsive people (see Luke 10:8-9, 17-19), and • Increase their understanding on the gospel (see Luke 10:9). Practice these five stages until evangelism becomes a culture in your church. • Make a territorial commitment to reach the community to raise an awareness of the gospel. Exercise spiritual authority to deliver the people from Satan who has blinded their spiritual understanding (see 2 Corinthians 4:4). • Then go and befriend the people, seeking to minister to their needs with God's love and power to open them up to Jesus. Improve their understanding of the gospel and correct any misconceptions until they can make an informed choice to receive Christ as their Savior. b. Draw the crowd The crowd refers to the people who are newly born again. • They probably have shown up in a seeker friendly meeting, attended a cell group, or came for a Praise Celebration. Some may have finished Discovery 101 of the Discipleship Program and have begun to grow spiritually. Some may be attending the Praise Celebration but give little commitment to your church. Worship transforms the attenders into worshippers the crowd into the congregation. • Worship is a powerful experience to the crowd if it has tangible manifestation of God's presence and done in a style that makes sense to them. • Seeker sensitive worship helps the crowd to transit into a congregation. c. Build the congregation The congregation refers to new believers who are water baptized and have become members of your church (see 1 Corinthians 12:13). Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone in whom the whole building, being fitted together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit (Ephesians 2:19-22 NKJV). • The newly born again people need to go through the process of 'being fitted together' and 'being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit'. It is a process of uniting the members into a congregation. • Fellowship unites members into a congregation. Strong friendship built in Fellowship Cells unites members in a church. • Loving fellowship makes the new believers feel belonged and wanting to return again and again. • Strong sense of belonging drives them to serve one another lovingly and fulfill the vision of the church together. d. Train the committed The committed are members growing spiritually, consistent in devotion, serious about faith in God, and wanting to follow Christ seriously as disciples. For God knew his people in advance, and he chose them to become like his Son (Romans 8:29a NLT). • God's plan for all people since the beginning has been for us to be like His Son, following Him as disciples. Discipleship is for equipping the committed Christians to extend the move of God. Then the word of God spread, and the number of the disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests were obedient to the faith (Acts 6:7 NKJV). • Luke, careful in the choice of words, referred 'disciples' as believers of high commitment. They expanded the move of God with the speed of multiplication. • A disciple is the key to speedy numerical growth. Disciples who abide in Christ are fruitful in spiritual ministry and their achievements stay (see John 15:16). • They have high commitment to your church, are regular in giving tithes, are actively serving in the church, and are supporting the vision. e. Send the core The core consists of people who are the core-workers and partners of the vision. • The core has the highest level of commitment. They seriously follow Christ and have laid down their lives for expanding His kingdom. • They are actively serving in many areas in the church. A church is as strong as its core of ministering Christians. Ministry is for sending the core back to the community to expand God's kingdom. • The core are ministering Christians who produce the cycle of winning the community, drawing the crowd, building the congregation, and training the committed. |
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