Category Archives: Faith In Action
A few Halloween Links:
Regardless of one’s view of involvement on this day, there is a sociological fact that cannot be denied: Halloween is the one day which neighbors are outside of their homes and engaging in something together. There is not another day during the year that we see so many faces and family in our immediate sphere of influence, together.
~ Jeff Mangum
This is definitely true in our neighborhood. How are you getting engaged this weekend? Our family is throwing an outdoor movie night in our front yard for our neighborhood. Bridge Church is incarnating and taking free souvenir pics at a city-wide Halloween Block Party in Covington on Friday, as well as throwing a Halloween Party for a local multi-housing complex on Saturday. Check out a few ideas for engagement, storytelling, and conversation below:
- On Mission this Halloween | Jeff Vanderstelt – Great list. My favorite “Give out the best Candy. Please, don’t give out tracks or toothbrushes or pennies…kids are looking for the master loot of candy. Put yourself in their shoes.”
- 3 Simple Ways to Be Missional on Halloween | Verge Network – “how does God want me to put this day to use for the name of Jesus to be magnified?”
- Resources for Reformation Day | Justin Taylor – October 31st is also the day that Martin Luther began his protest movement against the Romans Catholic Church. Great list of resources here.
- CandyNOMICS Infographic – The average household spends $44 on Candy at Halloween each year. The average American eats 24 pounds of candy. 20 million pounds of candy corn is consumed each halloween.
Faith in Action Weekend: 20 Reasons Why We SHOULD engage our communities outside the church
Four times a year Bridge Church, scatters instead of gathers, for what we call Faith in Action Sunday. This Sunday, October 9th will
be our final FIA for 2011. Looking forward to worshipping through serving senior adults, elderly widows, single moms, inmate families, public servants, multi-housing residents, families at local parks, and participate in a neighborhood revitalization campaign. As a Pastor, Faith in Action Sunday is a way to be intentional about disciple-making (Mark 3:14; James 1:21-23) and transforming the community (Matthew 5:13-16; John 1:14-16). But as I said in my last post, it’s uncomfortable, it’s not a good church growth gimmick, not everyone you serve will appreciate it. Here’s a few reasons why:
- Because following Jesus includes putting our faith in action (Luke 6:46-49)
- Because Christianity is about more than just attending worship services
- Because Jesus said “Go…” (Matthew 28:19-20)
- Because if we love God, we will love people “in actions and in truth” (1 John 3:18, 4:7-8)
- Because if we love God, we do what He says. (John 14:21, 23; 1 John 2:3-6)
- Because success is community transformation, not just a big organization.
- Because proclaiming and demonstrating God’s love go hand-in-hand. (Luke 9:2)
- Because there are needs in our community that are going unmet. We drive by them on our way to church each week. I don’t want to be a DRIVE-BY disciple.
- Because God cares for the whole person. (James 2:15-18)
- Because God desires individuals to live in healthy communities and just societies. (Jeremiah 29:7)
- Because everyone can serve. (1 Corithians 12:17; 1 Peter 4:10-11)
- Because people follow examples better than they follow instructions. Along the way discipleship is the need of the hour.
- Because God has a special heart for those who are poor and vulnerable. (Jeremiah 22:16)
- Because God’s people are to be an instrument of blessing to the world. (Genesis 12:2)
- Because disciples are shaped through serving, not just sitting. Jesus practiced the rhythm of SENDING regularly and usually after big group victories (Matthew 9:35-10:5).
- Because the church’s ministry should be incarnational. Jesus was always close to the needs of people. (John 1:14; 20:21)
- Because God empowers us to participate in ministry. (Ephesians 2:10)
- Because God created us for good works. (Ephesians 2:10)
- Because it’s joining God in what He’s doing in the world. (John 5:19)
- Because it’s fun.
While even a Faith In Action Sunday can become a meaningless ritual or an isolated event, our desire is that giving away will become a part of the flow of peoples lives as it’s part of the flow of Bridge Church.
Faith In Action Weekend: Why we SHOULDN’T serve our community
Four times a year Bridge Church takes a Sunday and SCATTERS instead of GATHERING, taking on some of the major needs in ourcommunity together. Lot’s of interest for and against this idea when it comes up. Let me give you a few reasons to not do this:
- It’s uncomfortable. Someone actually said to me a while back – “I’m uncomfortable with canceling Sunday services at
church.” My response: “Me too!” I’d much rather be sitting in a padded chair, listening to someone talk about how to do Christianity and soaking up good praise and worship music, etc. Or better yet, having people listen to me. But as a leader in my second journey I’m learning that the discomfort is needed to really grow as a disciple and to truly make disciples. - It probably WON’T grow your church numerically, at least not immediately. Actually, every Faith in Action Sunday we tend to lose people. It’s messy to see the needs in people’s lives. It’s chaotic and hard to organize projects around the community. There’s lots of other options around that don’t require as much effort. And it’s just not for everybody, even though we have projects that every person can do, no matter their age or physical ability. But, our desire is to multiply disciples and missionaries, not just put out more chairs every Sunday. I believe in Church Growth, but I’m learning that sometimes church growth can come at the expense of making mature disciples. Serving and doing messy, difficult, uncomfortable, radically generous things personally and corporately can be a powerful tool for life change, discipling, and creating a culture of transformation. The laws of the harvest: you reap what you sow, you reap later than you sow, you reap more than you sow. If we want to produce life-giving disicples who bring real change to the community through Christ, providing opportunities for those disciples to do it together may be necessary.
- You will get taken advantage of. When we talk about the needs of the poor around us today, we do it without ownership. They get help from the government; they could be doing more for themselves; they have big TV’s and cigarettes so why can’t they be more responsible. The idea that drives Faith in Action weekend is to do nothing is not an option. To bring change we must start somewhere. And God has sent us to be the solution and good news in this world (John 20:21, Acts 1:8, Ephesians 2:10). To list reasons why not to help someone guarantees they continue down the path they are in. It takes time and effort, but build partnerships with community agencies, love people for who they are, get a vision for who they can be with Christ and don’t be afraid to lose something for a great cause. If we really believe in the upside down principles of God’s kingdom – “give and it will be given to you” ; “die and you’ll live” ; “lose and you’ll gain” – fear wouldn’t hinder engagement in the hard to reach areas.
- Some people may take this as the Gospel. Every Faith in Action weekend we have two mantras: “We do not serve to be accepted by God. We serve because we ARE accepted by God AND empowered by Him for good works” (Ephesians 2:8-10). Second, the Gospel is incomplete until it is shared. Showing the Gospel is a powerful tool for cultivation, but “faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God” (Romans 10:17). I am afraid as a leader that someone may think they’re making themselves more acceptable to God through serving, but we can counter that fear by good teaching and serving provides a perfect platform to explain why our efforts are not good enough. But at the same time, we can’t rip out the passages beckoning us to serve b/c of this fear – Matthew 5:16, Ephesians 2:10, James 1:27, 2:14-15, 1 Peter 4:10-11.
Please leave a comment with your reasons why we shouldn’t do Faith in Action, etc.
Faith in Action Sunday is this weekend. Take a quick look at our Itinerary. See a quick video from our last FIA weekend here. Later I’ll give some of the reasons why we SHOULD do this. Unless you talk me out of it.
From and To / Faith in Action Weekend, Oct 8-9
For God’s people RESTORATION means that God saves us FROM something, but also TO something. (check out a great site and tool for sharing God’s story at – http://viewthestory.com/). This past Sunday at Bridge Church we went through a list of all the things God saves us FROM and TO. It was a fun little exercise. Here’s a few of my favs:
- From Defilement to Purity.
- From Conflict to Peace.
- From Overcome to Overcoming.
- From Lost to Found.
- From Works to Grace.
- From Death to Life.
- From Now to Forever.
- From Distracted to Engaged.
- From Enslaved to Free.
- From Alone to Adopted.
- From Weak to Empowered.
- From Me to Others.
- From Selfishness to On Mission.
“From and to” are great Gospel words of transformation. I also like “that was then”, “who I was”, “before and after.” All these phrases that many of us use in our personal testimonies express that there is great power to change with Christ. And I believe God has sent us to bring people and places “from” where they are “to” where He wants them to be, so they can testify to the “that was then” “before and after” power of God and work of God’s people.
That’s why I love Faith in Action Weekend. Once per quarter our church SCATTERS into our community instead of GATHERING behind four walls for worship. Why?
- It’s a statement that worship transcends singing and listening – it’s head, heart, and hands. It’s living out our great salvation – by grace through faith for service (see Ephesians 2:8-9 AND 10).
- It’s sharing the Good News of Christ’s love that drove Him to die in our place and power that overcame death.
- It’s a discipling tool that helps continue my own transformation. Serving, sharing, giving always changes me.
- It’s a way to bring FROM and TO, that was then, before and after change to our community.
This Faith in Action Weekend we’ll be working with the West 30’s Revitalization Committee to bring visible transformation through
painting six homes in a needy part of the city of Covington. You can join us: Saturday, 8:30am at Peter Adkins Park. We’ll be partnering with Homeworks of America. And for Faith in Action Sunday, meet us at 9am at the West St. Tammany YMCA for breakfast and then scattering to paint in the West 30’s. We’ll also be doing a Family Day Block Party at our local jail during Sunday’s visitation hours, bringing some light to a dark season of some of our neighbors lives. Our ladies will be making Fall wreaths for resident doors at a local Nursing Home. There will also be some projects at a local mobile home park. Looking forward to some physical and spiritual from and to, before and after, that was then stories after Faith in Action Sunday.
Faith in Action Sunday!
Four times per year Bridge Church takes a Sunday and instead of gathering, we scatter for worship by serving and giving ourselves away in our community in a variety of ways. Here’s a quick list of our scheduled projects and a few before pics:
- Disabled single mom had a kitchen fire in 2007. She’s washed dishes in her bathtub since then. This summer,Homeworks teams re-roofed and painted the house. Sunday she’ll get new cabinets and sink. We’ll also cut the grass, clean up the yard, and serve her any other way we can.
- Habitat House in Abita Springs – Habitat loved our Faith in Action Sunday idea so much, they asked if we could be on their project list. They have several homes at different points of completion.
- Several projects at a local Mobile Home Park including hand rails for a recent stroke victim and two elderly widows, new door locks for a single mom who can’t lock her house and cleaning the place up in a Tipping Point kind of way.
- A new porch and steps for a family with special needs child in Hammond.
- Hadden Hall, Jahnke St., Covington – Council On Aging Senior Center in need of repair, pressure washing, andpainting.
- Food Baskets – @ the YMCA, Ladies will prepare baskets with food, Bibles, etc. to be delivered to elderly residents at Oak Villa MHP & other places.
- Potted Plants – @ the YMCA, kids will prepare plants to be delivered to elderly residents at Oak Villa MHP &other places.
- Bake Goods to Public Servants – Families can deliver baked goods to area fire depts and police depts. Great way to say thanks & get to climb on a fire truck :).
- ICU Waiting Room visits – we’ll have gift cards to deliver to area ICU waiting rooms. Cafeteria’s are closed on weekends, so this meets a basic need and communicates to those in crisis that they are not alone.
- Block Party @ Dave’s Trailer Park – as we work on the porch in Hammond, we’ll bring light to the West Hammond community with inflatables, snow cones, hamburger, hotdogs, and an old old story.
- Block Party for Visitation at a local work release center to connect with families of inmates that we minister to on a weekly basis.
Wondering Why? Click here. Or show up at 9am with a willingness to serve. It’s more than singing and sitting that shapes a disciple of Christ. God wants to use us as well. Through Faith in Action Sunday, everybody can serve, we can see our community in a different way, we shine light on hundreds of people who are not in church on Sunday morning. Looking forward to serving with my family on mission tomorrow!
Lane Corley 