{"id":700,"date":"2009-06-25T17:16:40","date_gmt":"2009-06-25T17:16:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/?p=700"},"modified":"2010-12-22T12:52:31","modified_gmt":"2010-12-22T17:52:31","slug":"7141","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/2009\/06\/25\/7141\/","title":{"rendered":"Body of Christ at Its Best When Loving the Unlovable"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Stan Friedman<\/p>\n

PORTLAND, OR (June 25, 2009) \u2013 On a night that focused on \u201cthe beauty of the new birth,\u201d preacher Dave Gibbons told the gathering at the opening worship service of the Evangelical Covenant Church\u2019s 124th Annual Meeting that the body of Christ is most beautiful when it loves the unlovable.
\n
\nThe service also highlighted the commissioning of new missionaries, with the traditional procession of the flags representing countries where Covenant missionaries serve opening the service. Click here<\/a> to read a related story. To see additional photos, click here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"Gibbons\"\u201cConsider how do we as a church look beautiful to the world,\u201d Gibbons said. \u201cDo we look beautiful? Are we really that beautiful bride? Or are we that type of ordinary, normal type of organization that may be like any organization that is helping people?\u201d<\/p>\n

Gibbons is helping to pioneer new ministries as well as new approaches to ministry. He is the founding pastor of Newsong Community Church, a multisite Covenant, international third-culture church. He serves on the board of World Vision U.S. and has founded YangDang.com<\/a>, a new online social tool that helps match donors with causes.<\/p>\n

Gibbons also is the author of The Monkey and the Fish: Liquid Leadership for Third Culture Leaders<\/em>, and a contributing author to Unchristian: What a New Generation Really Thinks About Christianity…And Why it Matters<\/em>.<\/p>\n

There are no ready-made, specific beauty secrets for each church, Gibbons said. There, are however, three questions each congregation should ask.<\/p>\n

Holding up his open hand, Gibbons asked, \u201cWhat is in my hand?\u201d Too often, the church looks at what it lacks when trying to figure out how to reach the world, he explained.<\/p>\n

But, he added, \u201cMost people can\u2019t relate to your strengths, but they can relate to your weaknesses.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gibbons also asked people to consider who are the people on the fringes in their communities\u2014\u201cOr can anything good come out of Nazareth?\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Flags\"The question also needs to be asked with a servant\u2019s heart, he said.\u00a0 \u201cWe\u2019ve pimped the second commandment,\u201d Gibbons stated. \u201cWe\u2019ve used it for our own gain. How we\u2019ve defined neighbor is \u2018someone like us.\u2019 \u201d<\/p>\n

But the gospel calls us to define the neighbor as someone who is not like us, or the people we don\u2019t want to be around, or to forgive, Gibbons said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you focus on the unlovable, the world will take note,\u201d he declared.<\/p>\n

Finally, he said, churches and individuals should ask, \u201cWhat is my pain?\u201d<\/p>\n

He closed by sharing how members of his church who served in Iraq testified about hating a dust storm that had stalled their troop movement. The storm was so bad, that the soldiers could not see anything in front of them.<\/p>\n

However, when the storm died down, the soldiers saw that the winds had blown away a layer of sand that had covered over a minefield.<\/p>\n

Had it not been for the storm, the troops would have continued on a path that would have led to their possible death.<\/p>\n

Report This Post<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

PORTLAND, OR (June 25, 2009) \u2013 On a night that focused on \u201cthe beauty of the new birth,\u201d preacher Dave Gibbons told the gathering at the opening worship service of the Evangelical Covenant Church\u2019s 124th Annual Meeting that the body of Christ is most beautiful when it loves the unlovable.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-700","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nBody of Christ at Its Best When Loving the Unlovable - Covenant Newswire Archives<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/2009\/06\/25\/7141\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Body of Christ at Its Best When Loving the Unlovable - 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