Encouraging, Connected, and Accountable

We used to call it “fellowship.” Nowadays we call it “community.” No matter what you call it, it’s the sweet part of being a Christian. For me, it is the thing that attracted me to Christ. Invited as an unsaved bass player to a church young adult gathering many years ago, I saw the love they had for one another. It was a sincere, accepting, and pure kind of love. I craved it for myself, and said as much to the group. My friend who brought me sensed my longing and shared the gospel with me later that evening. That night I accepted Jesus Christ as my Savior.

The fellowship we experience in Christian community adds the fragrance of unity to our walk with Christ. Love, commitment, kindness, forgiveness, the fruit of the Spirit – these are the virtues that move my Christianity from “me and Jesus” to the body of Christ. Just ask someone who has seen an ABF care for the sick, grieving, or in need. Just ask someone who has been blessed with friendships that develop out of one of our mid-sized groups, like an ABF, WOW, Reveille, or Precept group. Sometimes you wish you could bottle it, take it out in our neighborhoods, and introduce it to the family that lives next door. They’d discover, like I did, that Jesus Christ is at the center of community. It’s His Spirit who unites, empowers, and enables. He urges us on when we discover that rubbing shoulders with saved sinners is a tough thing to do.

Here at Immanuel, we call it “encouraging, connected, and accountable” community. These are the terms that describe Immanuel’s standard for relationships – the ones we want to build with insiders within the church, and the ones we hope will spill over to outsiders in our neighborhoods, schools, and places of work.

The question we need to ask is, “how do we define these terms biblically?” Let’s take a look and answer that question. Hopefully you think of these concepts positively. The Bible sure presents them that way with terms like encourage, edify, build up, exhort, admonish, and urge. Connection is another way to express terms like unity, spiritual friendship, harmony, “one another,” members of the body, being living stones, and being the temple of the Holy Spirit. The term accountable means to urge, admonish, speak truth, have fellowship in the light, bear one another’s burdens, reprove, rebuke, confession, and make spiritual restoration. We need to strive for all three qualities in our relationships at every level, whether in our mid-sized groups like ABF’s or the small group, whether in the worship service or the hallways, whether in the family or the community, we need encouraging, connected, and accountable relationships.

ENCOURAGEMENT OF THE SCRIPTURES

True encouragement has its foundation in the Scriptures. For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through endurance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope. May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you a spirit of unity among yourselves as you follow Christ Jesus, so that with one heart and mouth you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. ( Rom 15:4-6, NIV) This passage was written in the context of Paul teaching the Roman church how to live in harmony in the midst of diversity, particularly diverse levels of maturity. It reminds us that God gives us the Bible to instruct us how to live in unity. In building community, we cannot abandon the study of the scriptures. Encouraging one another by the truth of the scriptures is what draws us back to God’s standard of reality. The world around us offers many mixed messages, often self-centered.

Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of men in their deceitful scheming. Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him who is the Head, that is, Christ. From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work. ( Eph 4:14-16)

Any group, whether at the mid-sized level or the small group level, needs a content component. You have to be studying something together. Fellowship by itself is not enough to change lives. Maturity begins with a personal relationship with God, where we grow as individuals before Him. As we personally grow in the truth, then we can “speak the truth in love” to one another.

We are instructed in the truth from the pulpit, in mid-sized ABF’s, and in small groups. You might get it in the car on the radio. But for me, until I get it in my personal study, it doesn’t seem to stick. I grow more when I participate more, and I participate most in my own study. Now here’s the problem: Even as a pastor I find this to be a challenge. I need others to spur me on, otherwise I slide. Maybe you are more disciplined than I, but I think we all need the accountability of other believers who encourage us to “stick with it.”

I am going to address what we mean by “accountability” later, but for now just think of it as one friend encouraging another to “stick with it.” It might be as simple as holding group members accountable to do their homework throughout the week so they come prepared for the next meeting. Folks grow with God during the week, and grow with each other during the meeting, sharing what God showed them in their personal study. In my experience this discussion often develops into talking about life on a much deeper level, especially when we share our struggles and victories.

It is fine to hear good teaching of the Word. It is much finer to study it for yourself. This is why, first of all, when I think of “encouraging” groups, I think of groups where members actively participate in the study of the Word of God. People are encouraged from the Bible when they get into it for themselves. God speaks through His Word, convicts them by the Holy Spirit, and prompts them to change. Imagine the kind of meeting where folks come ready to share how God is moving in their lives. Their discussion turns toward the “how to’s.” Maybe they straighten out some wrong thinking, and this provides the motivation to follow through with God’s leading. What a dynamic group that would be!

“Encouraging, connected, and accountable” is not just a buzz phrase the elders made up. It defines the means to pursue God in community, seeking Him constantly, serving Him faithfully, and sharing Him boldly.

ENCOURAGEMENT TO STAY ON TARGET

I like the way Walk Thru The Bible summarizes Paul’s first letter to the Thessalonians: Stay on Target. Having planted the church less than a year before, he writes not to correct them but to encourage them to keep doing things well.

Depending on your Bible, the Greek term word parakaleo might be translated either “exhort” or “encourage.” Literally, it means “to call to one’s side.” This presupposes someone who is willing to be there for you, speaking words that will help you persevere through the tough times, and stay on course when you are doing well. Encouragement is the mortar that holds community together. It is when believers are aware enough of each other’s lives to be able to say, “you can do it!” In his letter, Paul paints a picture of a father, exhorting and encouraging and imploring each one of you . . . so that you would walk in a manner worthy of the God who calls you into His own kingdom and glory. ( 1 Thess 2:11-12) The Thessalonian church was moving in the right direction. Like a father, Paul pulls them to his side and stirs up their hearts to keep living the life God wants them to live.

Encouragement can also mean helping someone make course corrections. You speak a word (often a lot of words!) to motivate a friend to get with it and do something they ought to do – to spend more time with their family, with their friends, to love their husband or wife more, to forbear and forgive. We all need the encouragement of friends to be more intentional in our imitation of Christ. Paul speaks in Ephesians 4 of how we “learned Christ” ( v. 20). There are truths about our relationship with God of which we need to remind one another – that He is good, that He loves and really cares for us, that He forgives our sin and offers grace, even for today’s rebellious acts, and that He has proven it through the cross. Satan would rather have us deceived. He tells us lies about God, and he tells us lies about what really matters in life. Satan would have us pursue our own lusts and the idols of pleasure, power, prosperity and popularity. If we are going to be successful in turning away from these, following God and staying on target, it will take the encouragement of others. We need real friends who love us enough to speak the truth about things we often cannot see in the face of the lies that seem so real. We need friends who will help us stay on target.

Encouragement instills confidence, not in our own flesh, but in God’s power. There is the constant “you can do it,” which we can always say to one another, regardless of the apparent weakness of our friend. The wonderful paradox of Christianity is that at our weakest, God is strongest. ( 2 Cor 12:9) There is no greater “calling to one’s side” than when we are walking with the Lord, absolutely dependant upon His grace, and we have our arm around someone else’s shoulder. God’s strength becomes ours, and ours becomes theirs, but it never ceases to be God’s. That’s power!

Admittedly, it’s not easy to be the one in the middle, but if we are to bear one another’s burden’s and thereby fulfill the law of Christ ( Gal 6:2) I think we have to be willing to be there.

COMFORT ONE ANOTHER

Several years ago, a friend of mine lost his job and fell into a manhole of depression. He was a strong Christian, had a loving wife and kids, was as healthy as a horse, and was actually in pretty good financial shape for someone who had lost his job. Yet he couldn’t see any of that. He descended into despair, wouldn’t eat, couldn’t sleep, and wouldn’t get out of bed. But my friend was blessed with friends who cared enough to come alongside, get him some professional help, and encourage him out of his manhole.

We have looked at encouragement through the Word of God, and encouragement to stay on target. There is another aspect of encouragement that we call comfort.

You needn’t go through many hours in a day before you are reminded how fallen our world is. It is only the hardness of our heart that allows us to be insensitive to sin – whether it is someone else’s or our own. Even when we are not consciously aware of it, we feel its effects all the time in broken relationships, broken hearts, and broken dreams. In the workplace it’s called Murphy’s Law: if anything can go wrong it will. That is simply a secular testament to the fall and God’s subsequent curse upon the earth.

When faced with the hard knocks of life, what do we do? The devil bets we will abandon our faith, follow Mrs. Job’s advice, and curse God and die ( Job 3:9). God thinks better of us, not allowing us to be tempted beyond what we are able ( 1 Cor 10:13). In fact, God gives us a terrific hedge against giving up. It’s called the encouragement of spiritual friends.

In times of affliction, suffering and grief, we need the comfort of friends, ones who sympathize, sustain, stick with us when we need them the most. They let us know we are not alone, that God still loves us, and that our suffering will result in a good end (whether this life or the next). Our spiritual friends encourage us by giving us a perspective we cannot have when we are down in the manhole.

This is the kind of encouragement that is impossible apart from community. That’s why groups like ABF’s are so important. They provide an opportunity to develop those middle level friendships, ones that will move into more intimate relationships as we grow to trust people and call them our spiritual friends. If you want to be more intentional about it, then get into a small group, either as part of your ABF, or one that meets in some other capacity. Women of the Word, Men of the Bible, Precept ministry, or some of our “Mom’s” ministries are a great place to start. If you have leader’s blood, form a home group. And when you have a group, well then, when you or someone you love falls into a manhole, there will someone around to help out. That’s what encouraging community is all about.

CONNECTED NO MATTER WHAT

“In order to achieve a greater impact in our community, we need to be in the community.” That’s the first line from Initiative 1 of Immanuel’s new Strategic Five Year Plan. It outlines our strategy for outreach: to create encouraging, connected, and accountable groups in our neighborhoods as a means of reaching out to our neighbors. We have looked at what we mean by encouraging. Now let’s look at being connected.

The term “connected” is a contemporary way of expressing the biblical concept of unity. Paul says it well in Ephesians 4, where Paul reminds us to be … diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as also you were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all who is over all and through all and in all. ( Eph 4:3b-6) God is one, and we should be one as well. Over the last year I have attended several seminars in small group community, and read a whole lot of books. Every single one addresses the issue of resolving conflicts. The fact is, when you get sinners together in close quarters, which is exactly what happens in a small group, we tend to rub each other the wrong way. We disagree, we take each other for granted. We offend without meaning to do so. It’s kind of like being in a family, where our love is tested and the quality of our Christianity is exposed.

Have you ever been in a class or group where someone talks too much and monopolizes the discussion? Or when people volunteer to help and then don’t show up? Ever have someone that takes everything you say the wrong way? Ever step on someone’s toes, and you know you need to ask forgiveness, but really don’t want to? Paul spends most of his Epistles instructing the body of Christ on how to stay connected, because our tendency is toward dis-unity. Our bent is toward not loving, not forgiving, not forbearing, and not encouraging. It’s our nature to get, not to give. That’s why the Bible talks about those things so much. That’s why there are so many “one another” passages in the New Testament, because growth takes work. Actually, growth in conflict is one of the primary ways God matures us in Christ. It is by working through conflicts that we discover the real power of the Holy Spirit. Although we don’t get into groups to get into fights, the irony is, the closer the group, the likelier the conflict, and the greater the opportunity to grow as we put truth and grace into practice.

So what’s that got to do with “being in the community?” If we need this in the church, how much more does the world need it outside the church? Our neighbors need it, and we are the only ones they may see who can not only preach this truth, but also demonstrate it as well.

CONNECT TO GROW, BEGIN TO SOW

As Christians, we are to be connected in unity. But there is an aspect of being “connected” that we often overlook, and that is forming intentional relationships with folks who do not yet know Jesus as we do. We not only need to be connected in unity, we also need to be connected in our community. We need to make intentional connections with our neighbors, our co-workers, and sometimes even our own family. These are people that God has placed in our path so that we can prove to them that Christianity is real.

I used to hate “witnessing.” To me it involved using insincere tactics to try and persuade someone to believe something they really didn’t want to believe. I would inevitably get into an argument, feeling like I was supposed to somehow convince someone that my religion was better than theirs. I often would parrot an apologetic I had memorized, a snappy comeback that sounded so good in the training. Unfortunately, that rarely worked in actually changing the person’s attitude toward God. I’m afraid it had the opposite effect.

Somewhere along the line, I have discovered that it’s better just to listen to people, and then respond in ways appropriate to their need. There have been times when it led to sharing the Four Spiritual Laws. More often though, it has led to a Bible story or a personal experience that describes something similar to their experience. As Randy Newman suggests in his book Questioning Evangelism, sometimes the best thing you can do is ask them questions – not to manipulate the conversation toward a spiritual decision, but to either find out more about them, or to help them see things from God’s point of view.

I especially appreciate the focus of our Five Year Strategic Plan regarding personal evangelism through the development of small groups. Too often we think of a study group that’s just for Christians. Why? I suppose that if all we ever talk about are Bible facts, in ways unrelated to real life, our pre-Christian friends and neighbors will find little to interest them. But if our Bible study always leads to application – especially in the areas of relationships, parenting, money, work, love and forgiveness – our neighbors just might answer “sure” when we invite them over. I assure you, they will ask questions that stimulate some lively discussion, and your faith will gain a freshness that you may have not tasted for a long time.

Page 4 of our Strategic Plan says “As members spend less time at Immanuel and more time in their community, it is our hope that they will be afforded the necessary time to build add ional relationships with non-believers. Those relationships may then become the context to effectively and boldly share the good news about Jesus Christ.” This is not to say that you shouldn’t be involved in your ABF, or any other ministry on-campus. What it is saying is that it’s time for us to branch out, building on what we have developed here on campus, and take that into our neighborhoods. I know of Kathy Holley, Megan Hamilton, and Joy Kelley, each with a group in their own neighborhood. They became connected with their pre-Christian neighbors, and now some are new-Christian neighbors.

Tony Dronkers, our small group director, came up with a great slogan for small groups. What do you think? Connect to grow… begin to sow! Kathy, Megan, and Joy have begun to prove it true, and theirs is an example that’s worth following.

CONNECTED TOGETHER IN A PERFECT FIT

I like to assemble jigsaw puzzles. Usually the only time I can work one to completion is when I go on a family vacation. But then…. the pieces come out and we sort them – sky over here, grass over there… Oh look! Here’s a corner! I suppose there are master puzzle assemblers who can do it without the box top. I can’t. I need a picture to let me know what the whole thing is supposed to look like.

The body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts; and though all its parts are many, they form one body. So it is with Christ. (1 Cor 12:12, NIV)

The church is like a jigsaw puzzle. All the members join to form one whole. There are some pieces that look like they ought to be part of this puzzle, but when all is completed, you find out they are from another box. Then there are pieces that don’t seem to fit at all, but surprisingly you discover they are the most important part of the smile that makes the whole face come together. And when it is done, nothing is missing, nothing is extra, and it all makes sense.

I learned a while ago that the Church is discrete. It began at Pentecost, and we here at Immanuel believe it will end with the Rapture of the Church. (Check out our Statement of Faith for more information.) That means God knows all the pieces that make up the whole. He knows exactly how many pieces there are, and He knows how they all fit together. The big piece is on the top, Christ Himself. Then we join together to create the rest – His arms, legs, hands and feet. But when people look at the completed work, they don’t say, “There is the nose. Look at those feet!” When it is all together, they don’t distinguish the head from the body. They see the person: Jesus Christ. We are that which carries the person of Christ into the world. If we are doing our job well, the world will not see individuals. They will see the Body of Christ. They will see Jesus.

Where do you fit in? That’s not always an easy question to answer. I have tried to put puzzles together by just looking at the piece. I observe its shape, the image on the front, and then see the holes in the puzzle that are left. Then I try and get it in the right place the first time. That rarely happens. Most of the time, the only way you know where it goes is to try it in different places. Sometimes it is a near fit. But then it forms a funny picture. You know you have it right when you get it right. It snaps right in.

We all fit in somewhere. We try and see which holes we plug the best. It helps to know ourselves. Am I a piece of the arm? How about an elbow? Or the fingernail on the left hand? Have you ever tried to do something when your fingernails were too short? It’s hard! Fingernails are important. Every piece is important. Every piece is necessary to present a complete and accurate picture of Christ.

Just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, 5so in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. (Rom 12:4-5, NIV)

So being connected in the body means: (1) Being sure you are in the picture (and you can know for sure (1 Jn 5:11-13)). (2) Discovering where you fit best, and (3) working with the other pieces to present to the world a stunning picture of Jesus Christ.

Because in that picture, every piece is a perfect fit.

THE “A” WORD

I hate alarm clocks. I never found one I liked - with one exception. Early in our marriage Lisa bought me an “Oscar the Grouch” alarm clock. Oscar (from Sesame Street) would pop out of his Trash Can and would yell, “Rrrring! Rrrring! It’s time to get up! It’s time to get up and have a LOUSY DAY!” And it would go on berating me until I turned the stupid thing off. That was a good alarm clock.

If I intend to get somewhere by a certain time, I need set up something to make sure it happens. So I set an alarm. I hate them, but they are good tools. They hold us in line. They remind us that we are accountable to a whole bunch of people and tasks and responsibilities and deadlines. We need things like that to keep us from sleeping through life, wandering off course, slipping our moorings and gliding with the cultural current.

About 10 or 15 years ago everyone was getting into “accountability groups.” We had groups of guys watching each other’s back, and holding up standards that were sometimes healthy, and sometimes artificial. After a while, there seemed to be a concern that Christians were becoming more accountable to each other than the Holy Spirit. Like many trends in modern Christianity, it passed on.

I think accountability is still a good word though. I reject the notion that a Christian can be a Lone Ranger; that all he or she needs is a Bible and God. Jesus intended that we live and grow and serve as a body, as a community of believers. We need one another. Most of us don’t need Oscar the Grouch, but we do need real, honest, friends.

At Immanuel, we are striving for encouraging, connected, and accountable community. The word “accountable” means to be answerable, to have someone to whom you must give an account. Ultimately, that person is Jesus Christ, who will judge us as Christians – not for salvation, but for stewardship. (1 Cor 3:10-15) I hate legalism, and the last thing I need is someone standing in the place of God for me. But I know that God is pleased when I grow, not by my self-righteous dead works, but by the power of His Spirit.

I think it is helpful to have a friend, a group, or a group leader to hold up a mirror and show how I am doing. It helps keep me accountable to God. I need some close and trusted friends to help me see my relationships with God, self, and others in an honest light. Sometimes they will hold up the Word of God to shine some truth on my situations. Over the long haul, they help me prepare myself so I am ready to give a good account to Jesus Christ.

That’s part of what we mean by accountable. It is intentionally setting up relationships with a few people who agree to hold up that mirror. We have tables in most ABF’s. That might be a good place to start in setting up those relationships. Having some close friends in your home or at the breakfast table in a local restaurant on a weekly basis is an even better way.

When I intend to get somewhere by a certain time, I set an alarm clock. I assume you are intending to get somewhere in your Christian life. What are you setting up to make sure you get there?

KEEP THE CORNERS CLEAN

5This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. 6If we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth. 7But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin. (1 Jn 1:5-7, NIV)

I have terrible eyesight. Without corrective contacts, and now reading glasses as well, I can’t see a thing. Without my contacts, I have to hold the newspaper so close it turns my nose black. Even worse, in poor light stuff just disappears. It comes in handy when Lisa says, “Didn’t you see those dirty socks in the corner? Why didn’t you pick them up?” I can truthfully reply, “What socks?”

We need light to see. Because God is light, He sees everything. John takes the metaphor of light and darkness and uses it to contrast living truthfully to skulking around in the dark. The fact is, we can’t be in the light of God’s fellowship and skulk around in sinful behavior. The two just don’t go together. Neither can we have any kind of real friendship with someone else, and never take the risk of transparency. We have to let some light into our dark corners, and allow folks we trust to see that stuff. As true friends, they don’t judge or condemn. Rather, they get involved and help us clean it up.

We talk about encouraging, connected, and accountable community. That means we want people in close enough relationships with one another so that the dark corners get dealt with. And by God’s grace and the ministry of the body, we want those corners to stay clean. Here are six questions to help shine light into the dark corners of our relationships:

1. Are there any unresolved tensions or conflicts? In our fallen condition, conflict is inevitable. The question is, what are we doing with it?

2. Are we spending adequate time together? Intimacy takes time!

3. Are we communicating openly and honestly? True fellowship is defined by our sharing of thoughts, concerns, feelings, plans, and motives.

4. Do we share the same vision? While we can intentionally get closer to anyone, our closest friendships require unity of direction.

5. Are we committed to this relationship? When conflict occurs, it is the cognitive love of commitment that keeps us pressing forward. Giving up leads to getting out.

6. Am I a high maintenance or low maintenance friend? When everything is all about me, I am high maintenance, and it drains my friend. Don’t wait for your friend to invest in caller ID, and start screening your calls. Pour into their life.

Accountability means keeping the corners clean in our own lives, so there are no barriers to fellowship. Accountability means looking into the corners of our relationships and removing the clutter that gums things up. Accountability means taking the initiative to do what is sometimes hard, but always necessary.

Accountability is just walking in the light.

THE GUARDRAILS OF ACCOUNTABILITY

Brothers, if someone is caught in a sin, you who are spiritual should restore him gently. But watch yourself, or you also may be tempted. 2Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ. (Gal 6:1-2, NIV)

I know a guy who fell asleep at the wheel. It’s a good thing he was in traffic, and the car needed an alignment and pulled to the right. He nodded off and before he knew it, he was scraping the right side of his car on the guardrails. He is awful glad for the guardrails, otherwise he would have landed in a creek below.

Being connected to the church body is like having guardrails along the path of your Christian walk. One connection point we often overlook is formal church membership. I think it is important. It is an intentional step that you take, agreeing to formally identify with the local body of Christ here at Immanuel. You learn of our history, and our future, and commit to join us as we carry out Christ’s great command to love one another, and great commission to make disciples as far as we can reach. You agree to serve (starting with the nursery!), and you agree to invest in Immanuel as your church home.

One more thing you are saying when you become a member is that you want others to hold you accountable, to help keep your walk with Christ straight. We all need that from time to time, because we all have missteps. If we are in intentional community, like an ABF, like a WOW, MOB or Precept group, like a small home group, we will have others around us. They are like guardrails on the roads of life. They keep us from going over the edge. Sometimes even that fails, and Immanuel believes in the discipline and restoration process described in Matthew 18:15-17, a formal process involving the elders of the church.

We emphasize restoration, because discipline is not the end, whether it is at the elder level, or as is more common, the every day “one another” level. There are times when someone’s load is too heavy. The devil and his sin-trap ensnare them, and now they are under it’s weight. This is when it is essential to be in a group, with a spiritual man or woman who is close enough to see it happening. They can step in and help free the sin-burdened person. It may take confrontation. It may take rebuke and admonishment, it is sure to take gentleness, humility, patience and all the other fruit of the Spirit (that’s what makes them spiritual!), but the result, when accomplished, brings glory to God by demonstrating the power of the Spirit over sin. It proves that the law of serving love is greater than the law of self-centered living (Gal 5:13-15).

I hate it when the them is me! It’s no fun to have a friend take me aside and correct my bad behavior, but I sure am glad I have a few guys who are willing to do it. I am blessed with a wife who will speak honestly to me when I need it. Living in accountable relationships is part and parcel of being in the body, because “we are all members of one body.” (Eph 4:25b, NIV)

Whether it is in a small group, an ABF or some other mid-sized group, or as formal members of Immanuel Bible Church, we are after encouraging, connected, and accountable community. It is the stuff that makes Immanuel a great place to worship, grow, serve, and sow.

LOCAL DELIVERY

Our mission at Immanuel Bible Church has not changed. It is still, building mature followers of Jesus Christ who seek Him constantly, serve Him faithfully, and share Him boldly .

That’s our way of expressing the Great Commandment: You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and the Great Commission: Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you . . .. When we do as we are told, we then obey Christ’s Second Commandment: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. (Matthew 22:37; 28:19-20)

I like to think of the programs we have on the Immanuel campus as ways to accomplish our mission. I call them “delivery vehicles.” They provide the means to get ministry from here to there, from the church to you, and from us to the world around us. The Sunday morning service delivers an opportunity for corporate worship, exposure to the Word of God which leads to more worship, and for instruction and encouragement to live holy lives. Middle sized groups like ABF’s, Reveille, Women of the Word, Men of the Bible, and Precept Bible studies add a fellowship component in the delivery of teaching and instruction. The Immanuel Bible Institute delivers training to equip you for ministry. I could go on and on, but the point is this: These ministries are not the end. They are the means to deliver the end. The end is the Great Commandment. The end is the Great Commission. The end is the Second Commandment.

When we look at delivery of ministry here at the corner of Backlick and Braddock, I think we do it very well. We have talked about the adjectives encouraging, connected, and accountable to describe our standard for community. We want to be intentional in building each other up through the truth of the Bible (encouraging), intentional in developing relationships with Christians and pre-Christians (connected), and intentional about making sure it happens (accountable). In our new Strategic Five Year Plan, the elders have decided that it is time to expand what we have here and deliver it to the neighborhoods around us. It is time for local delivery. The elders believe if we do that, we will improve our delivery of the Great Commission and the Second Commandment. If loving God means obeying Him, then we will improve our delivery of the Great Commandment as well. In our new Plan, we have identified small group ministry as the best way to achieve local delivery.

If you want to string our mission statement with the idea of local delivery, it might go like this: Building mature followers of Jesus Christ who seek Him constantly, serve Him faithfully, and share Him boldly through encouraging, connected, and accountable groups. The vision that takes us from Immanuel’s corner to our neighborhoods is training on the corner to reach the community for Christ. We want the campus to become an equipping center that fuels a revival in all our neighborhoods. Our capacity on the Immanuel campus is a few thousand. Our capacity with local delivery is hundreds of thousands.

Reaching hundreds of thousands! I think that is the idea Jesus had in the Great Commission. Is that your vision as well? I think with local delivery of Immanuel’s encouraging, connected, and accountable community, it just might happen.

Bob Hartman
Pastor for Adult Education