Category Archives: Discipleship
Faith in Action Sunday this Weekend!
A value we’ve communicated at Bridge Church is Intentional Ministry. To act upon that we’ve began quarterly Faith in Action Sunday’s. That is, one Sunday per quarter, we have breakfast together, an abbreviated worship gathering and we head out to serve our community in practical ways. Why? Here’s a few reasons:
- To be intentional about the sending nature of the church.
- To make disciples who understand that the Christian life is about more than just attending worship services.
- To engage the real needs that we often never notice on our way to church.
- To build group cohesiveness as we accomplish big things together.
- Ministry and mission trips are proven ways to transform our worldviews.
- To demonstrate radical generosity that Jesus modeled for us in his life and death.
- To share the gospel outside the walls of the church.
- To bring about community transformation.
- To join God in fighting for the rights of the poor and down trodden.
- To create a culture of intentionality, going and sending, compassion and engagement, radical generosity, and sharing the Gospel.
Here are a few of our projects for this Sunday:
A porch/ramp for the residents of this mobile home. Two of the three people living here have suffered multiple strokes. It’s a struggle to get in and out of their home. A porch and ramp are needed to improve their quality of life.
Clean up for the elderly resident of a local trailer park. His mode of transportation is a bike, so he is unable to haulaway debris. We’ll also be weatherizing this and other trailers.
Serving at an area Nursing Home. Our kids ministry will be bringing some joy to one of our largest Nursing Homes in the region by helping decorate for Valentine’s Day, serving lunch, and calling out Bingo numbers for the residents.
Practical, simple, inexpensive ways to make a difference in our community and in our vision for our community and world. Looking forward to the after affect of Intentional Ministry.
In Good Company
John the Baptists ate bugs!
If you find yourself pointing at your weaknesses and or your past mistakes as an excuse for not serving God or allowing him to shape your life, then think about some of the folks in the Bible that God used:
- Moses Stuttered
- David’s armor didn’t fit
- Timothy had ulcers
- Hosea’s wife was a prostitute
- Jacob was a liar
- David had an affair
- Solomon was too rich
- Jesus was too poor
- Abraham was too old
- David was too young
- Peter was a loud mouth
- Lazarus was dead
- Naomi was a widow
- Paul was a murderer
- So was Moses
- Jonah ran from God
- Miriam was a gossip
- Gideon doubted
- Jeremiah was depressed
- Elijah was burned out
- John the Baptist ate bugs
- Martha was a worry wart
- Mary was lazy
- Samson had long hair
- Noah got drunk
No one is out of God’s reach. Nothing you have done is too much for God’s grace. Jesus took all your sin on the cross. Get over your past and allow him to make you what you are not.
Church as a Connection Point
When thinking about the nature of the church, should we think of it as a destination or a connection point? Stated a little clearer: Is the church a resort or an airport? A resort is a destination or a place you go to relax, be refreshed, and be waited on. An airport is a place of connection or somewhere you are while waiting to GO. Reggie McNeal asked this question in his helpful book Missional Renaissance: Changing the Scorecard for the Church. Jason Dukes in his book Live Sent: You Are A Letter, likens the church to a Post Office, sending out letters written by God into the world. And of course an unsent letter is no good to anyone.
As I think about the New Testament church and the images of going and sending found there, I have to suggest that the church is not the destination for the believer. It’s a connection point to life in Christ, to the mission of Christ in the world, and to a life given away for the sake of others inside and outside the fellowship of believers.
Semantics? OK. But the implication for leaders and disciplers who devise strategy and plan ministry can be huge. Do you have a plan to send and release people into the community regularly and consistently? Do you reward people for their work done in Jesus’ name off campus or in unsponsored church activities? Is your discipling process producing Christians who are looking outward, engaging the unchurched, and actively giving themselves away as a way of life? The answer to these questions may suggest a mindset that makes the church either a connection point or the destination.
Jason Dukes says in Live Sent, “church culture has made discipleship about retention more than release.” While we must plan for assimilation and discipleship and life in the body, lets remember that God’s destination for His church is out there – see Matthew 28:18-20, Acts 1:8, 2 Corinthians 5:17-21.
Best word combination in the English Bible: IN CHRIST
Last Sunday, we began a message series at Bridge Church called Connected. This series will define the future vision and direction of our church, as well as our discipling and assimilation process. Six words that we want to be our broken record at Bridge Church:
IN CHRIST, ON MISSION, FOR OTHERS
We kicked off the new decade talking about one of my favorite word combinations in the Bible: IN CHRIST. These two words are together in the New Testament around 150 times. It defines the spiritual place of residence for every believer.
What does it mean to be in Christ? I’m going to be doing a personal study on these words together in the New Testament for awhile, but here’s three things from my message Sunday.
A place where we BECOME WHAT WE’RE NOT. Ephesians 4:22-24
A place where we KNOW & DO GOD’S WILL. Romans 12:1-2
A place where we FIND REAL LIFE. John 10:10
Have you made the connection to Life IN Christ? Download the message in its entirety and its notes at our website, http://bridgenorthshore.com/.
Join us this Sunday, 10:30am, at the West St. Tammany YMCA as we talk about Growing IN Christ.
Bible Reading Plans for 2010
“Any Christian worth his salt ought to read the Bible from cover-to-cover every year” J.I. Packer
Everyone’s got opinions about the Bible, but I would bet a very small percentage have ever read it cover to cover. Here are few great links to Bible Reading Plans that you can start on Friday.
YouVersion.com – This is one of my favorite sites for Bible Reading and study. They’ve got over 20 plans to choose from with options of having the daily reading sent to your mobile phone, email, or RSS feed.
ESV Bible Reading Plans – The English Standard Version seems to be the most accessible Bible version these days. I can get a nice leather bound for less than $30. I love the translation. They’ve got 10 plans available here with options to read online, get it in your mail box, RSS feed, mobile phone, print the plan, or for us Mac users download it directly into ICal.
Discipleship Journal Bible Reading Plans – The plan I’ve used for years has been the DJ Plan. They have three time tested plans available here that can be downloaded and printed. You can also purchase hard copies here to give away to others. While you’re close by, check out the Navigators great illustration How to Get a Grip on the Bible.
Verse Card Maker – If you want to go to another level and add scripture memory to your goals for 2010, check out this site that will make up verse flash cards for you.
Still trying to decide which plan I’m going to go with this year.
Don’t Leave Jesus in the Manger…
Now that the Nativity displays are back in the boxes and properly stored away, we start gearing up again for the rat race of life and New Year’s resolutions regarding fitness, time management, saving money, more time off, etc. Question: What do you do with the baby Jesus? This time of year we need to be reminded that there’s a lot more to Jesus that the Nativity scene. The baby in the manger is comforting. It’s a wonderful story. It’s a warm picture. But what about the rest of the story? The rest of the story demands action. My favorite Christmas card from this year said it best: “Don’t Leave Jesus in the Manger. Let’s follow Him to the Cross.”
The story of Jesus is more than just a warm picture. It’s a divine rescue, a deliverance from evil, an eternally significant event. It’s the story of all that God has done for us through sending Christ. The Nativity is one aspect of the story. What are you doing with the rest of the story?
Jesus’ story includes His miraculous birth, His sinless life, His sacrificial death, His resurrection from death, His exaltation to the right hand of God. How can I complete His whole story with my life?
Christmas Eve SERVICE. No Really!
The #1 definition of the word service according to Miriam Webster’s Dictionary is “the occupation or function of serving.” In church circles we’ve turned to the #3 Webster’s definition of “a form followed in worship or in ceremony.” Both are necessary part of practicing faith, but FORM (the attractional, low participatory worship service) is definitely what we tend to be thinking of when we use the words service and church together today. The FUNCTION (being occupied with doing something to meet the need of another) is relegated to us professionals or those who are spiritually mature. This is another topic for another day, but it appears to me that the younger generation of Christ followers are looking for function along with (not instead of) form. I’m part of that generation so I’m really excited about the Christmas Eve SERVICE that my family will be a part of this Thursday.
On Christmas Eve, from 11am-3pm, we will join with several other churches in our region to SERVE the 100’s of homeless in inner city New Orleans. We will be partnering with Brown Bags and Jesus and New Orleans Mission to serve a hot meal and distribute coats, blankets, sock hats, along with caring concern, hope, love, Good News, etc. to homeless men and women who will spend Christmas in a shelter or on the pavement. Can’t think of a better way to worship on Christmas Eve or a better way to teach my boys about the incarnation of Christ.
One of my favorite Christmas passages is Phillipians 2:3-8:
3 Do nothing from rivalry or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves.4 Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.5 Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus,6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped,7 but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.
This is Christmas – Jesus Christ laid aside His privileges for the sake of my need and yours. Jesus took the form and function of a servant upon himself for the sake of others and He desires for us to do the same. John 20:21 says,
As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.
To be a sent servant of the Father is more than just attending a religious form. Who are you serving? Whose needs are you occupied with? I’m glad that God in his love, occupied Himself with our needs and sent His son who served and gave and rescued me.
If you’re in the New Orleans area, join us Thursday, 11-3pm. Click here for more details.
You’ll even have time to attend a traditional Christmas Eve Service that evening. Here’s a few I’d recommend in our area:
- Bedico Baptist Church, Ponchatoula, 5pm, Candlelight Service and Lord’s Supper Celebration. www.bedicobaptist.org.
- New Zion Baptist Church, Covington, 6pm, Candlelight Service. www.newzion.net
- First Baptist Covington, 4pm & 6pm. www.fbccov.org.
- First Baptist Mandeville, 5pm & 7pm. www.fbcmandeville.org
- Trinity Baptist Church, Hammond, 6:30pm. www.pumpkincenter.org.
How Do You See Christmas?
So much about life and truth and Christmas is determined by your perspective. Found this in some notes I had. Not sure where I got it, but I’m sure it’s not original.
In the world’s eyes…
- a peasant girl, probably raped by Roman soldiers
- a poor carpenter, dumb enough to believe her story about an angel
- a slave registering his family with the state for purposes of taxation
- an insignificant village with little to offer the empire
- a family that couldn’t even afford a room
- a baby that didn’t have a proper delivery
- a baby that would grow up poor and enslaved
- a group of shepherds, not even worth asking their name
- a meaningless event in a meaningless town
In God’s eyes…
- a young girl endowed with grace and conceived by the Spirit
- a righteous man willing to obey God at great risk to his own reputation
- a census that would fulfill prophecy
- a baby, God taking on human likeness (God with meat)
- a baby that becoming a man would change the world and the eternal destiny of millions
Faith in Action Sunday
Bridge Church began meeting weekly for worship on August 16th, at our local YMCA. This Sunday we’ll do something a little crazy. We’re moving our worship gathering to a local trailer park where we’ll rebuild a porch for an elderly gentleman, throw a block party for kids that will include a gospel centered lesson, have free Jambalaya lunch for the whole park (over 150 trailers), and other miscellaneous projects. We’ll also have ladies scattering out to the ICU waiting rooms in West St. Tammany with fruit baskets and encouragement. We’ve committed to do this at least 4 times a year (every time there’s a 5th Sunday in a month). It’s part of our outreach and discipleship strategy. Outreach because we’ll look to share the gospel and gather prospects along with meeting huge needs in the lives of unchurched people in our community. Discipleship because it gets our whole body engaged in putting what we’re learning into action.
As I’ve shared this idea with people across the spiritual spectrums, it has been met with tremendous support, usually with a statement like – “That’s what the church should be doing!” It just makes sense that servants of Jesus Christ should be out serving in some way. Our desire is to start a church that is a missionary instead of an amenity, a connection point to ministry instead of the consumeristic destination, and that is as intentional about practicing theology as we are about learning theology.
We’ll see how it goes…
Ages Old Falsehoods That Are Still False
In the book of 1 John, one of Jesus’ closes associates debunks a view of Christianity that threatened to undermine the spread of the life-changing message about Jesus Christ. The false teaching was called Gnosticism (more here). It has crept back into our belief systems in the modern era through academia, but also subtly into the lives of those who claim to be followers of Christ. Briefly summarized, three of the main tenants of gnosticism were: 1) Jesus was NOT real, 2) SIN is not that big a deal, and 3) It’s really about what you KNOW. Let’s take a closer look and talk about how they apply to us:
1) Jesus was not real. Gnostic believed that Jesus only seemed to be a person, but He was not. He couldn’t be, because the absolute god would never enter the muck and mire of the evil earthly matter. This, of course, changed his purpose and the implications of God sending his Son to rescue us from sin.
To believe that Jesus is something that He is not is quite common today. Jared Wilson in his book Your Jesus is Too Safe: Outgrowing a Drive-Thru, Feel Good Savior addresses some of the more modern version of shape shifting Jesus to fit ourselves. Here’s a few:
- The Stern Taskmaster Jesus who is waiting to smack your knuckles with a ruler when you get out of line.
- Postcard Jesus who has a perfect tan, white teeth, wavy hair, and a halo.
- Get-out-of-hell-free Jesus. We say a prayer to him, kind of like putting money into a machine, and then we get to bypass hell without having to follow any of his desire for our lives.
- ATM Jesus who just wants you to be happy and successful but most of all RICH.
Many would argue that they believe rightly about Jesus, but they are PRACTICAL ATHEIST because they live their lives like he doesn’t exist.
Lane Corley 