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We act least like a Christian in Church (Post One)

Saturday Night saw my mate Darryl give yet another brilliant yarn to the folks at Blueprint Church. I'm gonna give you his first point (with some sam harvey embellishments) mainly because the second point was really good but I cant remeber it that well, didnt really take any notes on it. Something about changing the way we view ourselves or something fluffy along those lines.

Anyway after thinking about it, what was so good about the talk was that it wasn't a "lets get sorted so God can maybe use us" talk, it wasn't a "You are going to change the world" talk, it was a couple of practical things that we should be doing if we profess to follow Jesus. Its so refreshing to hear stuff that we should and can easily do.

Point one: We should all be involved in helping the poor on three levels.
  • Sponsor a child. All of us should be doing this even though we are distant from the person and they are often just a picture on the fridge.
  • Connect ourselves (via a trip to a 2/3rds world country) so that these people suffering move from pictures to a reality in our life. That we would know someone who is living in poverty overseas. I know this is a strong view, but my perspective is that every single person who follows Jesus should go as least once in their life to spend time with the poor. I spent three years in South America as my parents served as missionaries and it has so profoundly changed my world-view it cannot be overstated. We spend huge amounts of money on study, cars, rent, christian confrences. We will be more transformed than all of this stuff combined, and we can all afford it if push came to shove.
  • Connect in NZ to the poor. Darryl mentioned some of the needs here in NZ that we should all be a part of (as he ranted about here)
As he was talking I wrote down the words "we actually act least like a Christian in church".

Following Jesus looks like hanging out with the un-popular kid at school. Following Jesus looks like giving our time and money to those that struggle physically, emotionally etc. Following Jesus is looking at creative ways of blessing people with no strings attached (click here for a great yarn along those lines). Following Jesus looks like the struggle in the secret place not to sin. Following Jesus is hurting and being confused by circumstances and situations that are not right in the world. Following Jesus is being angry about injustice, and giving yourself to make a difference even if it feels small. Following Jesus is sharing life with those that are on the fringes and looked down upon in our culture, with those that are hurting (which is why my friend Stu's latest post blows me away).
Following Jesus is plodding along doing normal life in an abnormal way. You can continue the list yourself this definitely isnt the extensive list : )

All of a sudden it seems that our church gathering (while freaken awesome times and really important) is not just what it looks like to be a Christian.

But where does most of our energy go? If "the medium is the message" then what are communicating?
I for one have had a really huge adjustment about what it looks like to follow Jesus in the last 6 years, and yet have grown up in a healthy Christian family, with part of that time overseas living amongst the poor, being to all the camps and events one goes to, studied at Bible College for three years. And with all this Christian input I still had a really imbalanced idea about what it looked like to follow Jesus.

To be continued...

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“We act least like a Christian in Church (Post One)”

  1. Blogger Debs Says:

    Crikey I might be pushing my luck here but as a lot of people seem to read your blogs, I thought i would cross the line of rudeness and use this time to freely advertise a foodbank in Wellington that needs your help

    A team of people have set up a foodbank which is operating out of Global Café, next to Glover Park in Wellington.

    We are situated right in the heart of Cuba Mall and are in a prime spot to be able to reach out and give a helping hand to those that may be in a low point in their lives. We don’t want to turn anyone away who comes to ask asking for food parcels, and we need your support.

    Food donations are coming in weekly, but sometimes in this busy world it is hard to remember to bring along an item of food. Many of you have expressed an interest in assisting with this Foodbank, and so the Blueprint Foodbank now has a bank account so donations can be made. This is an awesome way of making regular donations, especially for those of us with busy lives!

    If you would like to give via A/P here is the account
    number:

    02 0524 134771 03

    This is a Blueprint church account so you MUST put "Foodbank" into the
    particulars.

    The most important thing about giving to the foodbank is not the amount of money you give, but the consistency. It may not seem like much but a weekly regular donation of $2.00 is enough for us to get this thing off the ground. The
    Foodbank team would really
    appreciate your support.

    If you have any other questions, or would like me to send you a copy of the
    formal proposal so you know how your money will be spent please let me know by emailing debsphillips@paradise.net.nz

    Thank you for considering helping us feed the less fortunate families in Wellington


    (THANKS....and sorry for briefly taking over your thing)

    :)

  2. Blogger Sam Says:

    Onya Debs, this is an awesome initiative. And what rules? We dont play by the rules here... take that society and all those "sticklers for the rules". yeah

  3. Anonymous Anonymous Says:

    Hi there,

    My bad, the account number is ACTUALLY:

    02 0524 0134771 03

    Sorry.