Missional Church: Partnership 090225
What type of gardener are you?
Who here considers themselves a bit of a gardener? A bit of an Alan Titchmarsh or Monty Don? Well, I’m not one. I have an uncanny ability to kill house plants and in the garden to ignore the weeds and dig up the actually flowers!
BUT, when Ian asked me to speak about Missional Partnership, I was drawn to the image of gardening. Not just because I think it is a good image but because it is the one of the most commonly used images of evangelism and mission in the Bible.
Now, you lot might be the most amazing at sharing your faith, but if you are anything like the rest of us, you probably struggle. One of the biggest struggles is when we speak to someone and they don’t immediately get onto their knees and confess all of their sins, giving their lives to Christ. Can I tell you some hopefully very feeing news – most of the time we share our faith, people don’t become Christians. That may sound really negative, but it’s not. It’s freeing. As we’re going to find out, this is not about us and our words, but about what God is doing in a person’s life.
So, let me give you a bit of evangelism background with me. In the classical sense of evangelism, I really don’t like evangelism. I don’t like standing on a High Street whilst everyone crosses the road to avoid me, trying to speak to some and saying, “can I tell you about Jesus?” Now, if that is your thing, AWESOME! Go for it. It’s just not me … and if we’re honest, it probably isn’t many people in the church. Otherwise our street evangelism teams would be rammed with people! Don’t get me wrong. I’ve done, fairly majorly. In my early 20s I was part of a very large church in London called Kensington Temple, or KT. In the 18-30s group we would go once a month to Leicester Square in the heart of London, where all of the big cinemas are that host film premieres. When we got their, someone would sing a song, mainly to gather a bit of a crowd and then someone would get up and preach. And that person was usually me! I had a maximum of two minutes to get the gospel across in a powerful, funny, meaningful way. Sometimes, I managed to actually do it. And I loved that. It makes preaching in a church an absolute doddle. So its great and it does bear some fruit, but not that much today.
The vast majority of people who become Christians, do so through the gentle witness of friends and through discussion. That’s why the Alpha Course is so amazing.
Anyway, let’s turn to scripture …
5 After all, who is Apollos? Who is Paul? We are only God’s servants through whom you believed the Good News. Each of us did the work the Lord gave us. 6 I planted the seed in your hearts, and Apollos watered it, but it was God who made it grow. 7 It’s not important who does the planting, or who does the watering. What’s important is that God makes the seed grow. 8 The one who plants and the one who waters work together with the same purpose. And both will be rewarded for their own hard work. 9 For we are both God’s workers. And you are God’s field. You are God’s building.
(1 Corinthians 3:5-9 NLT)
So, what lessons can we learn from Paul in this passage for missional partnership.
We need to be someone who …
· Cares
37 Jesus replied: ‘“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.” 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: “Love your neighbour as yourself.” 40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.’
(Matthew 22:37-40)
And who is our neighbour? …
Good Samaritan.
“It is the Holy Spirit’s job to convict, God’s job to judge, and my job to love.” (Billy Graham)
· Sows
14 How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? 15 And how can anyone preach unless they are sent? As it is written: ‘How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!’
(Romans 10:14-15)
· Tends (Waters)
Through our words …
15 But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect, 16 keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behaviour in Christ may be ashamed of their slander.
(1 Peter 3:15-16)
“We are the Bibles the world is reading; we are the creeds the world is needing; we are the sermons the world is heeding.” (Billy Graham)
And through our prayers …
35 Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and illness. 36 When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. 37 Then he said to his disciples, ‘The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. 38 Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.’
(Matthew 9:35-38)
· Reaps/Harvests
Now, some of you were thinking, surely he is going to mention the parable of the sower and the soils, and you were starting to think I was missing an amazing opportunity by not mentioning it… well, here it is!
Matthew 13 – Parable of the sower and the soil.
Ultimately, we are hoping, praying and working for people to make a commitment to Jesus; to become His disciples.
But the heart of our first scripture is that we all play different roles in reaching people. We don’t just slot into one role or another but we can play many. Did you realise that statistically, a person will encounter the Gospel message on average SEVEN times before actually making a commitment to Jesus. Now you may be fortunate enough to be encounter number seven and see that prayer of commitment happen. But you equally might be encounter number 1, 2, 5, 6 or whatever number. Our scripture from 1 Corinthians says that it really doesn’t matter. We each play our part, we do whatever God asks us in that moment. That might be:
· Invite a neighbour over for coffee and just get to know them!
· Offer to help out at a Foodbank or coffee morning or some other community engagement.
· Talk to a family member about what Jesus means to us.
· Invite someone (and bring them along) to an Alpha Course.
· Help someone when they are ready to make the decision to become a Christian.
Ros’ “so what is stopping you?” stories.
You see, the key to missional partnership is that part in the 1 Corinthians passage where Paul says, “what’s important is that God makes the seed grow.” You see, we are simply workers. We partner with one another but ultimately we are partnering with the Holy Spirit. It is God who draws people to him. And there is such a move of God at the moment. Its quite quiet and not hugely public, but young adults are really open to spiritual matters and are really quite positive to the Gospel. People are coming to faith regularly in our Universities, in our Prisons, in schools and everywhere. Don’t believe the news! The church is alive and well and people are coming to faith in Jesus every day. Let’s get close to God, listen for his voice telling who to speak to and what to say. Let’s not get discouraged if people show only limited interest or even none at all.
“To evangelise does not mean to win converts … but simply to announce the Good News, irrespective of the results.” (John Stott)
[Esther Cockram’s story of her sister]
So, BE ENCOURAGED! Start speaking to people. You don’t need to have all the answers (in fact please don’t pretend you do). Just love people, sow a seed, do some watering, watch that seed grow and, when the time is right, be ready to harvest the fruit.