Feast of Gregory the Illuminator
From Disorganized Religion "Ministry for the Meantime" by Sam Portaro
"If by evangelism we mean ... an incarnate and dynamic expression of God's love for the world and each person in it that is so compelling it invites a response, then our evangelism will not look like marketing so much as it will become a ministry, a way of being with people in the world." p. 22
If Resurrection is true, there is no such thing as life and death issues.
What all Christians should be doing is
1. Worshipping together indicating our love for each other. This includes singing each other's music
2. Gathering new people into our community indicating our love for our neighbors. This includes our children.
3. Learning more about the sacred journey indicating our love for God. This includes everyone.
The long term call of God to all Christians is to make new disciples for Christ by being witnesses to him. I believe that means active work to develop a new generation of Christians and acts of social service to those most in need. Evangelism, youth work, acts of justice and mercy.
I don't understand why some Christians think it is appropriate to engage in Evangelism, bringing people to Christ but ignoring the plight of dying children and others think it is appropriate to raise social issues but are unwilling to talk about Jesus. In the political world George W Bush is in the first camp and John Kerry in the second.
Why can't we, why don't we do both at the same time. Jesus is Lord and because he loves us, we are passionate about caring for global poverty and the environment and also want to bring people to God's altar.
Let us keep in mind the more significant events of our time. The death by starvation of children all over the world. The death from AIDS especially in Africa, the continual resort to violence and impoverishment by our own government.
At the moment I have some excitement about ministry as parish priest. I am in a place which seems to want to care for the local poor and engage in evangelism. I need to spark them to learn more about the faith and to pay attention to issues of justice.
From Disorganized Religion "Ministry for the Meantime" by Sam Portaro
"If by evangelism we mean ... an incarnate and dynamic expression of God's love for the world and each person in it that is so compelling it invites a response, then our evangelism will not look like marketing so much as it will become a ministry, a way of being with people in the world." p. 22
If Resurrection is true, there is no such thing as life and death issues.
What all Christians should be doing is
1. Worshipping together indicating our love for each other. This includes singing each other's music
2. Gathering new people into our community indicating our love for our neighbors. This includes our children.
3. Learning more about the sacred journey indicating our love for God. This includes everyone.
The long term call of God to all Christians is to make new disciples for Christ by being witnesses to him. I believe that means active work to develop a new generation of Christians and acts of social service to those most in need. Evangelism, youth work, acts of justice and mercy.
I don't understand why some Christians think it is appropriate to engage in Evangelism, bringing people to Christ but ignoring the plight of dying children and others think it is appropriate to raise social issues but are unwilling to talk about Jesus. In the political world George W Bush is in the first camp and John Kerry in the second.
Why can't we, why don't we do both at the same time. Jesus is Lord and because he loves us, we are passionate about caring for global poverty and the environment and also want to bring people to God's altar.
Let us keep in mind the more significant events of our time. The death by starvation of children all over the world. The death from AIDS especially in Africa, the continual resort to violence and impoverishment by our own government.
At the moment I have some excitement about ministry as parish priest. I am in a place which seems to want to care for the local poor and engage in evangelism. I need to spark them to learn more about the faith and to pay attention to issues of justice.
posted by Thomas Van Brunt | 9:24 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home