Last week we began looking at how we can fulfill our mission. That newsletter focused on the topic of loving God. This week we pick back up with loving people and passing it on. While loving people is rooted in God’s love for humanity, it is also about recognizing the fingerprint of God on every person. The Apostle John asked the question, if you cannot love your brother whom you can see, then how can you love God whom you cannot see? Every person is created in the image of God, and therefore every person deserves the chance to hear the gospel and to be treated with dignity and respect. Nobody is worthless. At Vineyard it means we take extra time to treat our guests with respect and dignity. It means we do nice things for our guests, like making them feel welcome, giving them something to drink, and treating them like guests in our own home. It means we give mercy to people not because they deserve it, but because we need mercy too. It means we love people enough to teach them the gospel, even if it isn’t convenient. We also are doing outreaches, feeding the hungry, giving out cups of cold water in Jesus’ name, participating in large city-wide events, giving aid to strangers, allowing our facilities to be used for community services, and other acts of kindness. Sometimes it means knowing when to hold our tongue, not because we don’t have rights as citizens of the USA but because we have the fruit of the Spirit ( love, joy, peace, patience, goodness, kindness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self control), and we choose to be kingdom-hearted people.
Finally, we come to "Pass It On." It is not enough to be Christ-like to one another in the church, but we must be Christ-like to the whole world. This includes sharing the gospel (teaching, evangelizing, discipling) one-on-one to the last, lost, or the least of these. It means having special assemblies for the public, praying for other churches, other countries, and for our national leaders. It means serving people who may never return our kindness, or even appreciate it. It means we adapt to serve within our culture rather than asking people to change to fit our church’s subculture. It means we never compromise the gospel, but we are always willing to lay down everything else.
That leads us into next week’s topic: the Five Commitments of the Vineyard.
Grace and peace,
Hal
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