Que Pasa From PJ

This past Sunday afternoon, the Education Team, lead by Wayne Blanks and Bill Melton, conducted an event called “March Madness.” While the title suggested that it had something to do with basketball, in point of fact, it had nothing at all to do with the NCAA finals but had everything to do with gathering creative and effective ideas to reach the residents of Hampton Roads with the gospel.

Jesus commissioned His church to “go and make disciples of all nations.” Notice that He never said how to do it. As with all things in the Bible, the application of Jesus’ teachings will be different depending on the culture, the times, and people’s needs. What that means is we have to listen to the leading of the Holy Spirit and think outside the box by being creative.

At the very heart of any idea is this: effective evangelism and discipleship will be accomplished when the intuitive passions of the saints are identified, supported, organized, and released.

“March Madness” sought to identify these passions and gave time to come up with creative ways to make it happen.

At the very heart of effective outreach is an openness and willingness of our Church to receive these “Babes” into our fellowship and to welcome them with open arms. They need to be invited to our Bible fellowship classes on Sunday morning, our book studies, our circles, and all the many places in our Church where “Lifeboats” are happening. Just to have them attend Sunday morning worship denies these new folks spiritual fellowship with other believers that is essential for discipleship. I guess I would say we must develop a passion for the NEW— new ideas and new people.

Now, here is a sobering thought: Lifeboats that don’t grow will eventually sink. The natural attrition through death, circumstances, and many other factors will cause even the tightest, most dedicated small group to hemorrhage people until it ceases to exist. Once a Lifeboat ceases to aggressively seek new people from the community to join them, that boat will sink within a few short years. That’s just the way it is.

So, here it is: we are looking to identify the passions of the Saints so they can be used to reach the folks in the shadows and, at the same time, challenge each member of Ivy to invite these new people into their Lifeboat.

That’s what’s happening at Ivy.

PJ