Servolution-ing

You might have noticed that we haven't been keeping up with the blog...
The truth is that we're busy dispatching servolutionaries around the city and don't have time to keep this blog up to date! (It's a good problem to have!)

We're going to try, though. In the meantime, check out these upcoming events:

Chill by the Grill on Saturday, September 17th, 2011 from 12:00 til 3:00pm.
It's a FREE BBQ for anyone in Barrie who wants to come!
Servolution will be giving away free frisbees! Come and help us out, for 20 minutes or for the full 3 hours, or until we run out!

Respond on the Facebook Event Page!

See you there!

re|thinking end-times

Since we haven't posted a blog entry in a while, we thought we would re-post this thought-provoking blog entry that we stumbled across. Enjoy.

Groans from Within: Conversations on Joining God's Mission in the Way of Jesus...

Servolution Sunday - Sharpen Conference 2010

Teams from Emmanuel Baptist Church in Barrie invaded their community with planned service projects this past Sunday.
One team visited a seniors home and ministered to them with a hymn sing.
Another team visited some patients in the hospital, and did some singing as well.
A team of fifty people cleaned-up a local park.
And a couple of dozen people went door-to-door in the local community, and in just one hour, collected over 600 pounds of donations for the Barrie Food Bank.

How to Make an Eternal Impact... Kid-Style

A little girl decided to sell an old scooter that she had in the garage. A friend from down the street bought it from her for ten dollars.

The girl put the ten dollars into a glass jar. She is collecting money to give to her church's building campaign, called Impact (see previous post).

Her father asked why she was willing to donate the whole ten dollars. "You don't have to give all of it," he said. "Just give a part of it."

"I want to give the whole ten dollars," the little girl said. "The church needs more space for kids, and we need a bigger youth room, too!"

Lord, what do you want to do through me to accomplish your will?

Impact: kid-style

Kids at Emmanuel are learning that they can have an impact, too: through the power of a penny or through individual acts of kindness.

Every Sunday, until May 16th, children will be encouraged to give two kinds of special offerings to the Lord: Acts of Kindness & Service to Others, and Gifts of Money.

The children are encouraged to write their act of service toward someone on a piece of paper. They can put these offerings to the Lord in a special offering jug, which will be presented as an offering to God at Emmanuel's Impact Celebration on May 16th.

Our children are learning that anything we offer to God can be used for His glory and purpose!

Command them to be good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share. 1 Timothy 6:18

Evangelical Activism

An interesting article appeared in this month's issue of Faith Today, the magazine published by the Evangelical Fellowship of Canada. It points to a shift in the focus of evangelicals toward a broader view of the Gospel.

Author Bruce Clemenger had this to say about the social conscience of evangelicals following the establishment of a government social safety net that seemed to have replaced (displaced?) the Christian's responsibility:

Many began to “keep their faith to themselves” while serving in these agencies. Some began new ministries to fill emerging gaps. So there was a shifting and splitting of opportunities and expression which in turn led to the idea that faith was something that could be split from everyday life or that it only expressed itself in private or charitable terms. This again is shifting. There is a renewal of a broader understanding of the gospel and its implications for all of life – and with this latest shift, evangelical activism has been refocused.

I think he's talking about -- dare I say it? -- a servolution! Read the entire article here.

Matthew 5:13-16

What if we really lived the way that Jesus wants us to? Everytime I go back to the words of Jesus, and really reflect on my own life in light of his teaching... Well, if I'm completely honest, I fall way short. We all do. That's why we need grace. That's why, when he tells us to be the salt of the earth and the light of the world, his words are founded on what he says first: "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven" (Matthew 5:3). To be a Christ-follower is to recognize and acknowledge our own poverty of spirit before almighty God. We have nothing to offer Him, and yet He gives us grace.
The words that follow are about our response. If we have acknowledged our own poverty to God and accepted His grace through His everlasting mercy, then the change in our heart, the change in the very fibre of our being, changes how we look at the world and how we live in the world. A Christian is defined by their regenerated life (see Galatians 2:20), but we're fooling ourselves and just paying lip-service to Jesus if the new life He gives us is not demonstrated in every aspect of how we live.

The man who says, "I know him," but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But if anyone obeys his word, God's love is truly made complete in him. (1 John 2:4-5)

It is right to stress evangelism as the mission of the Church. It is equally right to stress "good works" and social justice as the mission of the Church. How can this be so? Evangelism and good works are like the two sides of the same coin... Faith in Christ and the resulting actions in the life of the believer are like the two wings of an airplane. If one is missing, what will happen to the airplane? That's what John is saying in the quote above. Knowing Jesus means obeying Jesus. Obeying Jesus means telling others about Him and caring for the poor, the oppressed, the sick, and the imprisoned... While salt of the earth is meant to preserve, and therefore act to arrest the decaying action of sin, light of the world is meant to actively display Christ and the holy, loving, royal kingdom of God's reign in the people and community that He has established.
Bible scholar and renouned preacher John Stott says it like this:

Good works are works of love as well as of faith. They express not only our loyalty to God, but our care for our fellows as well. Indeed, the primary meaning of 'works' must be practical, visible deeds of compassion. It is when people see these, Jesus said, that they will glorify God, for they embody the good news of his love which we proclaim. Without them our gospel loses its credibility and our God his honour. ("The Message of the Sermon on the Mount", John R.W. Stott,62).

What if we really lived the way Jesus wants us to? If you believe in Jesus, if you have acknowledged your poverty of spirit and believe that Jesus has given you new life, the challenge today is to act on it and to be the Christians that we say we are. The needs are all around us. Go, now, and shine your light.