Serving the Community for the Sake of the Whole Gospel
June 1, 2009
It is our vision to plant churches that will faithfully proclaim the whole Gospel to the poor of Latin America. What is the "whole" Gospel? We believe that the dichotomy between proclamation and service that is evident in so much of Christian ministry is wrong. In many circles the Gospel has been split into one of social action or one of strictly proclamation. This is wrong, because each of these approaches only involve half of the true Gospel.
The Gospel is to be proclaimed and through that proclamation the Lord draws individual sinners to Himself. As God's word is preached people are saved and become new creations in Christ, but is this the end all of the Gospel? Is the Gospel's only purpose to provide a ticket to heaven that will be used at some future date? We don't think so. As people are saved and transformed by the power of the Gospel, they should begin to work as salt and light transforming their families, communities, and the world. This is the whole Gospel. A revolution against the fallen world order that begins with the individual and spreads throughout this fallen world, transforming it for the glory of Christ.
The group from Vila Nova serving at a local school.
This is why all of our church plants minister in their needy communities. For example, recently the church plant in Vila Nova served at a local elementary school. Along with another church in the city they offered a day of service. They held workshops on health, hygiene, arts and crafts, sports, and they did general maintenance on the school. They closed the day with an evangelistic service and also distributed literature on the Gospel. They did not serve in order to somehow manipulate an opportunity to proclaim the Gospel.
They served because they love the Lord and want to bring Him glory. Because they love the Lord, they genuinely care about the community and want to see it transformed. They want to see people's health and education improve. They want to encourage young people to stay in school and be trained so that, Lord willing, they will be able to find a job and break the cycle of poverty. They care about these things because they have personally been transformed by the power of the Gospel. It was perfectly natural that because they love the Lord and care for these people that they would proclaim the message of the Gospel and call them to respond with repentance of sin and faith in Christ. This is the whole Gospel in action and we proclaim it for the glory of the Lord.
To learn more about how our church plants are proclaiming the whole Gospel read our current newsletter.
It is our vision to plant churches that will faithfully proclaim the whole Gospel to the poor of Latin America. What is the "whole" Gospel? We believe that the dichotomy between proclamation and service that is evident in so much of Christian ministry is wrong. In many circles the Gospel has been split into one of social action or one of strictly proclamation. This is wrong, because each of these approaches only involve half of the true Gospel.
The Gospel is to be proclaimed and through that proclamation the Lord draws individual sinners to Himself. As God's word is preached people are saved and become new creations in Christ, but is this the end all of the Gospel? Is the Gospel's only purpose to provide a ticket to heaven that will be used at some future date? We don't think so. As people are saved and transformed by the power of the Gospel, they should begin to work as salt and light transforming their families, communities, and the world. This is the whole Gospel. A revolution against the fallen world order that begins with the individual and spreads throughout this fallen world, transforming it for the glory of Christ.
The group from Vila Nova serving at a local school.
This is why all of our church plants minister in their needy communities. For example, recently the church plant in Vila Nova served at a local elementary school. Along with another church in the city they offered a day of service. They held workshops on health, hygiene, arts and crafts, sports, and they did general maintenance on the school. They closed the day with an evangelistic service and also distributed literature on the Gospel. They did not serve in order to somehow manipulate an opportunity to proclaim the Gospel.
They served because they love the Lord and want to bring Him glory. Because they love the Lord, they genuinely care about the community and want to see it transformed. They want to see people's health and education improve. They want to encourage young people to stay in school and be trained so that, Lord willing, they will be able to find a job and break the cycle of poverty. They care about these things because they have personally been transformed by the power of the Gospel. It was perfectly natural that because they love the Lord and care for these people that they would proclaim the message of the Gospel and call them to respond with repentance of sin and faith in Christ. This is the whole Gospel in action and we proclaim it for the glory of the Lord.
To learn more about how our church plants are proclaiming the whole Gospel read our current newsletter.
Posted by Patrick at 6/1/2009 9:49 AM 
Categories: Newsletter
Tags: whole Gospel world missions Brazil school ministry world hunger church planting Living Bread poverty world poverty feeding ministry
Categories: Newsletter
Tags: whole Gospel world missions Brazil school ministry world hunger church planting Living Bread poverty world poverty feeding ministry
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