Outreach Training Seminar

We just completed an 8 day outreach program at our church. Dennis Menear, from a congregation in West Virginia, was our instructor. The church where he attends actually pays his way to visit any willing congregations twice a year to offer this training. That's pretty amazing to me! I'm surprised that he's not booked up years in advance, but he isn't.

He said that our congregation was the largest group he had had participate (in comparison to the size of the congregation) EVER! That's pretty good! We initially had about 20 participants, but some had to drop out because of illness. And some missed because of other obligations...but overall it was a really good thing for our congregation.

Basically it was geared towards getting us confident enough to begin to reach out to others more; just sharing our faith with others. It's a hard thing to do sometimes. I think mostly because we are all afraid of offending someone, or we're afraid they will say they aren't interested. I think we are all afraid of rejection. But remember, even Jesus wasn't successful with everyone! so how can we expect to be???

We just have to sow the seeds as we go along. I need to share Christ with others because I love them and I care about them and I know that without Christ they are lost. We need to care about that. Because the Bible says that broad is the way that leads to destruction and many will go down that road. I want to do everything I can to help someone who is going down that broad road to realize their need to change; their need for Christ.

It's so easy to get comfortable and content, and to lose that sense of urgency that comes with knowing that Christ could return at any time. We don't know when. Don't we all know someone who is not a christian? We were encouraged to choose 3 people that we would pray daily for; that we would try to "love and influence" (which involves spending time with them, helping to meet their needs and trying to get them involved with other christians). Our ultimate goal is to lead them to Christ.

So...we should all pray for opportunities; for wisdom to know the right things to say in a way that they can understand it. That we would make the most of every opportunity that comes our way and that we would always be kind. But most importantly, we need to get us out of the way and let God speak through his Word.

We should: always be ready to give an answer to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you...1 Peter 3:15