Drawing People in
As part of our vision series “Join the adventure…”, Janet spoke on drawing people in today. Here are the notes and mp3.
Firm Foundations?
| Speaker: | Andy Moyle |
| Series: | Hall of Mirrors |
| Date: | 24th May, 2026 |
| Download: | Firm Foundations? |
| Plays: | 0 |
| Views: | 13 |
| Sermon notes: | Firm Foundations?Saul had been looking for days for his father's lost donkeys and had not found them. His servant said, "Why don't we ask the prophet Samuel?" So they went to visit Samuel, who told them not to worry. Then Samuel took a flask of olive oil and poured it on Saul's head and kissed him, saying, "Has not the Lord anointed you ruler over his inheritance?" When you leave me today, you will meet two men near Rachel's tomb, at Zelzah on the border of Benjamin. They will say to you, "The donkeys you set out to look for have been found." And now your father has stopped thinking about them and is worried about you. He is asking, "What shall I do about my son?" Then you will go on from there until you reach the great tree of Tabor. Three men going up to worship God at Bethel will meet you there. One will be carrying three young goats, another three loaves of bread, and another a skin of wine. They will greet you and offer you two loaves of bread, which you will accept from them. After that, you will go to Gebir of God, where there is a Philistine outpost. As you approach the town, you will meet a procession of prophets coming down from the high place with liars, timbrels, pipes, and harps being played before them. And they will be prophesying. The spirit of the Lord will come powerfully upon you, and you will prophesy with them, and you will be changed into a different person. Once these signs are fulfilled, do whatever your hand finds to do, for God is with you. As Saul turned to leave Samuel, God changed Saul's heart, and all these signs were fulfilled that day. When he and his servant arrived at Gebir, a procession of prophets met him. The spirit of God came powerfully upon him, and he joined in their prophesying. When all those who had formerly known him saw him prophesying with the prophets, they asked each other, "What is this that has happened to the son of Kish?" Is Saul also among the prophets? Later Samuel summoned the people of Israel to the Lord at Mitzbah and said to them, "This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says. I brought Israel up out of Egypt, and I delivered you from the power of Egypt and all the kingdoms that oppressed you." But you have now rejected your God, who saves you out of all your disasters and calamities. And you have said, "No, appoint a king over us." So now present yourselves before the Lord by your tribes and clans. When Samuel had all Israel come forward by tribes, the tribe of Benjamin was taken by Lot. Then he brought forward the tribe of Benjamin, clan by clan, and matri's clan was taken. Finally, Saul, son of Kish, was taken. But when they looked for him, he was not to be found. So they inquired further of the Lord, "Has the man come here yet?" And the Lord said, "Yes, he has hidden himself among the supplies." They ran and brought him out. And as he stood among the people, he was a head taller than any of the others. Samuel said to all the people, "Do you see the man the Lord has chosen?" There is no one like him among all the people. Then the people shouted, "Long live the king!" Oh, man. Okay. Yeah, finish it there. So this is the story from one Samuel 10 of the first king of Israel. It's a guy called Saul. And, uh, there's some strange aspects to the story. So he has this private call, uh, where Samuel anoints him with oil. It all starts off with some lost donkeys. They've lost a donkey. And Saul and his servant are going to look for Dad's donkeys. And they can't find them. And Saul's servant, not Saul, says to says, "Why don't we go to the prophet? Because this is prophet. He'll tell you where the donkeys are." Not had that too much for me. I haven't had too many people ring me up saying, "Uh, can you just inquire of the Lord where my donkeys are?" But that's probably some of what Samuel did back then. So Samuel does that. And he says, "Oh, don't worry about it. You're going to do this is going to happen. This is going to happen. This is going to happen." And the donkeys have been fine. He anoints the guy with oil. Pours oil over his head. And says, "You're going to be king." So he Samuel has the Saul has this private call. And often when God wants us to do something, he'll talk to us first privately. Before it goes public. Then, uh, there's this amazing thing where he says, "And this is the kind of for me, this is like a type, a prototype of Pentecost. Where in verse 6 of chapter 1, Samuel, chapter 10, it says, "The Spirit of the Lord will come powerfully upon you. You will prophesy with them. And you will be changed into a different person." Isn't that just what happens? At Pentecost? Isn't that what just happens? As we come to Christ, as we get filled with the Spirit, the Spirit comes upon us. We get the gifts of the Spirit, possibly prophecy or tongues or something like that. And then we're changed. God begins to change us. So Saul was like a forerunner of what's going to happen at Pentecost. But it doesn't end well for Saul. Because he doesn't lay some great foundations. And so as part of the story, it carries on. These things happen. The Spirit of God comes upon him. There was a company of prophets that were dancing along, playing their timbles and liars. Again, I see a lot of prophetic people nowadays. But I don't often see a company of prophetic people dancing along, playing their harps. And prophesying. But that's what happened to Saul. He met them Spirit of God comes upon him. It's really obvious. He starts prophesying. And people go, "Wow. Is Saul even a prophet?" So it's a great start. He's changed. He's filled with the Spirit. He's prophesying. And you can see how it's going to go wrong very quickly with Saul. Because the next thing that happens is when Samuel goes, "All right, then we're going to appoint a king." He brings the whole of Israel, the whole nation together. And they pick out by lots, which was a kind of an Old Testament way of hearing from God in a way of what was going to happen. And it comes to Benjamin's tribe. And then a particular clan. And then Saul's picked out. Where's Saul? Where's the man that's really tall? Who's filled with the Spirit? Who's been prophesying? Who can has been changed into a different person? Where is Saul? He's hiding in the backs. He's hiding in the baggage. He's hiding with the supplies, as the NIV puts it. He started out well. But he's not continuing well. And it's all going to end in complete disaster. And it's not. A number of reasons for that. I mean, so Saul's story is a tragic one. It's a tragic one. Of a bad character. Wasted potential. And ends up in a sad demise. And I think there's six quick reasons why that happened. So two kids. I need you to help me. Because their are some A4 cards around the room with a number on them. And I would like you to find them. Havilah, you're nearest the first one. Next. To Joshua. Ah. There we go. Okay. Meanwhile, Emily, can you see one as well? Do you want to grab the one that you can see? Yep. There's one there. There's a number two somewhere. Can somebody find number two? Keisha, well done. Do you want to grab it? You might need some help getting that. I know you can jump that high for a five. But I don't think you can jump that high for a paper, can we? Hold that for a second. Bring it down. Excellent. Okay. And then there should be a four, five, and six. Who's got number one? Okay. So number one. What's that say? Insecurity. There was something about Saul where he carried on being insecure for the rest of his life. He never dealt with insecurity. And one of the things about insecurity is that it's a bit like VO. We don't be a body odor. We don't know we have it. We don't know where we are at. And we don't deal with it when we do have it. And he never dealt with his insecurity. One of the things that we need to do with insecurity is realize it. And realize our confidence is in the wrong place. And put it in the right place. Jeremiah 17. It's a Jeremiah day today, isn't it? Says this. Jeremiah 17 says, "Cursed is the one who trusts in man, who draws strength from mere flesh, whose heart turns away from the Lord. That person will be like a bush in the wastelands. They will not see prosperity when it comes. They will dwell in the parched places of the desert, in a salt land where no one lives. But blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is in him. They will be like a tree planted by the water, sends out its roots by the stream. Does not fear when heat comes. Its leaves are always green. Has no worries in a year of drought. Never fails to bear fruit." Insecurity is best dealt with by putting our confidence in Christ. Our confidence in God. Who's got number two? Ah, Keisha, can you read that word for me? Impatience. Impatience. Saul was kind of impatient. Wouldn't wait for the prophet to come later on. Waited a couple of days. Gave up waiting. Did something really stupid. Ended up getting in big trouble. Okay. Emily, what have you got? Number three. I think that might be a bit difficult for you. Can you read that? No. Okay. Fear of man. How many of us are scared of what others think? How many of us are being dishonest by not putting our hands up? Many of us. We struggle with the fear of man. We struggle with being more worried about what people think than what God thinks. Thank you, kids, for finding those. Can we find number four and five and six? Where are they? Okay. Do you want to run over and get that one? Which one can you see? Go and run over and get that one. Emily, there's one over there. Can you see that one? On the pillar. Go, go, go, go, go, go. I can see another one over there near the sound desk. Okay. Cannot for the life of me remember where I put number five. Oh yeah, there it is. Oh. There's number five. Excellent. Number six is nearby. Ah, well done, Havilah. What have we got? Do you want to read that one? No time. No time, my God. I think one of the big foundations that he didn't lay in his life, I don't think Saul spent too much time with the Lord. I think he kept going to all sorts of people, even went to a witch at one point, didn't he? Didn't spend enough time with the Lord. And I think if you want to ongo carry on and lay good foundations and build on those good foundations, we need to spend good time with the Lord. On a daily basis, if we can. Here we go. Number five. What have we got? Do you want to read it? No accountability. No accountability. He didn't have anybody that was speaking into his life. Didn't have anybody asking him difficult questions, I don't think. He had a bunch of yes men around him. And that made a right mess. Now, Emily, you've picked the really long one, haven't you? Here we go. Okay. No ongoing filling with the Spirit. See, he had that amazing account with God, didn't he, at the start? He was filled with the Spirit. Changed person. But it didn't last. Because he didn't ongoingly keep going back to the Lord to be filled with the Spirit. Thank you very much, Emily. We need to keep getting filled with the Spirit. Now, in the book, it talks about the fact that no leader is perfect. None of us are perfect. Only Jesus is perfect. And he also mentions a great verse in John 5: 44, where it talks about the issue of the fact that because the disciples weren't looking to get glory from the Lord and get the Lord's Pleasure over what they were doing, they were always looking for glory amongst themselves. That was causing a big issue. So I need some more help now of some good readers who can help me out. Because I printed out this verse and then I dropped it on the floor. Probably deliberately. And mixed up the order of the verse. Can you help me? Anyone help me get this order? Come on, Keisha. Anybody else? Oh, Isabel's going to come and help. Brilliant. Excellent. Right. Let's get it on the floor. And see if you guys can get it in the right order for me. Okay. It's going to be I'm going to read it out. All right. I'm dropping it on the floor. Making it even worse, aren't I? Do you know what? I might drop it. It might randomly go in the right order. But I doubt it. Somehow. Look at this. What do you reckon? Do you reckon? Oh, that one's upside down. Oh, look. There's a capital letter. That's a clue, isn't it? Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Let me read the verse. And you might want to grab a Bible. What do I have to read into the book? You can put it whichever way you like. As long as it makes a sentence. I want to go this way. And try and work as a team. Okay. John 5:44. How can you believe? How can you believe? Oh. They're fast, aren't they? How can you believe? Since you accept? Since you accept? Since you accept? Where am I? Glory from one another. Did you say the glory? Oh, how can you believe? Since you accept glory from one another. Do you mind? Need to go for two lines, I think. But do not seek. Here's another. Where's. One? One. But do not seek the glory that comes from the only God. But where's but? Hey. We're always like a but, don't we? Here we go. Okay. Here we go. Have we got it right? How can you believe? Since you accept glory from one another. But do not seek the glory that comes from the only God. Where's seek? You know when I said I dropped it? You know when I said I dropped it after I printed it? I think I dropped the word seek. Okay. Here we go. How can you believe? Since you accept the glory from one another. But do not seek the glory that comes from the only God. Quick. Done it right. Seek on there. Before they notice. There's a pen over there. Right. How are we doing? Where's the Bible coming? The verse? Right at the end. Oh, no. It doesn't. The only. God. What about the second? Right. Here we go. You messed up, haven't you? Yeah. Basically. How can you believe? Since you accept? How can you believe? Since you accept glory? From one another. But do not seek. Quickly. Quickly. Before they notice. Seek. Seek the glory. The glory. That comes from the. Only God. And it says the Father. Quick. Change it. Come on. Quick. Change it. Come on. Change it. And then accept. What happened to accept? Oh, yeah. Okay. How are we doing? How can you believe? Since you accept glory from one another. But do not seek the glory. That comes from the only God. Where does this? Do we have another gun that we accept that doesn't go anywhere? Should we make up a point? What did Saul not accept? God. Praise from God. He looked from praise from men. Thank you very much. Did I make a complete mess of that? Yeah. You did. I did. Go on then. Go and sit down. I did. Oh. But. It's a clever verse. It's an amazing verse, though, isn't it? How can you believe? Since you accept glory from one another. But do not seek the glory that comes from the only God. How many times in our life do we look for approval from other people? Do we look to praise from other people instead of praise from our other Father? From God. And this is one of the big things that Saul got wrong in his life. He started out so, so well. Private anointing. By the prophet. He got filled with the Spirit in an amazing way. He was changed. It's almost like, you know, the kind of new text. It's pointing towards the New Testament. How, as we come to Christ, we are a changed person at that moment. And he gets this amazing gift of the Spirit that he can use. But he doesn't because of his insecurity. He ends up hiding with the baggage. Because of his fear of man. And his impatience. And his impetuousness. And doesn't keep seeking the Lord. Goes to witches. Goes to people. Goes to wherever. Isn't accountable. What a mess. What God wants us to do is be the kind of people that look to him. The kind of people that look to that well-done, good, and faithful servant at the end of our lives. And the thing is with that verse that we've tried to do there is that God does. Jesus does acknowledge the fact that we do need encouragement. We do need people to praise us. We do need these things. But so often, we're looking in the wrong place. We need to get these things from the Lord. And as Jesus was baptized in Luke 3: 17, can we read that verse to us? This is amazing account of that he has. Where the Holy Spirit comes down for him, too. I'll say it. 21. When all the people were being baptized, Jesus was baptized too. And as he was praying, heaven was opened. And the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven, "You are my Son." Whom I love. With whom I am well pleased. And that is before Jesus has done anything. It's right at the start of his ministry. God wants us to start well. He wants us to have that great foundation of coming to him. Being filled with the Spirit. Being changed by him. Getting the gifts of the Spirit. But he also wants us to keep going in him. To keep looking to him. To get our security and our significance and all these things in him, ultimately. Because people won't always get it right for us. Still need to be encouraging to one another. We still need to call out the good in one another. We still need to make ourselves accountable to the one another. And have grace for one another when we mess it up. Because we're all works in progress. But we need to start well and keep going well. Let's go back to 1 Samuel 10, verse 6, as we land. Come to land. The Spirit of the Lord will come powerfully upon you and you will prophesy with them. And you will be changed into a different person. And as Saul turned to leave Samuel, verse 9, God's changed Saul's heart and all these signs were fulfilled. That day. God wants to raise up people that serve him. And people that serve him the whole of their days. That if you read carry on reading the story of Saul, it just is such a disaster. He ends up committing suicide. But it's such a disaster. He wants us to be people that the Spirit has come upon. That we've been filled with the Spirit. That we eagerly desire the gifts of God. Especially that you may prophesy. And prophecy brings strength and encouragement to one another. And he wants us to be changed. He wants our character to be changed. Amen. Amen. Let's pray and I'm going to give an opportunity for us to pray for one another. Might be that this morning you need that foundation in your life. Might be that this morning that you need that foundation of being filled with the Holy Spirit. It's funny in churches all across the world, people are celebrating Pentecost today. They're celebrating the coming of the Holy Spirit. And for many churches, that'll be a sense of the one time in the year when they think of these things. But we could be filled with the Spirit any day, any Sunday, any time. If you want to be filled with the Spirit. If you've not yet received any of the gifts that you know of, he'd love to do that. If you want to be somebody that can prophesy, that Acts 2 talks about young and old, men and women, being able to hear from God, whether it be dreaming dreams or prophesying, whatever it is, different ways that God reveals to us. This morning, if you desire in that, I feel the Lord wants to impart it. But let's pray and then I'll give an opportunity for us to pray for one another. Father God, we thank you for this amazing story. Lord, we want to be people that start out well. Carry on well. And finish well. We want to be people that that that that you've carried on the work until completion in the day of Christ, as Philippians 1 says. We want to be people that you're going to say, "Well done. Good and faithful servant." We don't want to be people that that blow it because of sin. That blow it because they haven't we haven't been following you. We've let fear of man come in or insecurity come in. God, I pray that you would help us to start well. To carry on well. And to end well. No matter what happens. Lord, this morning, we've we've had exhortation that you are with us even in the difficult times. And many of us are under great pressure. But Lord, we pray that you would keep filling us. That we would keep close to you in the dark times and in the good times, in the valley, in the hills. Lord, as we're struggling to get out of the valley, into the top of the hill, God, that we would know that you are with us. Lord Jesus, God, I pray for a sense of the presence of God upon each one of us. In Jesus' name. If this morning, if you if this morning you need a you need the Holy Spirit to come upon you. If you need a touch of the Holy Spirit, I'd love to invite you to come and and and receive prayer.
Application Questions1) Saul started with a private call from God before his public anointing. How has God spoken to you privately about His calling on your life? What difference does it make when we encounter God personally before stepping into public ministry or influence? |
Firm Foundations?
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Introduction
Over the last few weeks we have been going through the vision statement looking at what it means to be a multicultural church, a people passionately pursuing God and now we are on drawing in.
Normally I am at the door doing the welcoming, but here I am today talking about how to draw the people in in the first place!
At the outset… part of what will be said this morning is based on what has worked for us over recent years in particular. As I'm listening to those on the streets each week I am reminded again that there are many ways people can be drawn into the Church, so I am not saying you need to copy what we are doing, but hopefully there will be some nuggets/ fresh ideas that you may want to grab hold of and use in your situation.
Why we want to draw people in
2 Cor 5 v. 20 We are therefore Christ's ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us.
2 Cor 6 v.2 For He says: “In the time of favour I heard you, and in the day of salvation I helped you.” Behold, now is the time of favour; now is the day of salvation!
When Liz spoke to us at the baptism Sunday – she talked about how Huldah (2 Chronicles) was an ordinary person, probably unknown to so many of us, but she was used by God to change the destiny of the nation. So we too are just ordinary people, but we have an important message to share that can change the destiny of many people's lives. 2 Cor 4 v. 7-12 – we are the servants of Jesus, jars of clay containing the world's greatest treasure.
What an amazing privilege to be an ambassador of Christ containing the world's greatest treasure. He is listening to us, His favour is on us, now is the day of salvation. His love in us just compels us to draw as many people as we can into the Church.
Team fishing – How we draw people in
In the west, our thinking is often individualistic. In my past, there have been occasions when I have been asked ‘how many people have you led to the Lord?' after missions, and I feel really uncomfortable with this because maybe I haven't actually led anyone to the Lord. I can't begin to tell you how releasing it was to come away from an individualistic thinking and think team. And so in the introduction I said ‘we' and not I when talking about experiences I would share that we do.
I don't know if any of you fish, but I know a few people. My teaching assistant often takes her son fishing – she will sit and mark books while he catches the fish. However, in Biblical times the fishermen worked together, each to their own strengths and covering each other's weaknesses. This was their livelihood – they were not interested in catching 1 or 2 – they wanted lots.
In Matthew 4v19, Jesus says Come follow me and I will make you fishers of men. The disciples would have understood this as team, rather than an individual task.
So, my team that I work alongside is my wonderful life group. But for you, it may be your spouse, another friend in the Church that you get on with.
Work to strengths
First of all, we identify the strengths of each member in the team. We refer to 6 styles of evangelism and while you may see yourself in quite a number, you have are usually 1/2 that you are strongest in and you just do naturally.
Connector –
Great at making friends and building community.
Malcolm Gladwell says most people have a few close friends and family. Connectors often have hundreds of loose connections with people. They instinctively know how to connect the right people with each other.
Connectors are also brilliant at inviting people to things – when advertising the barn dance and hog roast a few weeks ago, I said that if you are invitational by nature, get inviting. Last week I had a text from some-one saying that so far they wanted 8 adult tickets and 2 children tickets. When I read it I turned to Andy and said, that person is invitational/ connector.
The Samaritan woman in John 4 is a good example of this: Then, leaving her water jar, the woman went back to the town and said to the people, 29 “Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Messiah?” 30 They came out of the town and made their way toward him.
Reasoning –inquisitive, analytical, logical
Answer questions about faith
Paul did this in Acts 18 – Every Sabbath he reasoned in the synagogue, trying to persuade Jews and Greeks.
People who love the reasoning style tend to love the Scripture- 1Peter 3v. 15 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,
i.e. Don't become argumentative and learn to be a good listener.
Servants
delight in serving, see a need and just do it without being asked. They find it easy to serve people because that is how God has wired them.
Acts 9 v. 36 Now there was in Joppa a disciple named Tabitha, which, translated, means Dorcas.[a] She was full of good works and acts of charity.
Storytellers –
share stories about how God has worked in their lives. This can be a conversion story, but also personal things God has done, how He has helped you through difficulties. No-one can deny a personal story and your story can be powerful. You might think it is quite ordinary, but ordinary stories reach out to ordinary people. We start many Sunday mornings with times of testimony – where people share stories of what God has done. The Samaritan woman again from John 4.
John 9 v. 10, 11 “ 8 His neighbors and those who had formerly seen him begging asked, “Isn't this the same man who used to sit and beg?” 9 Some claimed that he was.
Others said, “No, he only looks like him.”
But he himself insisted, “I am the man.”
10 “How then were your eyes opened?” they asked. 11 He replied, “The man they call Jesus made some mud and put it on my eyes. He told me to go to Siloam and wash. So I went and washed, and then I could see.”
Harvesters – those that are great at helping people cross the line of faith. They look for ways to clearly articulate the gospel…the bridge to life, do vs done and are ready to use an appropriate method in conversation.
Peter…on the day of Pentecost in Acts 2 “When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?”
38 Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins.”
Power –
Love to use spiritual gifts – prophecy/ word of knowledge/ pray for healing to witness to unbelievers the goodness and power of God. Throughout Acts we see numerous examples of the power style, for example in Acts 3 where Peter heals the lame beggar.
People with this style enjoy activities like healing on the streets or treasure hunting. Ask God for clues and then use this information to look for those particular people to bless, pray, prophesy over.
From: Do What Jesus Did by Robbie Dorkins
As she left a conference in Atlanta, Georgia, a woman was praying, “Lord, I'll do anything for You. I'll do anything. Just tell me what You want me to do, and I'll do it.” In that moment she sensed something and realized, I'm supposed to turn left. It almost felt like a whim, but desperately wanting to obey God's voice, the woman turned left. After driving for a little while, she felt as though she was supposed to turn right, so she did. Filled with anticipation, she wondered, Is God actually directing me to go do something right now? This is so exciting!
Before she knew it the woman ended up right in front of a little convenience store, which she sensed was the place the Lord was bringing her. Once inside, she couldn't wait to see how the Lord would direct her, but the only thing that kept coming to her mind was, Go over in front of the clerk and stand on your head. Pretty weird, right? How many of us would reach that point and say, “Okay, no, that's not God,” and get in our car and drive home? The direction this woman was sensing seemed odd enough that she could have easily discounted it, although it wasn't something immoral or unbiblical. She prayed, “Lord, are You sure?” Then she felt nothing, no confirmation. So many times, that's the gentleness of the Holy Spirit. He doesn't force us to do anything. He's not a bully, and He won't shove us into doing what we're unwilling to do. In that moment, this woman had a real choice to make. She said, “Okay.” It took her a little bit to build up the courage, and she hung around reading chip packages until everybody cleared out of the store. Then she ran up to the register and said, “Hey! Look what I can do!” There happened to be a pole right in front of the clerk, so she did a handstand against it. From her upside-down position, she saw him drop his head and shake it. She swung her legs down and thought, Man, he thinks I'm crazy—a real freak! But she walked up to the register and saw that the clerk was actually crying, so she asked, “What's the matter?” He told her, “About half an hour ago, I was sitting here working, and I prayed, ‘God, if You're real, have somebody come in here and stand on their head.'” The clerk ended up giving his life to Christ as a result of this woman's obedience to God's voice, and he has attended the same church as she does ever since.
Amazing story – that we can all be in awe of. Oh to be a power person/ harvester…but and we need to celebrate each evangelistic style, because together we can all make a difference in the kingdom.
One of my joyous moments last year was when we were having a farewell party for a number in our life group. We had about 30 or so people, a mix of our life group and friends not yet in the Church. I was helping with food and Hannah came over to me and said I'll take over. As she took over, I looked around, the connectors were being welcoming to guests, people were talking about their faith and answering questions, stories were being told and servants were working. At that moment, there was not a thing for me to do except stand back and marvel and say thank you God! This is team fishing as it should be.
When your team consists of a life group, it's great because you actually usually have pretty much all of those giftings at any one time, but sometimes this isn't the case which is absolutely fine initially, but at some point, to draw your friends in to the life of the Church, you may find it useful to introduce them to folks with other strengths.
For those that are thinking this is all very good, but I don't have any non Christian friends, or any that would be interested in coming to anything. Perhaps you are not a connector, but rather a servant for example. But when you are working in a team, there will be connectors that can do the inviting. You can play your part in making disciples by serving to the best you can. This is why I happen to think this works best in a life group setting.
The people we are drawing in
Pyramid
Bottom – Don't know any Christians – the largest sector
Open to friendship – if you think of fishing as a rod and line, you might be the only Christian they know, but when you fish as a team your friend gets to know your group of Christian friends. There is something attractive about the way Christians do life – Paul describes it as the aroma of Christ.
2 Cor 2 15 For we are to God the pleasing aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing. 16 To the one we are an aroma that brings death; to the other, an aroma that brings life.
Ex. of man who I invited to socials. He was really keen and told me that he has said to himself “I know what will happen…I'll come and meet you all, see that you are all really nice and end up coming to Church!!”
Open to the Message – Some who are embedded in the friendship circle of small group become open to the message. In Luke 10 v.6 Jesus describes them as men and women of peace.
Example of Simon who is a man of peace – came to social end of July , started life group at the start of September and started coming to Church at the baptism service.
Storytellers, harvesters and reasoners will be active at this stage, asking and answering questions and sharing stories. It was when we had a number of men and women of peace in our life group last year, that we began an Alpha course.
Ready – There comes a point when they are ready to cross that line of faith, to put their trust in Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour.
Ex of 2 Chinese girls in life group for about 6 months and one night Andy sat with them and shared the bridge to life to which they both responded.
Disciple –
What we are looking for is not only people to make professions of faith, we are looking to make disciples, to see them baptised and getting rooted into local Church life and team fishing.
It was with some sadness that many in our group who had completed the journey to faith were leaving us to move elsewhere, but it is great to hear stories of them settling in other churches in other towns/ countries. Andy will touch on that next week when he talks about sending out.
Process – what we have learnt
Recognise it is a process, for some it is a quick process and for others it is much longer. Some don't make it to the top of the pyramid, but like the parable of the sower, we have cast seeds, and so we leave it to God to do the rest. 1 Cor 3v. 6 “ I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth.”
Don't be precious about friends – have the right attitude – I'm invitational and find it easy to ask folks to socials. I always say to my group though that my friends are your friends…and sometimes it works out that our friends become closer to other people in the Church than us!! Andy and Jenny King story
We can plan the best we can, but ultimately God is in control. Recent cinema trip – Silvana and Aaron story – “I’ve been decorating all day, I sit down finally at 23:30 with a well earned cuppa. Put The tv on……
And playing this song ….
I am not skilled to understand
What God has willed what God Has planned
I only know at his right hand
Stands one who is my Savior
I take him at his word and deed
Christ died to save me this I read
And in my heart I find the need
Of him to be my Savior
That he would leave his place on high
And come for sinful man to die
You called it strange so once did I
Before I knew my Savior
My Savior loves
My Savior lives
My Savior’s always there for me
My God he was
My God he is
My God he’s always gonna be
In our group there is always an expectation that there will always be guests to our socials that are not yet in the Church. We value people and love them, so we actually do make the effort to fix dates, rather than glibly saying we'll have to meet up sometime and then never do anything about it! Don't take knock backs personally – people are people, they will let you down at times, but don't give up.
Every week I lead the witness section and we teach on what I am speaking about today, we plan socials. We have started doing a love bucket where we write the names of those in our group we are reaching out to and pass it round for each person to choose a name to pray for that specific person. Even though we are rather large, there is always room for more. One of our new girls asked last week was it ok if she invited some-one to our lunch last Sunday. I told her what I always reply – never seek permission to bring others in.
The penny dropped for our life group as it was a few years ago, after a particular successful pizza party. In the meeting I praised each person present for the part they had played. I thanked the servants so hard for helping make the pizzas, the connectors for inviting others and making people feel welcome, the musicians that had provided the atmosphere. It was after this that we saw Andy, a natural harvester, bring our Chinese girls through to faith in Christ.
Base socials on what your group enjoy doing. Most of what we do to draw people in involve fun and food, as you may know by now! We like to think we can celebrate any national holiday! (photos) For us, it works, because we love food and we chat whilst eating. We have gathered many folks from other nations and so we try to be like family. Friends have been so drawn to the group that we have some at the moment who come to our weekly gatherings that are not yet disciples.
Aside from food, we have a number who run and so we are wanting to do some runs, inviting others. Always look for opportunities. Example of Beth going for a run and chat…..From personal experience, it's not easy to run and talk, infact it is impossible!! So make sure that after you arrange a drink and chat.
Andy and I joined a running club. If you are not careful, it is easy sometimes to spend all your social time with people from the Church because it is comfortable. Get out – join groups – meet people from outside the Church.
I started by saying we are ordinary people, jars of clay, and yet you can be used mightily by God to change the destiny of friends around us. I'm going to finish by sharing a story –from one of our Doctors – Alessio, who has now moved to Norwich. This is what he writes….
“When I first came to King’s Lynn, earlier last year, I was at a turning point in my life. Having just graduated from medical school back in Italy, it was time to start work. That for me meant moving abroad, leaving family and friends behind. I don’t think I could have ever imagined what the biggest change in my life would have been, if somebody asked me when I first arrived. There were times at first when it was easy to feel lonely and discouraged, far away from anybody I could call a friend, and being thrown in a very demanding job which I didn’t really feel prepared for. Everything truly changed when I met the people I now consider my second family, in King’s Lynn.
It all started with a coworker investigating into my spiritual life. It was brave of her and I thank God today for it! We used to talk over lunch about religion, what our views were on the matter, just exchanging thoughts without judging on either part. On my side, I grew up in a Christian family, and despite being very involved in church from a young age, when I left for university I put it all aside. At some point I thought that was something I didn’t need in my life. Back to our story, I was invited to her church, and I’m not one to say no to the chance of meeting new people, so I went.The people I met there were by far the most generous, friendly and genuinely good people I’ve ever met. Everybody was working hard to glorify God in the way that best suited them. Some by singing or playing instruments, others with their ever so present words of encouragement or ever-ready listening ear. Coming from Italy, I had no other choice than to cook for people.
And that’s when it started. We have had many evenings of laughter, fun and games, alternating with serious moments of reflection, listening to each others problems and praying together. Many of our nights centered around meals, because that is something that always brings people together, and I believe it much more now, having experienced that for myself. Putting your skills at God’s service, whatever they are, is something that will always bring you happiness and satisfaction.
With the months going by, I saw so many changes in my life. First came all the new friends and relationships with awesome people. Then I started to feel the presence of God beside me, in my everyday life and often times at work. And now, working as a doctor, I think that’s an invaluable thing to have. So many people are in need of the comfort that only He can give, especially when they’re ill or facing death.I recognise now that God has never abandoned me, even when I turned my
back on Him. He had a plan for me that is now starting to unravel, and I can’t wait to find out what He has planned next.”
