When I hear the term "ministry" I immediately think about the person standing up front speaking. There certainly is truth to this model such as when the pastor speaks on Sunday, or mid-week, we do call this ministry. Paul would do ministry by going into the towns and speak. Peter stood up and spoke. Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, was known to draw a crowd and speak to them.
What about the rest of the church? Remember that the church is not a building but rather the people of God gathered together, do only those who like public speaking get to do ministry? Interestingly, the number one fear in America is public speaking, followed the second greatest fear, the fear of death. In other words when you go to a funeral most people would rather be in the coffin than get up and speak about the one in the coffin! Clearly Jesus has something else in mind than just public speaking when He called all to do ministry.
Ephesians 2:8-10 says, "For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do." What are those good works? To proclaim the love of Christ, and make disciples, of Jesus, everywhere (Matthew 28:19-20)! In short, to do ministry.
A few weeks ago we took a survey found in the book, "Got Style: Personality-Based Evangelism" by Jeff Johnson. One of the discoveries from this survey was that most people in our congregation are not the stand up and shout out the gospel types of evangelist. Praise the Lord, that is not the only way to do evangelism and actually is one of the least effective if used as the sole way of sharing the gospel. Jeff writes, "Words alone carry only about 7 percent of any message. Some 55 percent is communicated through nonverbal means - body language and body action - leaving 38 percent of the message to be communicated by the tone of voice." This certainly makes me think much more about what I am presenting to people and has nothing to do with what comes out of my mouth, and it also points out that perhaps ministry isn't done by just those with the microphone!
The point of this is that everyone of you has a ministry that God calls you to, a way of sharing Christ's love with others and pointing them to Him. What is it? We all have a ministry but I wonder how many find their ministry as opposed to trying to do someone else's ministry?
September 16th, at 7:00pm, John Duckworth will be leading a study through Jeff Johnson's book in hopes of better equipping you to do your style of ministry, and ultimately see Christ's kingdom grow. You will want to get a copy of the book and start reading it and in so doing I pray you will be blessed by the freedom that God gives to everyone to share in a way that is most natural to them, no matter what the style is. Here is the link: https://www.amazon.com/Got-Style-Personality-Based-Jeffrey-Johnson-ebook/dp/B003E2UQHI/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1599152660&sr=8-1
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Thursday's at 6:30pm. This church service is centered around how Jesus did church... with food and conversation. For those of you hungering for something different, come join us at Mercy Grill. For those of you willing to serve and be the church, come join us.
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September 13th will be the official launch of Engage Church! We will start the service outside with prayer and a ribbon cutting, then move into the building for a time of worship. The service will be followed by a meal outside. We have volunteers bringing the food so all we need is you and those you are inviting.
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Awana club is starting up on the 9th! Get your kids registered!
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First Sunday of the month we are take all canned food you have brought in through the month to a ministry in need.
For our online congregation, feel free to give to this ministry with the note "for canned food" and someone will go purchase canned food or make a direct donation to the ministry where the food is going for the month, or let us know and we can help you find a organization in your area to support.
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We still have not heard from you...we are looking for someone to coordinate this ministry. If not this perhaps a more local one? Call the office and lets talk.
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9/6/2020 Worship Service
Sermon:
"Who Makes Your List"
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Join us as we worship our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, while engaging His Word.
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Feel free to join us at the PHC/Engage campus with limited seating (keeping the 6 foot rule) or on the live feed which starts about 15 minutes before 10:30am, you can catch it on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/engagespokane/live_videos/
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Wednesday Evening Bible Study and Prayer
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We are on a one week break, and will start up again on the 16th with the study on "Got Style," mention above. The study will be on Wednesdays at 7:00pm at the church campus or online.
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Join the Zoom meeting at
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/2062233253
Meeting ID: 206 223 3253
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If you haven't yet, get our free church app. You will have access to the latest announcements, our prayer wall, links to Sunday morning videos, and more...plus we are always looking for feedback on what would be helpful.
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