The Church is the hope of the world, when it is working right. I love that there is but ONE church. I love that ‘we’ are the Body. I love more that JESUS is the head. It is all connected…it is inseparable.
The Church is not a building or a program. We ARE the church.
The Church is a SENDING agent. I love Kate McCord’s book, Why God Calls Us to Dangerous Places. She says, “Some church leaders fully embrace God’s heart for the full body of Christ, including those who are born, live, and die in dangerous places. They recognize their role and find joy in equipping of the saints for the work of service, even when that service sends their people far away. They pray for God to call some of their members out into the world. They teach God’s love and passion for the world and encourage their members to go. When their members do go, they counsel, pray, celebrate, support, send, and welcome home those who are part of their fellowship. In so doing, they share in God’s world-encompassing love.”
He who loves first wins. We are the hands, feet and mouth of Jesus. We get to go ‘everywhere’ and tell ‘everyone’ the good news and we get to demonstrate Jesus’ love to a world craving for love.
Let me encourage you to read this book with just a few amazing quotes:
“Jesus, the great God of the universe, crossed a distance far greater than the one I had traveled and entered a vulnerability far deeper than the one I experienced. Yet there was, in my own journey, a faint echo of Christ in His.”
“We carry in our very human hands and hearts an invitation, God’s invitation to each member of the human community.”
“When we go to dangerous places, to places where there are few if any Christ followers, we go as Christ’s ambassadors, but we don’t go alone. We carry the presence of Christ with us, the hope of glory. We love, serve, heal, and help those who are weary and heavy laden. In doing so, we reveal God’s love and compassion to a hurting world.”
“Why does God call us to dangerous places? Because we can’t touch people, heal their bodies, hand them a book, or worship and pray with them from 7,400 miles away. Love and truth takes on flesh and walks the earth, and He does so within us.”
“When Christ calls us to walk with Him in a dangerous place, our responsibility is to respond with our hands and hearts open to wherever He leads us. For some, the call leads us to the places of which we’ve dreamed. For others, it may lead us someplace else entirely. Here, we experience a strong sense of confirmation that allows us to live in the place to which God has called us.”
“When we go to a dangerous place, we take our parents, our siblings, and all who love us into the lands where God has called us. They may never get their passports and climb on an airplane, but they go with us nonetheless.”
“Sending people to the world is hard. Sending them to dangerous places is even harder. Why should we do it? A Ghanaian Christian leader articulated a truth that shook me to the core, ‘When the church stops sending her children to the world, she begins to die.’ Sending is the heart of God, who sent His own Son into the world.”
“When we go to a dangerous place, we give up the comforts, affluence, and relative safety of our lives at home. We lose our treasured supports: the presence of families, friends, and church communities; our clothing, language, and lifestyles; access to privacy and rest. The sacrifices are real. The losses leave us disoriented and grieving. Yet in our losses, weaknesses, and extreme vulnerability, we lean into Christ and know Him in ways we couldn’t have if we had held onto all our small securities.”
Is God calling you? He will equip you! He will be all that you need. Haiti is hard. Haiti can be ‘dangerous.’ But here you will understand more about your God than anywhere else.
We at CPR-3 are looking for a couple to care for buildings and maintenance and hospitality. We are looking for a couple with life experience who wants to pour into a staff of passionate young leaders and be spiritual mentors. We need you. Might God be speaking to you?
Reach out to us at info@cpr-3.com if God is knocking at your door! BE THE CHURCH!
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