So that Compassion blogging indie rocker Shaun Groves has a sarcastic little blog post about how church leaders in the developing world don’t get it. They’re doing goofy things like feeding the poor, job training and education (“stuff we Christians in America are savvy enough to get politicians and nonprofits to do for us”) and even filling up their church buildings on non-Sundays. That’s crazy.
It’s striking nerves and spreading across Twitter. So Groves followed up with a question: “Now what will you do about it?” He’s gathering responses and plans to share them next week.
I love the idea of churches being more than Sunday and churches doing more than a church service. We should be doing service, not just sitting through a service. How can your church begin to follow the example of leaders in the developing world (or how are you already doing it)?
Jill Nelson
May 15, 2009
This year our seniors in high school did their mission trip in our town, instead of going on a trip. Our pastor wanted them to see how they can do service within their community instead of thinking you have to travel. They did work projects for our single moms, fed the homeless and led them in a Bible study, and took opportunities to share their faith with their friends.
Their week long project spurred on a new event our church has started called, “Second Saturday of Service.” Once a month, people from our church will do projects around our own site, projects for our single moms, do a Bible study at a near by homeless camp, and go through our neighborhoods offering to pray for people or help them with areas of need. It was great this month to see how many people participated, as well as the fruit we’re already seeing from it!
Michael Buckingham
May 16, 2009
I love that Jill, we should see that more often. I’m all about a proportionate value of local (meaning your neighbor) and global missions.
Why do we fell like we need to fly to Africa? I’d propose because that’s actually easier than driving up the road. Not that we shouldn’t be in Africa because we should but we should also be in Flint, MI.
The bible gives us some instruction, and we too often skip the first step.
Step 1: Be in the world.
Step 2: Don’t be of the world.
Yeni Diziler
March 5, 2010
I love that Jill, we should see that more often. I’m all about a proportionate value of local (meaning your neighbor) and global missions.