Face the challenge – and seize the opportunity. How?

Hold together attractional and missional

Both/and

Come and see and Go and share church

From the outside in AND Equip to go from the inside out.

Because we want to see the multitudes around us saved!

COME AND SEE

This isn’t new and invented by Willow Creek!

It’s in the OT. Isaiah 2. The mountain of the Lord that many peoples come to it! Direction there = outside in. Temple, tabernacle.

Jesus, the Word became flesh – tabernacle among us. So – ‘Come and see’ is there in the gospel. Jesus is the living temple.

Acts 2, and 11. Multitudes converted to the new temple – US! Living stones.

We have to rediscover the wonder of gathering as God’s people and increase our expectation of what can happen when people ‘come and see’ a church alive! Full of the presence of the living God in the gathering. This needs INVITATION. Someone bold enough to say ‘Come and see.’

We want to be part of God building something that people come and see.

Pregnant with the reality that Jesus is the answer to everybody’s need.

If you don’t love the place you’re in you’ll never reach the people in it.

You don’t have to wait to have a great big building to have Jesus in the midst of you in an amazing way for God to use you.

The gospel is for everyone, and if people come into our midst and we are ‘Spirit filled but sane’ – in tension, many thousands will come to Jesus in our meetings.

But what about those we are not reaching by bring them in/ come and see? How do we reach them? How can we turn the church inside out?

 

GO AND SHARE

Increase the volume on that. Ezek 47. The river of God starts from the Temple but flows down and out into the desert to the Dead Sea, where a miracle of desalination takes place and there is death to life. The Great Commission is GO – an outward call. Ultimately this is fulfilled in Revelation but NOW, we are to take what God has given us and take it OUT.

Encouraging all our people to go out through our;

LIVES – in every sphere. (Most people’s lives are not centred around the church! Validate them for where they are doing God’s ministry as life givers and kingdom ambassadors 24/7) encourage them to be always on mission. Ezek 47:9 ‘wherever the river flows, life will flourish.’ The gospel goes out, to…

HELP AND HEAL

Vs 12 – their fruit will serve for food and their leaves for healing.

Jesus went around ‘doing good and healing all who were oppressed of the devil.’ Practically serve people! Demonstrate love with action eg CAP. Community projects. Food banks etc. And praying for the sick.

That’s all great but we must not stop there.

GO AND TELL

Speak the Good news!

The church at Antioch – we must rediscover passion for the good news. Everyone needs the gospel, now and for eternity.

Vs 9-10 All kinds of fish – fishermen getting busy!

That’s our call. Fishers of men and women. We must empower our people to be on the front foot of mission.

Mk 16:16 (Message)

We have to be bolder than ever before to go and get out there where everyone gets to hear. When we go out and reach people, God has the power to change people!

If it was your child, drowning – wouldn’t you dive in? would you worry what others think? If we really believe there is a heaven and hell and that lost does not just mean an absence of peace now but an eternally wrong destination, what will we do? Won’t we use everything we have at our disposal to the best we possibly can and equip and send everyone to go and share the wonder of being saved.

Be BOTH/AND

Come and see

And

GO and tell!