Neighborhood Ministries

Making Disciples- Christ called on His disciples to make disciples of all nations. He did not say to train disciples to oversee the churches. Therefore, He implied that all followers should become disciples and it was the responsibility of His current disciples to do it. A disciple is not just someone who believes what the master believes. A disciple is one who becomes like the master. A disciple should therefore be teaching and ministering like Jesus did. Yet few churches today train their members to become teachers and soul winners. In fact, many churches are becoming soft on teaching the Bible truths and many members are hard put to explain what they believe. It is impossible to teach others what you don’t know.

Preach the Gospel  Christ commanded His disciples to preach the Gospel. The Gospel means good news. The good news is that Christ died for our sins and set us free from the power of sin and darkness. Most pastors speak to their congregations in church, but there is rarely a clear presentation of the Gospel. Few member’s lives are affected by it and those around the church never hear it. Many people are desperately seeking answers to the problems around them. The church has the answers, yet it is silent. It neither proclaims the truth nor demonstrates it through the lives of its members. The church must clearly proclaim the Gospel to its members and teach them how to demonstrate what it means to be a believer in their daily lives. The church also needs to teach them to engage those around them and explain to them the basis for what they believe.

 Go into all the World – Many churches today have withdrawn into themselves and wait for visitors to come to them. In fact, many churches do not even acknowledge visitors let alone try to get to know them. Yet Jesus was emphatic that we should go out. In fact, in the parable of the feast, He emphasizes that we should go out and compel them to come. In Acts, He proclaims that they would be His witnesses in Jerusalem (our town), in Judea (our country), Samaria (the people we don’t like), and throughout the whole world. Evangelism starts in our town among our neighbors. Many churches act like their neighbors are Christians and don’t need the Gospel, yet many of our neighbors and those we work with and go to school with have never heard the Gospel.

Before Christ ascended to heaven, He gave His disciples two commands.  He told His disciples to (A) go into all the world and preach the Gospel, and (B) to make disciples of all the world. He had come to earth and showed us how to live and had selected twelve to train. He later sent them out to see how they would do with what He had taught them. He later sent out seventy more, but the Bible never said he called seventy. I believe that they were ones His disciples had called and were training under Jesus’ supervision so they would learn to train others. When He was ready to ascend, He commanded His disciples to carry on the work that He had started. As each disciple was trained to live a Christ-like life, they would then be trained to train others. As each one would train others, it would create an ever-expanding group until everyone had heard the Gospel and all who responded would enter the kingdom. Unfortunately, many churches have become so busy with their many programs, that they have forgotten their primary assignment. Eastertide is a time when we are reminded of our primary assignment.