THE CASE FOR COMMUNITY

Biblical Foundations for Community

In Matthew 28:18-20, Jesus encourages His disciples to make disciples. Paul echoes that commission when he writes to Timothy, “and what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, commit to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.” (2 Timothy 2:2). As we are making disciples helpful to be reminded of Jesus’ prayer for us as disciples and disciple-makers in John 17:21 “May they all be one, as You, Father, are in Me and I am in You. May they also be one in Us, so the world may believe You send Me.”

In thinking about this prayer, Francis Schaeffer writes, “we must never forget that the final apologetic which Jesus gives is the observable love of true Christians for true Christians.” Gilbert Bilezikian says, “According to that prayer, the most convincing proof of the truth of the gospel is the perceptible oneness of his followers.” Without love and unity the world will disbelieve. On the other hand, it is our love and our unity that enables the world to understand and receive the Truth. Jesus’ prayer is the one we should be praying for ourselves and for those we are discipling that we would be one. Colossians 3:14 reminds us that “Above all, put on love – the perfect bond of unity.”

“May They All Be One”

So, the goal of our discipleship should be unity – unity with God, and unity with each other. But how do we get there? Ephesians 4 gives a great answer. Verses 12 and 13 tell us that the leadership of the church is a gift from God “for the training of the saints in the work of ministry, to build up the body of Christ, until we all reachunity in the faith and in the knowledge of God’s Son, growing into a mature man with a stature measured by Christ’s fullness.” Step one, train the saints to do the ministry! Does it even seem feasible for one man to do all the hospital visits, to people he hardly knows, on time he hardly has? Instead, the members of the church should be mobilized to care for the sick, reach out to the lost, feed the hungry, and care for the spiritual needs of their neighbors and friends. The leaders are mobilizers and it should be all of the body serving one another and those outside the faith.

Step two is spiritual maturity. Notice that this step follows service and ministry. We don’t wait until we are seminary trained to begin our ministry. It is precisely that service that we perform with and for one another that develops our maturity. We don’t grow in isolation. We need community! It’s within the community that our faith is formed. Our relationship with God is personal but it’s not private.

I have discovered that I have no problem reading my Bible and praying daily when I know a friend who is in need, or when I have a stimulating discussion about God’s Word, or hear a challenge to the faith that I’ve never heard before. These interactions with others is what fuels my relationship with God. It is my connection to people that reinforces my connection with God. If I hadn’t had that discussion I might not be interested to see what God has to say on the topic. If my friend weren’t in need, maybe I would be spending less time in prayer. You get the idea. Close, spiritual, open, and honest friendships within the family of faith are vital to my personal walk with God.

The Cost of Community

It’s hard to be unified with someone you only see once a week. Especially if you are staring at the back of his head from the pew behind him. In fact, it’s quite easy to have a disagreement with such a person and never resolve the issue because there’s no reason to resolve it. You can just stop talking. But, if you are serving together in ministry, if you are helping him and he is helping you grow stronger in faith, then you are unified. It is this unity that is so essential to the mission of the church. Without this unity that is brought on by serving together and growing together, the world is hopelessly lost. The world needs us to be the family they never had. They need us to love one another.

But we need one another too. We were created for community but that doesn’t mean it comes easy (or even naturally). Hebrews 10:24-25 says, “Let us be concerned about one another in order to promote love and good works, not staying away from our meetings, as some habitually do, but encouraging each other, and all the more as you see the day drawing near.” We need to be together regularly if we are to show one another the care that is necessary to promote love and ministry. Do we want to be followers of Jesus? Do we want to make disciples, as He commanded us? Then we will regularly meet together because of our love and our concern for one another. I know I won’t grow in my relationship with God in isolation, but that means my brother or sister won’t either.

To be a disciple is to be in community. In order to make disciples, we need to encourage them to be in community. To change the world we need to invest in community. As the church, we are the final apologetic and it’s because of community. Jesus is only going to make one more appearance and that will be to call His Church home. Until then, we have a definite commission, and a definite course of action: As disciples, we are called to live in community with one another. This is achieved as we get together regularly and care for one another and serve together and grow together and show the world that we are disciples because of our love for one another. We need this! They need this! No longer can we simply come to a building once a week and expect that to be enough. In fact, we can’t merely come to a small group Bible study for a couple of hours per week and expect that to be enough. We are a family and a family is a huge time commitment. So let’s be disciples and not just complacent Christians. It’s messy and scary and you might just have to open up and share your life with someone, but don’t all the good things in life cost something?

Stewardship Is Good Business!

The Scriptures teach us that we are to love God with everything we have, e.g., with all of our heart, soul, mind and strength. In this way we glorify God in who we are and in everything we do.

Our faithfulness to this task can be summarized with the word “stewardship.” Stewardship is many times a misunderstood term in the English language. All too often we use it only to refer to a financial campaign in the church. But stewardship is so much more than that. The dictionary defines stewardship as “the responsibility of managing some assets or affairs or property of someone else.” Stewardship is managing something that isn’t your own. And stewardship is the key to understanding the Christian life.

There are two basic principles to stewardship. The first is found in Genesis 1:1, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” God created everything, He owns it. So, the first principle of stewardship is: God owns everything. But God also sustains creation. The book of Colossians tells us that God holds everything together.

In Genesis 2:15 it says, “The Lord took man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it.” From the very beginning, even before the Fall, it has been the place of human beings to manage what God has created. The second principle of stewardship is: You and I were made to manage what God owns.

One of our basic problems as people is our tendency to acknowledge the ownership of God of His gifts to us and then we quietly assume personal ownership. We start to use words like my and I and mine. We must always remember that the ultimate control in any business always resides with the owner, not the manager. We must remember that everything is on loan from God.

In reality, stewardship is partnership with God. I Corinthians 3:9 says, “We are laborers together with God.” We work, we partner with God. Stewardship is foundational; it is a basic principle of life with God.

What are we to be stewards of then? Absolutely everything God has entrusted to us. This includes everything from this present day to your wealth, from your talents and abilities to your authority, from your family to your home, from your friendships to your responsibilities. Everything is given to us by God – either directly or through the use of the gifts, tools and intelligence He gives us.

When it comes right down to it, stewardship is a matter of the heart. Jesus said, “Where your treasure is there your heart will be also.” What do you treasure most: your relationship with God or the “stuff” of life? Remember: 1) God owns everything 2) You are a manager (not an owner) of what God gives to you.

How will your children remember you?

When we think of inheritance, it’s easy to imagine a family gathered nervously in front of an attorney’s desk, straining to listen to him read a departed uncle’s will rife with property, money, and a brooch that belonged to a grandmother.  In fact, “inheritance” and “will” go hand in hand.  If you feel strongly about making sure your worldly goods are distributed according to your wishes, surely you have a will yourself. 

But there is a legacy you'll leave that is more important than all your worldly possessions combined. And it requires no will to find its rightful place in your children's lives. In fact you don't even have to be deceased for it to become valuable to them.

YOUR LEGACY

What you bequeath to your children is the spiritual deposit of God’ truth.  It’s our identity in Christ Jesus.  That truth not only grows and nurtures their lives, but also becomes a legacy to their children and children’s children.  It’s the foundation of biblical truth that guides the decisions of your children.

SO HOW DO YOU IMPART THIS GIFT OF LEGACY? 

In order to impart a legacy that passes on our identity in Christ Jesus, we must continually initiate sharing with our maturing teenagers and adult children.  We can never take a healthy, holy relationship with them for granted.  As a parent, you must:

• Become a good coach in their decisions.
• Counsel with an open heart, an open mind, and an open Bible
• Mentor , using your life as an example and
• Be a friend for life

If done right, children grow in Christ, and as a bonus, become friends for life to their parents.  Jesus told His disciples that He no longer regarded them as servants but as friends.  What a joy it is to have our adult children as friends, confidantes who share not thoughts and opinions, but relate to us intimately, heart to heart.

LEGACY AS A COACH

Instead of telling our adult children what decisions to make about vocation, friends, education, finances, etc., it’s more effective to coach them.  Coaches don’t play the game for their teams, they train and offer input to help their players discover mistakes, compensate for weaknesses, build on strengths, learn skills for improving play, and develop finesse to become winners. 

That’s what we want for our maturing teenagers and adult children.  When they are younger, we can guide them through educational and training experiences that will give them the knowledge and skills they need to pursue their vocations – the God-given callings on their lives for work.  God instituted work in Scripture as the means for providing for our families and giving outlet to our creative, physical, intellectual and emotional abilities. 

In sports, coaches see the talents and gifts within the team members, and maximize those abilities.  They don’t put players into positions for which they have no aptitude.  Parents are like sports coaches.  We see our children’s talents and gifts, and maximize them.  We don’t force our children into adult lives based on our own desires, wants or unfulfilled dreams.  Rather we desire God’s best for our adult children and do our best to help them fulfill God’s plan.  We cast visions for our families.

The defining decisions.  Maturing children face a lot of choices.  Here are the defining decisions that they must make with our coaching:

• How and where they will worship and serve God
• Developing friendship and discovering God’s provision for a mate
• Becoming equipped to fulfill God’s call in a vocation
• Starting a family and providing for all their needs

We want to see our adult children succeed in relationships and vocations that fulfill God’s plans for their lives.  They need our coaching to help them sort out and set priorities.  As any coach must, the parental coach imparts the basics and provides support in order for a player to become skilled and confident enough to win.  The basic priorities are simple: God first, family next, work, church, rest, recreation and other things follow.  As effective parental coaches we model and say to our children, “In everything you do, put God first, and He will direct you and crown your efforts with success” (Prov. 3:6 TLB).

LEGACY AS A COUNSELOR

Scripture affirms that safety can be found in a multitude of counselors (Prov. 11:14).  We find our example for counseling as parents to be rooted in the person of the Holy Spirit.  As our counselor, He glorifies Jesus, reveals truth, guides us into the future and comforts us (John 14:16).  The Spirit encourages, corrects and directs our ways. 

As counselors to maturing and adult children, we parents listen with empathy, speak the truth in love, point to our children’s gifts, potential and talents, comfort them when make wrong turns, and redirect them in right directions.  

Encouragement becomes an essential dynamic between parents and children as we grow into becoming friends for life.  Parents need to say to one another and their children:  “Our responsibility is to encourage the right at all times, not to hope for evil” (2 Cor. 13:8 TLB).  To encourage is to deposit courage, bravery, boldness and assertiveness into the lives of our children.  Those deposits help them stand firm in the Lord through the trials and tests that they’ll face as adults with their own families.

LEGACY AS A MENTOR

Parents are invaluable counselors and mentors for children as they grow into courtship, marriage and parenting themselves.  When parents and children are friends for life, their adult children can turn to them for example, help, support and guidance in growing as wives, husbands, mothers and fathers. 

Paul affirms, “Follow my example as I follow the example of Christ” (1Cor. 11:1).  Mentoring sets an example as parents go through life’s passages ahead of their children.  Adult children, just as they did when they were younger, are always watching.  They closely observe us handling job changes, dealing with money and business, moving to new homes or locations, making and maintaining friendships, working through conflict and difficulties, struggling with ethical issues, and going into the empty nest and senior years with grace, purpose and commitment to Christ.

"Because parents are friends for life, their adult children can turn to them for help, support and guidance in growing as wives, husbands, mothers and fathers." 

The parental mentor says to the child,

“I’m there for you”.
“I’ll encourage you in every circumstance of life.”
“I’ll never give up on you.”
“I’ll always pray for you.”
“I’m confident in your God-given destiny.”
“I’m always ready to forgive and go on with you.”
“I’m finishing strong so that you’ll know that what I profess is real and effective for the whole race of life.” 

As effective mentors we constantly keep this “How to” Checklist in front of us.  Because of my coaching, mentoring, and friendship, do my children know how to:

• Manage money wisely and avoid credit card and installment debt?
• Buy and sell homes and property?
• Develop and stay in a covenant marriage?
• Parent their children in the ways of God?
• Work productively and responsibly?
• Serve and worship God?
• Utilize their gifts and talents for the Kingdom of God ?
• Make right decision and grow through wrong ones?
• Choose and keep Godly friends?
• Live life purely and joyfully?
• Prosper in every aspect of life?

LEGACY AS FRIENDS FOR LIFE

Some parents think that when their children are old enough and move out, this turning-point-moment gives them permission to retire from being parents. Not so. We are parents for life and consequently, friends for life.

Maintaining friends – any friends – requires attention and effort.  Children are no exception.  Through the advances in technology, regular contact and communication with our children has never been easier, no matter how far away they are.  Email, phone, fax, digital imaging, and video provide us with ways to stay connected across the miles. 

Set regular times to call or email your adult children.  Build positive, loving relationships with your grandchildren.  Stay connected physically, relationally and spiritually.  Pray without ceasing for your children and their families.

THE INHERITANCE WE LEAVE FOR OUR CHILDREN.

Leave a legacy for your children and children’s children.  God’s goodness in us prompts us to leave an inheritance for our children (Prov. 13:22).  Just as God gives us good gifts, so we desire to give good gifts to our children.  Therefore, we must plan the inheritance and legacy we’ll leave.  That plan embraces good financial management as well as an intentional teaching of God’s truths to our children. 

Our legacy goes far beyond worldly possessions or good memories.  It’s rooted in the eternal truths of God that passes on through the generations to our successors.  Children and grandchildren benefit financially from an inheritance, but they will more greatly benefit from relational and spiritual blessings.  Our responsibility as parents mandates that we sow love, joy, peace, kindness, mercy, patience and self control into our families and the families that come after us. 

What harvest, what legacy will your children and grandchildren enjoy from your coaching, counseling, mentoring, sowing and friendship?  Work to be the parent of whom your children might say:  “Her children rise up and call her blessed” (Prov. 31:28) and “His children are blessed after him” (Prov. 20:7)

Adapted for Legacy magazine from the 2=1's Parents for Life course

Unlocking Your God Dream...Pastor John Tracy

http://www.ottercreekag.com/Portals/0/thekeytounlockingyourGoddream91210.mp3

BRIDGE, the Median Adults Ministry of Otter Creek Assembly of God: Defined

BRIDGE, the Median Adults Ministry of Otter Creek Assembly of God, is designed to strengthen your relationship with God, your family, and other adults. The heart of this ministry is our Sunday Morning Life Link Classes at 9:30am.  Small Groups will also be available to OCA's BRIDGE ministry. 


What are small groups and who can participate?

Small Groups are offered for everyone. You are never too young or too old to: 

   * Belong to a group of people who love God and desire to serve him.

   * Be renewed and encouraged in your walk with the Lord through prayer,
     fellowship, learning about God, and finding his plan for your life.

   * Be loved by a group of people who can listen, care, and pray with you—
     friends who can share the joys and difficulties of life.

Learn more about the Sunday Morning Life Link classes offered by BRIDGE, Adults 35-55 years of age.

Transforming Lives! God’s truth is the power to transform lives, set people free, and give hope. Learn more about how God is Transforming Lives at Otter Creek Assembly of  God. 

We are a growing church committed to staying connected through Sunday Morning Life Link groups and Small Groups.  Through them you will find a place in the life of Otter Creek Assembly to connect and serve in ministry activities and mission projects. 

Each class has its own personality and we have a one that is just right for you. We provide a community of friends and a place of fellowship. You’ll discover that your time and talents are needed and your wisdom, willingness, and experience are important to us.

Leadership Opportunities!  BRIDGE will become the vehicle within the context of the ministry of Otter Creek Assembly to offer opportunities for leadership, learning, relationship development, fellowships, organizing mission projects, and more. For more information, speak with the directors of BRIDGE.