Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” [John 4:13-14]
I’m no expert, but I recently did some research on lawn irrigation systems. (i.e. lawn sprinklers) It may be an obvious principle, but to effectively irrigate a lawn, a homeowner needs to distribute water to every area of the lawn. Seems simple, right?
The reality is that each sprinkler has a limited range, and cannot reach every area. With only one sprinkler, we will end up with beautiful, lush grass in one area; but the rest of the yard will be brown and dead in no time.
As a result, its essential to install multiple spigots in a pattern that sufficiently covers the lawn. It’s not the most complicated principle, but I share this because there is a similar reality when it comes to church impact and effectiveness.
Each church has a limited reach. Even the most effective and vibrant churches have a limited reach based on a number of factors [i.e. people, geography, etc.] Even with a lot of people and resources, they can only reach so far from one location before issues of distance, culture, etc. become a limiting factor.
That’s why intentionally seeking to multiply believers, leaders and churches is so important!
If we are going to follow Jesus, we will obey what he commands, which means we will seek to fulfill the Great Commission. [ref. Matthew 28:18- 20] In order to do that, we must work to intentionally multiply believers, leaders and churches.
That being said…What is one thing you can do or start doing this weekend to move towards a lifestyle of multiplication?
- Regularly pray for a friend or neighbor who doesn’t know Jesus
- Give financially above and beyond a tithe to support the work of multiplication
- Invite a family from the neighborhood to dinner
- Initiate a spiritual conversation with a friend or co-worker
- Perform a random act of kindness
- Support a new church plant or planter in process
“If you love me, you will obey what I command.” – Jesus, John 14:15
We were able to do another blanket distribution in January. This time we were joined by a gentleman from the community that we met at the first distribution. We were glad to have him helping us. We also received a call from a lady from the community. She had a box of items she was wanting to bring to us for the distribution. As she dropped them off another lady entered the YMCA, who was on the phone and was quite distressed. We found out that she had just received word that her neighbors house had burnt to the ground. We were able to give her a whole box of items that the other lady had dropped off. The box contained sheets and different kinds of bedding items. God had it all planned out before we even got there. We gave away over 50 more blankets along with hats and gloves.
January is not an easy month to get out in your community and meet people, but God has helped us find some creative ways to do just that. One way has been the wind shield washer fluid top off. Our volunteers were out on three different Saturdays at several gas stations around our community filling peoples wind shield washer fluid for FREE which ended up being the question of the day, "You mean it's really FREE!?". Our answer was yes! This act of kindness not only allowed us to be a blessing to many people in our community, but it also gave us a chance to promote our new church plant.
Posts
