Good News

What's Your Mission?

The new school year has begun and if I hear my daughter who is a senior, taking an advanced placement course in economics, say one more time…I have no idea what I am doing… I think I am going to scream! And this is only the third week into the school year! I feel for her because it must be frustrating to sit in class every day, listening closely to the teacher, processing new concepts and then, come home and attempt to complete homework you really do not understand because you are totally lost.

I just finished a day long meeting with pastors and leaders from across the country to dialogue about the future of evangelism for the Covenant Church. It was engaging, energizing and exciting as we dreamed about how to call people in our churches back to what we were meant to do as Christians…share the message that Jesus saves, heals, proclaims good news to the poor, sets the prisoner and oppressed free and brings us back to God again.

One of the pastors said, “We need to ask ourselves the question, have I responded to the mission of Jesus?” The problem is we have forgotten or are confused or are misinformed about what that mission is.

Perhaps we have been a long time church member, attended Bible studies or small groups, sang in the choir, served as chairs of important church committees and ushered on Sunday mornings. We have somehow come to believe this is what Christians do. No wonder we are frustrated, grumbling and joyless.   We have no idea what we are supposed to be doing!.

Let me be clear…there is only one mission of God not many missions. The mission of God is to seek and to save lost people. We are called as Christians to participate in that mission by being faithful witnesses in our every day lives to the work of God in the world. Evangelism is God’s work. God is the one drawing people (John 6:44) to himself and we cooperate with the Holy Spirit and others to proclaim and demonstrate the Gospel to those who do not believe.

Therefore, this means we are called to be in the world rubbing shoulders with our neighbors, friends and co-workers and anyone else God brings into our lives. God’s mission is our mission.

We should not be confused and act like we have no idea what we are supposed to be doing. We have a call and have been given the ministry of reconciliation (2 Cor. 5:18). It is time for us to stop being concerned about so many things…only one thing matters…that all may know Jesus is Lord.

Lisa Orris

My name is Lisa Orris. I am new blogger so you will have to bear with me but am excited to get connected with people in this new mode of communication. I thought it would be great to start by telling you a little bit about myself.

I grew up in a very nominal Christian home. Church was something we did on Sundays because we were supposed to – it was tradition. However, on a daily basis it never really impacted our lives. I began to search for something more. I knew there had to be more than just stand up, sit down and recite a few memorized prayers. But what was “it” and how did I get “it”? A few friends of mine talked to me about what it meant to know Jesus in a real way that could actually make a difference in my life. The summer going to my senior year in high school, I prayed and gave me life to Jesus…making a commitment to follow Him totally and completely. It changed me forever.

I am sure this is why I am so passionate about people who do not know Jesus yet. If it weren’t for my friends who loved me and took time to share with me about who Jesus really was and that he just didn’t exist on a wall in a church building, I am not sure where I would be today.

These were friends… people who I played sports with, ate dinner with, went out to movies with and genuinely liked being around. They were gentle, kind, loving and caring. They did not fit the stereotypical caricature of people “doing” evangelism. They were not pushy, rude, arrogant or judgmental. They were just my friends who really cared about me. I think this is why I was willing to listen to what they had to say about God. I trusted them. I knew they were out for my good and would always be truthful. They were not “doing” anything to me. They were just interested in me as a person.

So often when it comes to evangelism we think it is something we “do” to people. It is like we have been told we have a mission to conquer people and win them for Christ. Just think about that language for a minute…doesn’t it sound scary? Perhaps this is why evangelism has gotten a bad rap in the last few decades. We have gotten so caught up in our conquests for Jesus that we have missed the importance of putting the relationship first and allowing the Holy Spirit to do the work of evangelism.

We have complicated evangelism to the point of being afraid that we are going to say something wrong and therefore, we fear rejection. Furthermore, we have beaten ourselves up with embarrassment and guilt because we did not win enough people for the Lord. Since when did the work of evangelism become a human activity?

My friends’ love for me was so obvious, there was no way they could have ever said anything wrong! They liked me for me and hung out with me because of who I was. This kind of love is ultimately what lead to me to Jesus.

Evangelism is not complicated or scary. It is about loving people where they are at, accepting all of their shortcomings and weaknesses and being friends with them because we genuinely like their company. Anything short of that and people will know that you are just trying to sell them Jesus but you really don’t care about them.