A Church Planting Motto

I have spent much of the afternoon lying on Joe's sister's bed "recovering" from a wild bachlorette party for Joe's mom (for me the recovering was just in staying up way too late!) and recovering from a sinus infection and finishing What's So Amazing about Grace? Each chapter I read seems to get better and to offer more insight to me. There were two things that really stuck out to me in the 19th chapter. There is one part that talks about how Joseph Stalin tried to set up a village in Poland in order to try to show the promise of communism, (the description of this little set up reminded me of the Pegasus model). He knew he could not change the entire country at once so he started small. Yancey went on to compare this to how Christians should use the same approach in a secular society. "Perhaps Christians should work harder toward establishing colonies of the kingdom that point to our true home. All too often the church holds up a mirror reflecting back the society around it rather than a window revealing a different way." I love this next part, I shared it with Joe and we both saw so much truth in it yet didn't see it as something that the church consistently does. " If the world despises a notorious sinner, the church will love her. If the world cuts off aid to the poor and the suffering, the church will offer food and healing. If the world oppresses, the church will raise up the oppressed. If the world shames a social outcast, the church will proclaim God's reconciling love. If the world seeks profit and self-fulfillment, the church seeks sacrifice and service. If the world demands retribution, the church dispenses grace. If the world splinters into factions, the church joins together in unity. If the world destroys its enemies, the church loves them." Isn't that what a church should look like? Isn't that what our aim should be not only right now, but in the possibility of starting a new church? What if these really were our goals...It's interesting that you can replace the word "church" in that statement with "Jesus"... No matter what stronghold we are facing or no matter which battle we feel like we are fighting, our focus should be on one thing, Jesus, and to be like Him we will see that our hearts will be compelled to help and to love, not to judge, condemn, or to push our agenda. In reading this I couldn't help but imagine what our potential group could look like if our focus was to do nothing but love others the way that Jesus loved them. It sounds so simple, but if we really carried this out I don't think it would be simple, but I do think it would be life-changing. Jesus loved in such a radical way. I read that list of things that the church should be doing and I am guilty of not carrying out many of these things. I am guilty of judging and condemning instead of loving for and praying for and actually helping. I was thinking how that would be such a cool foundation to start a church on...And then I realized hello!...This is straight from the Gospel! You can read through the account of Jesus' life and find scripture after scripture to support this description of what the church should be doing! Essentially this is and should be the church that shows the love of Christ to the world...Are we ready to step up to that challenge?

(The second thing that stood out to me will come later...this first point got a little long!!)