Hello everyone,
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It's great to have received so many emails in reply to my second prayer letter. If you are reading this and have not seen that yet - please leave your email address in a comment and I'll forward it on to you.
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This past week (Monday 4th-Sunday 10th) has been crazy. Orientation at CYMT (The Center for Youth Ministry) started on Monday and Tuesday. Then on Wednesday we had a Rookie Retreat at Lakeshore UMC Assembly near Kentucky Lake. The second year students joined us freshers on Thursday and we packed up and left on Friday. On Saturday I wrote out my first assignment and Sunday I was introduced to the Youth at BUMC (Brentwood). Also, this evening both Mack and myself drove down to Spring Hill to have a look around and go to a 6.15pm service at Grace Park Baptist, a 3 year old church in the area. The population in this part of Tennessee has increased from 980 in 1980 to 7,000 in 2000 and today it is nearer 24,000.
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The title of this blog comes from the morning service at BUMC. It was a call to the church of today to rise up and be counted in mission and outreach to a fallen world. Let us not hold the truth of the gospel of grace inside our four walls, but instead let us burst out, over-flow with love and generousity into a world that is the complete opposite. The thing that I am begining to appreciate about Youth Ministry is the openness to radical change and the boldness to do difficult things. But, this call is not just for teenagers, it is for the whole body of Christ. I met an American lady yesterday in Spring Hill, she had never been to Europe let alone anywhere in the UK, but she told me that she has been praying for revival in Ireland and Scotland for many years. She wanted me to tell her what the church in those places was like. What are Christians in Ireland and Scotland doing? What does the church look like? What impact is it making to the surrounding society and the culture in which it is embedded? What would you have told her...
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Let's take this incredible, uncontainable hope outside! The souls of our family-members, friends and neighbours are at stake - do we truly believe that God has entrusted to us the responsibility of communicating his Lordship and sovereignity in this world? Let's rise up!
2 comments:
And she's off to a great start of her race in America! I like your post Emma. It is about taking Him outside. I have heard the phrase "holy huddle" meaning that the church is wrapped up in itself not those outside the circle. A few years ago the Lord said to me," the circle is not big enough."
Take Me outside...that is what Jesus said. Acts 1:8
you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth."
I know BUMC is going to be inspired by your deep love of the Lord. Don't hold back and try to fit in. You are to be a fresh wind blowing across the land. B His Girl in America.
Barbara
NIV
Isn't it great how God constantly challenges us to widen our horizons for him. To see the need for his saving grace in our schools, hospitals, places of work and in our own homes. God has placed a burden with me to see others come to know Him through the saving grace of His Son, Jesus. Not just the young or the old or the in betweens but all of the human race. Please pray for our church as we plan a 12 hour prayer room and vigil focusing on God's world and the wonders of His creation and how we mankind have destroyed the world because of sin. we have caused wars, death, famine, disease, injustice etc. this is planned for Tuesday 9th September 2008 from 10am to 10pm. It is my prayer that our church will come really alive for Christ and his calling and reach out into the community in which we live and work. I know God wants this because he wants people reconciled to him.
keep up the good work Emma! Read Romans 8: 28-39
God Bless
Nigel
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