Discover
A truck driver was hauling a load of 50 penguins to the zoo. Unfortunately, his truck broke down. He eventually waved down another truck and offered the driver $500 to take the penguins to the zoo. The next day the first truck driver got his truck fixed and drove into town and couldn’t believe his eyes! Just ahead of him he saw the second truck driver crossing the road with the 50 penguins waddling single file behind him. He jumped out of his truck, ran up to the guy and said, “What’s going on? I gave you $500 to take these penguins to the zoo!” The man responded, “I did take them to the zoo. But I had enough money left over so now we’re going to the movies.” That guy didn’t fully understand what he was supposed to be doing. Likewise, many believers today are fuzzy about what it means to be the church and the body of Christ or even what it means to be a follower of Jesus. We need to learn these things anew as we are about “Connecting diverse communities to a lifestyle devoted to Jesus.”
Today we’re looking at the strategy “Discover”. At the heart of Christianity is the invitation to discover something new. God is an inviting God and wants each of us not only to know him but to discover life in Him and the body of Christ at its fullest. To discover means to uncover or to explore a new thing. God calls us to do just that! Psalm 66:5: “Come and see what God has done, how awesome his works in man’s behalf!” It’s our calling too. Philip said to Nathaniel in Luke 1:46 in response to his skepticism about Jesus: “Come and see.” In John 4:29, the Samaritan woman is so moved by Jesus that she runs to tell others and makes this invitation: “Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Christ?” Time and again, people are invited to come discover who Jesus is and what living for Jesus is really about.
Many times we need to discover a new thing in something we’ve done all our life. The problem is that many of us learned that at one time in our lives but over time we have lost that power, that excitement, that move of the Spirit and that vibrant relationship with Jesus. Many of us are just going through the motions because we’ve always done it that way. But one thing that I’ve learned from weight lifting is that when you start a new routine with new exercises it first shocks the body and starts its to grow. But after 6-8 weeks, the body starts adjust and you reach a point of diminishing returns. Before long, the body stops growing. The only way to get growing again is to change what you’re doing. Many times we need to discover a new thing in something we’ve done all our life for growth.
The same is true for a lot of us. We’ve been Christians all our life but many of us are either plateaued or stagnant. And now God has implanted a new vision in the life of this church and it’s unlike anything we have ever seen or experienced in our Christian walk. We can’t just open our doors and expect that people of different backgrounds, cultures and life experiences will be attracted to our way of being the church and our way of doing church: our music, our language and our culture. We can’t keep doing the same things we have always done and reach different people. We have to learn a new way to be the church. And that’s going to ask a lot of us. Mosaix video “Once you’re focused be ready to work hard. Plan to be uncomfortable. Hang onto your hat, it’s a wild ride. So much of what I thought I knew, God just took a jackhammer to it…..If there’s one piece of advice that I could offer to anybody who’s just starting on this path, it would simply be: to stay broken. Being uncomfortable to some degree is a good thing because the church has not been formulated for me, it’s been formulated for Him, for Christ. Swallow our pride, give up our preferences, consider others more important than ourselves.” Becoming a multi ethnic church is outside our comfort zone and unlike anything we’ve ever done before. So we need to learn how to be the church anew.
We must be willing to discover and learn to be the church in a new way. That’s why the Vision Team felt it was so critical to have as part of our strategy, “Discover” so that people, those new to us and even those who have been a part of the church all of their life, can come and learn a new way of what it means to be the body of Christ and doing ministry in a multi-ethnic context. So one step in our Discover Strategy is going to be a class to learn the principles of what it means to do ministry in a multi ethnic context.
You have another opportunity to discover what it means to be a part of a multi ethnic church. On Friday, Aug. 28 at 7 PM and Saturday, Aug. 29, 9-3 PM, Gretna UMC is partnering with Mosaix to host a regional Mosaic Conference on multi ethnic ministry. “Mosaix is a growing movement of believers and congregations seeking to know God and to make Him known through the establishment of multi-ethnic churches throughout North America and beyond. Their mission is to enlist, equip and establish both vocational and volunteer leaders whose passion is to develop diverse congregations of Christ-centered faith in the 21st century for the sake of the gospel.” In this event, you will be immersed in the principles and what it means to become and be a multi ethnic Church. Our Speaker is Pastor Rodney Woo. Rodney has been the pastor of Wilcrest Baptist Church for the last 17 years, an all-Anglo declining congregation in a transitional neighborhood into a multi-ethnic congregation that is more than 65% non-whites and with over 44 different countries represented. Over the last 5 years, Wilcrest has sent approximately 200 members across international lines on mission trip. The church also has 20 members who are now in training at both the university or seminary level for multiracial ministry and missions and has helped in the planting of several churches, including currently supporting a multiracial church plant in Houston. I want to ask you all to make the time and attend this very important Conference. It’s a time for us all to learn and to get on the same page. Your cost is free except for lunch on Saturday.
But it’s more than just learning about multi-ethnic ministry and what it means to be a part of a multi ethnic church. When Jesus called people to come and see and discover, it was about discovering life in God at its fullest. Spiritual growth involved three things: relationship, knowledge and service. We’ll talk about the relationship portion of our strategy next week. But one of things we need to spark our spiritual growth is to know how to grow. That’s the other component of Discover.
In the New Testament, the Christian life is compared to a race, a boxing match, a wrestling match and a spiritual battle. Any athlete which seeks to excel in their sport knows that it involves a high commitment to constant training and a healthy diet. Paul uses these analogies because the same is true in the spiritual journey. Spiritual training is vital to a healthy and successful Christian life. Discover classes are not just about learning but about feeding the soul and equipping the follower of Jesus with the knowledge, understanding, skills and practices to live a life devoted to Jesus. Discover classes are not just about learning how to follow Jesus but also to learn how to instill the practices and habits of Jesus in people’s lives. What we become is determined by what we are committed to. Thus, Discover classes seek to deepen the commitment of each believer to become more like Jesus in every aspect of their lives. There are four steps to our Discover strategy.
First is Discover Membership In Discover Membership, attendees will learn about God’s vision for Gretna United Methodist Church, what we believe as United Methodists, how we operate and the history of our church. Attendees will also learn what it means to be a part of a multi-ethnic congregation as we seek to grow in unity and mission together. By the end of the class, you will have a clear understanding of what it means to be committed to Christ through the body of Christ known as Gretna UMC.
Second is Discover Spiritual Maturity “Therefore let us leave the elementary teachings about Christ and go on to maturity…and of faith in God.” Hebrews 6:1. We are called to continually grow in our faith. The spiritual journey and growth in one’s faith and relationship is both a corporate and an individual endeavor. We believe we come to learn, worship, serve and fellowship in the Body of Christ but that foundation is so that we can continue to grow in our faith individually through the ancient spiritual disciplines of the Church. Philippians 2:11-12 says, “Continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose.” In Discover Spiritual Maturity, attendees will begin to learn some of the basic spiritual disciplines of the Christian life: reading, understanding and applying God’s word in your life, prayer, fasting, tithing and growing through Sunday School/small group Bible studies and how they can be incorporated into one’s daily journey and relationship with Christ leading to a deeper connection to Jesus.
Fourth is Discover Engaging through Ministry Service. “Now about spiritual gifts, brothers, I do not want you to be ignorant… There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit. There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. There are different kinds of working, but the same God works all of them in all men. Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good.” 1 Corinthians 12:1, 4-7 In Discover Engaging through Ministry Service, you will identify your heart’s passion (where God is calling you to serve), your spiritual gifts (what God is calling you to do) and your personal style (how God is calling you to serve). You will then be guided to choose a ministry which can employ your passion, gifts and personal style.
Fourth is Discover a Connecting Lifestyle. Jesus’ last command was: “Therefore go (or a better translations is: as you are going), make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.” Matthew 29:18-20 So Jesus is not calling us to go explicitly to evangelize but rather as we are going about our daily lives, be intentional about evangelizing. And that means connecting to people relationally and spiritually. So we are called to a connecting lifestyle as we live our lives whether at work, at home, at school, at our children’s extracurricular events or in the community. But what does that look like? How is that lived out? In Discover a Connecting Lifestyle, you will learn how to identify, pray for, invest in, and connect to and nurture your relationships with your unchurched friends, family, neighbors, and co-workers in your life. You will also learn how to share your own personal faith story in a very natural, non-threatening way.
There is a story about a father who became disturbed about the length of time his six year old son was taking to get home from school. The father decided he would make the trip to discover for himself how long it should take a small boy to cover the distance. The father settled on 20 minutes but his son was still taking an hour. Finally the father decided to make the trip with his son. After the trip, the father said, "The 20 minutes I thought reasonable was right, but I failed to consider such important things as a side trip to track down a trail of ants...or an educational stop to watch a man fix a flat...or the time it took to swing around a half dozen telephone poles...or how much time it took for a boy just to get acquainted with two stray dogs and brown cat. "In short," said the father, "I had forgotten what it is really like to be six years old." Many of us have forgotten what it was like to be a new Christian, to really follow Jesus and be on fire for the Gospel. The Discover Strategy is meant to help us do just that.
