This week, New Foundation Church launched a winter gear drive to help families in our community who cannot afford coats, hats, gloves, boots, and snowpants, and already (as of Thursday morning), we have received four bags filled with coats. Over the This is a tangible way that we can share the love of Jesus with people, and it marks a critical milestone in our relaunch effort. Namely, our focus is turning away from acquiring the gear and setting the routines to be reestablished as a church toward the outward community focus which has for years been characteristic of the congregation.
As we pass this milestone, we must understand that a true outward community focus requires more than just one or two events that we do during the course of the year. Outreach must be our way of life. But what does that look like?
At the end of Acts 2, we read that the church enjoyed the favor of all the people and the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved. As we discussed last week, this was not the explosive growth recorded earlier in Acts 2 at Pentecost. Rather, God provided a slow, steady growth over time. This is important. Adding people to the church is God’s purview. However, the way this sentence is structured, the church’s favor with all the people was a prerequisite of his strategy. We must, therefore, ask how the church was able to inspire goodwill among the people, especially since Christians were despised by the religious and political establishments of the day.
The answer is provided in Acts 3. There, we read of Peter and John going up to the temple and meeting a man who was born unable to walk. In a world without wheelchairs or any other assistive devices, the only option for this man was to become a beggar at the temple gate. Thus, as the apostles approached the temple, the man asked for money. Instead of money, though, Peter and John healed the man, and he jumped up and began to praise the Lord. The commotion drew a crowd, and Peter was then able to address the people. And by the end of the day, the Lord added to their number because people listened to and believed the men who healed the man.
One of the reasons the church of North America has seen such tremendous decline over the last several decades is because too many Christians skip straight to addressing the people. There are more Christian sermons, articles, books, and broadcasts available today than ever before, but instead of doing the hard work of healing people of the things that hold them back in life, churches erect spectacular buildings and hold amazing concerts. Now, some of those things will draw a crowd for a time. Yet, people leave them still unhealed, and consequently, the number of people listening grows smaller each year.
At New Foundation Church, we must go out into the world and offer healing. That is, we must address the real problems that hold people back, whether it be hunger, thirst, loneliness, nakedness, sickness, or bondage. Then, when people wonder how and why we do these things, we must tell them about Jesus. And when we minister in this way, the Lord will add to our numbers daily those who are being saved.