At our church (CPC) we’ve been in a great season of exploring how Jesus stepped outside the lines of his culture in order to love others well. It has been a rich and challenging study, so I thought I’d share some quotes, questions, and resources that have been stretching and helpful.
First, we’ve been reading and discussing Jesus Outside the Lines by Scott Sauls. I highly recommend it if you haven’t read it!
Along those same lines, I found this video the other day, through Northpoint, and thought it was terrifically helpful!
004_Engaging Culture from Starting Point on Vimeo.
Additionally, my small group is reading Braving the Wilderness which we have found incredibly relevant in our current divisive culture. Here’s one of my takeaways. We need to step into relationship with those who are different from us with:
So, one of our challenges to each other is to seek out a conversation with someone who you think has a different viewpoint than yours. Wanna join us? Let me know how it goes!
Then, Sunday night we had Rob Vischer, a Christian law school professor, come and pose some questions and facilitate discussion on crossing the racial, economic, religious, and political divides that separate us. One of the most convicting questions he said we need to ask ourselves is:
“What is my primary objective – being right, or building a relationship?”
Lastly, this week we are taking a Matthew 25 challenge together as a faith community. This exercise was designed by World Vision to help us identify with those Jesus prioritized – the hungry, imprisoned, naked, thirsty, sick… You can sign up here! World Vision sends you texts and videos that make the experience even more meaningful.
I couldn’t stop thinking about one of our sponsored children when I wore the same clothes two days in a row. When she was 3 years old we brought her a dress when we were in Zambia on a visit. She was wearing that same dress in every picture for the next 2 years.
I did pretty well til the “Sleep on the floor” challenge! After praying for every hurting person, country, refugee camp I could think of and still not getting to sleep, I crawled into bed and thanked God I had the choice. John gutted it out and here’s what he brought to work.
The overwhelming impact of this week has been awareness of how many choices we have and how seldom I follow Jesus outside the lines. Anyone relate?
