Back in 2000, I did a series of teachings that went far beyond their original intent. At that time, I had a number of people who were coming to our meetings who were not familiar with the values and priorities of the Vineyard. There was no doubt that these folks loved God, but they had a hunger to go to the next level (so to speak). They wanted to do the works of Jesus....feed the hungry, pray for the sick, cast out demons. They wanted to be about the business of the Kingdom. Or, as John Wimber so often said, they wanted to "Do the Stuff!". So we began to meet on Sunday morning in an informal setting to learn how to minister, pray and reach out to others. What I perceived to be a 5 - 8 week course turned into a 40 week training session. Many of those who attended the sessions are still out there ministering and moving under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, as they encounter people with needs.
Flash forward to 2014.
Once again, through Vineyard Recovery, God has assembled another group of people.
Only this time, these folks are new to "church" and "relationship with God." A lot of what the church takes for granted, is like a foreign language to those on the outside looking in.
Yesterday, God began to stir me to revisit the teachings of 2000 that we had done. The original teaching was to help people become equipped to do the works of Christ. Well, God is dusting off the original teachings, but has added a new twist to it. Let me explain.
I believe that the reason people come to Jesus and then fall away is that we have not done a good job of sharing the complete story on how to have relationship with God. The church has put all its energy into simply trying to get people in the door where the plan of salvation can be presented. To get them 'into the club" so to speak.....that once people are in the door and saved, the church's job is over. The mind set seems to be..."We shared the gospel message....we loved them...the are born again....lets move to the next group. To me, such thought is the same as collecting new born babies, putting them in a nursery and then walking away, leaving them on their own.
What if we taught them how to hear God for themselves?
What if we explained the makeup of the Bible and how to study it?
What if we laid out what prayer really was all about, and how to effectively pray?
What if we kept our "church" terminology to a minimum and used common every day words to explain the Kingdom of God here, but the Kingdom of God not yet?
What if we delved into why tithing is so important, and that it was a blessing to be able to give back to God?
What if we modeled what worship was truly all about. That worship was a lifestyle and not a musical interlude?
What if we made real disciples and didn't just talk about it?
All these questions have lead me to announce that beginning this weekend, Vineyard Recovery will start a "Doing The Stuff: 101" series of teachings in our Saturday night meeting. I'm not sure how many weeks this will cover, but I promise that we will only go as long as God intends for it to last.
I will also be making available copies of the original teachings from 2000 on CD.
I want to encourage you to bring your Bible and notepads in case something that is said jumps out at you that you might want to remember. These sessions will also be recorded and made available should you happen to miss a week. I'm excited in this direction that God is taking us. Meetings start at 7 p.m / hope you can join us!
God on you...
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