What Kingdom difference is your LIFE group making in the world? In what measurable way is your LIFE group contributing to the advancement of the gospel in this community? These are important questions for LIFE group leaders to consider.
If you watch sitcom TV long enough, or listen to top 40 radio hits in your car, or simply open your eyes to the people you come in contact with daily, you’ll quickly discover that our world, our culture, our community is desperately lost and in need of a Savior. If anything, the observations we make about the world should break our hearts and burden us to want to make a difference. All around, people are hurting and searching. They desire peace and fulfillment but only find turmoil and heartbreak. Lost people should matter to us.
In Luke 15, we see the compassion of Jesus for the lost as He shares three parables concerning something lost but then found. The lost sheep, lost coin, and lost son show us that 1) lost people matter to God; 2) an all-out search is required to find those who are lost; and 3) a celebration ensues when one lost sinner repents and comes to Jesus.
We, too, can show compassion for the lost as a LIFE group, serving the community of Middle Tennessee together in Jesus’ name. Here are just a few things to think about as you mobilize your LIFE Group to serve the community:
- Pray for God’s guidance.
- Determine the collective spiritual gifts, passions and abilities of your group members and engage in a service opportunity that aligns with them.
- Discover needs in the community and discuss ways to meet those needs. You may also click here to learn of Brentwood’s local mission partners and the service opportunities they provide.
- Strive to form an ongoing relationship with a mission partner for an extended period of time. Consider establishing a start and stop time, like 6-12 months, rather than indefinitely.
- Calendar the dates to serve and be committed to the work.
- Share stories of God’s work through your mission involvement.
Jesus said in Luke 19:10, “For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost.” If that is Jesus’ mission and if we are His followers, then His mission is our mission. We are called to seek and save the lost, too, sent to a community in need of the risen Christ to proclaim and demonstrate the gospel so they might be hear, believe, respond and receive His saving work in their lives.