De Soto Community Church

Today is the beginning of Serve Week here in De Soto. Monday-Thursday we will be working to replace a portion of the roof on the De Soto Youth Ministries (DYM) building as well as painting and cleaning on the inside of the facility. DYM has been so gracious, allowing us to meet and me to office there, free of charge and this is our way of giving back to them in a tangible way.

While this is the first week of service for De Soto Community Church, we couldn’t have done it without a mission team from Southside Community Church in Paragould, Arkansas coming to lend a hand. We are pumped for Pat and his group to be on site and are looking forward to the week of head. Check back here for pictures and updates throughout the week.

I’d hoped to begin writing on our core values in depth soon, yet shingles and and paint are priority this week. Next week looks more promising.

This is our Sunday Re: Think; an opportunity for us to continue to think about the events of last Sunday.

This past Sunday we spoke about The Gospel, noting that the word Gospel itself means “good news”. “The Gospel” is a word that appears over 70 times in the New Testament with the form of “to preach the Gospel” appearing over 50. With that in mind we can see “The Good News” is something very important to God.

We noted that while The Gospel is in fact “Good News” much confusion abounds today about what exactly that Good News really is.

Much of what passes for the Gospel in our churches today, is not really good news at all, but rather possibly good things that are masquerading as the Gospel. You see my friends, the Gospel is not Tolerance, Self Help, Safety and Security, Moralism, Experience, works, Independence, or even saying a prayer

The Gospel is Repentance and Faith, Salvation, Forgiveness, Healing, Sight, Eternity, Relationship, True Joy, Real Life, Dependence , Living a life. In short, the Gospel is the Good News of the Glory of Christ

While there are many ways in which the Gospel is the Good News of the Glory of Christ, we directed our attention primarily to three key ideas. The Gospel is the Good News of the Glory of Christ because:

* Christ is the Fulfillment of Old Testament Prophecy Concerning the Messiah

* Christ is the Conqueror of Sin and Death

* Christ is our Advocate and Model for living

We also saw that in the Suffering Servant Ministry of Jesus He met real human need. He literally did heal the sick. He really did cleanse the Leper and He really did give sight to the Blind. In Luke 4:18-19 Jesus proclaimed His ministry in the Spirit of Isaiah 61 as such:

The Spirit of the Lord is on Me, because He has anointed Me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent Me to proclaim freedom to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set free the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.

Christ came to heal the sick, cleanse the leper, give sight to the blind and proclaim that in His coming the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand. As Paul says in 2 Corinthians 5, we are ambassadors for Christ, urging and pleading with those we encounter to be reconciled to the One who paid our sin debt. This is the The Good News of the Glory of Christ.

In what ways can we practically take the Good News of the Glory of Christ to our friends and Neighbors? If we now properly understand what “The Gospel” is how does that transform the way we live, work and act?

Yesterday we began talking about what “Becoming an Expression of Christ in Community” really means and today we continue by covering the purpose of becoming that expression, namely “transforming our neighborhood and the world.”

When Jesus gave the Great Commission, He sent the disciples to all nations, all people groups, a pretty daunting task for the early church that continues with us today. Yet, even though the impetus for mission was given in Matthew, namely to make disciples, the strategy was given over in Acts 1:8

But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be My witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

While this can be understood to be a step by step undertaking, ie. beginning with Jerusalem and then to Judea, (in our case, De Soto, then Johnson County), etc. It is my contention that we seek to reach our Jerusalem and Judea while also reaching to the ends of the earth as well. It seems as if many churches easily slide to one extreme or the other. Either they are actively involved in local community ministry while doing little worldwide other than giving money, or they are in constant pursuit of the next foreign mission opportunity at the expense of making a sizable difference in the communities in which they have been planted.

Rather than being in opposition to one another, local and global impact go hand and hand. As we seek to transform our neighborhood, it is imperative that we also realize our global citizenship and responsibility to our “neighbors” around the globe. Bob Roberts in his book Transformation calls this speaks volumes about what he calls “glocalization” and our responsibility as members of this global neighborhood.

Transforming our neighborhood in De Soto can take on many forms. Doing yard work for a neighbor, watching kids for that single mom you know or even sacrificially giving so some others can have Thanksgiving and Christmas are good places to start. In all of these, our goal is to spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ by performing practical acts of service.

What are some other ways we can be a transforming presence in our community?

Becoming an Expression of Christ in Community to Transform our Neighborhood and the World.

As followers of Jesus Christ we were all given the same mission. That mission is found in Matthew 28:18-20 where Jesus said:

All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go, therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe everything I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always to the end of the age.

If all Christians were given the same mission, then what is the need for a separate mission statement? Good question. While the mission of all followers of Christ is the same, the way that mission expresses itself or is lived out changes depending on where we find ourselves. People speak different languages, are part of different cultures, have different histories, and all of these factors change the way we do ministry. One has to look no further than chapter 17 of Acts to see how Paul managed these differences in his day. While in the synagogue, Paul reasoned with those from a predominantly Jewish background from their own book, The Torah, yet when in Athens, Paul draws from the popular Philosophers and Poets of his day to point people to the Messiah.

While we may be the better part of 2000 years removed from Paul’s work among those in Athens, our mission in De Soto remains the same. To make disciples of all people, including the residents of De Soto. So, what does all of this mean?

Think about what it means to be “An Expression of Christ in Community”. In other words, what does it look like when Jesus moves into a neighborhood? Who’s needs are met, who is radically transformed? The writer of the book of John put it like this, “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us.” Literally meaning, God moved into the neighborhood. At De Soto Community Church we want to be that expression of God moving into the neighborhood. We want to be part of what Christ is doing in this world, “declaring the year of the Lord’s favor, setting the captives free, giving a cup of cold water, looking after orphans and widows and those in distress.

We chose “Becoming” an Expression, because we realize this to be an ongoing work, one that will not find completion this side of eternity. Our hope is that as we are becoming that Expression of Christ, lives will be transformed by the Power of God.

Tomorrow we will continue with a look at the second half “…to transform our neighborhood and the world”