Don’t go to growth group next week!
Growth groups are a really important part of what we do here at Christ Church. We want everyone to be in one. But also, we don’t want you to go to your growth group next week.
We want you to make a change next week, so together, we can make changes to the way we interact with our friends, family, colleagues and neighbours, all for the glory of God. Why do we need to make changes to our interactions? Because there is no more sobering, clear-minded, perspective-giving truth than the fact that there is a heaven and a hell, and that every person is destined for one or the other.
Both are real. Both are forever. One is a future to long for; the other is a future to avoid at all costs. And if both are real, they necessarily overshadow every moment of life and every perceived value and attainment of life. There are many things that distinguish us from each other but these distinctions count for very little in light of the fact that heaven or hell awaits each one of us.
Grasping this eternal framework brings clarity to life. In light of the twin future realities of heaven and hell, and that God has given us the words of eternal life, what are we to do? Well, start by not going to growth group next week and instead, come to Share Life Go.
Share Life is how we describe our shared evangelistic mission here at Christ Church. So when we talk about Share Life, we are talking about all of us sharing Jesus with the people around us who don’t yet know him. We are talking about all of us sharing life to the full that Jesus offers. We are talking about all of us sharing life as we are designed to live it - in relationship with God through Jesus Christ our Lord and Saviour. We are talking about all of us sharing Jesus with those we know and love.
It is what we try to do all year around not as an extra but as an integrated part of life. Share Life is not about doing more. It’s about doing different. It’s about reshaping the things you already do to bring the twin eternal truths to bear in your thinking and conversation.
So what’s happening next week?
Well, every year we have some focus moments to enthuse, encourage and equip us to share life and one of those is next week. Share Life Go is designed to give you a boost in your passion and enthusiasm for reaching people with the life Jesus offers. This year we will specifically be focussing on our own predictable reactions when Jesus enters the chat and what we can do about them to enable better conversations.
So this coming Tuesday at 11am and 7.30pm, Wednesday at 7.30pm and Thursday at 9.30am in the upper hall, Elliot will be running these interactive seminars to help us move forward in our own personal efforts at sharing Jesus.
By move forward, I mean this: if you are completely paralysed by the idea of sharing Jesus with a friend, these events are for you to help you build courage. If you are keen but don’t know the next steps, these events are for you to get enthused. If you have 28 friends you are already talking to, these events are for you to get further equipped. They are for everyone to help us get going with sharing life no matter where we are at.
Everyone is doing some version of life. But as Christians, we know the reality of how life is meant to be lived and that’s the news we want to share. When you trust in Jesus you find hope, purpose and a future that can never perish, spoil or fade.
We have the words of eternal life and the solution to the existential yearnings of the world and that solution is Jesus. I am praying that you will come to one of the Share Life Go events and be encouraged, enthused and equipped to pray and to have a go at sharing life.
At the very least, let us all be those who are calling on our Heavenly Father to change lives through the preaching of the Gospel so we may rejoice together at his grace and kindness to our friends and family as they come to find life through Christ.
