I recently saw a church sign that said, “Sinners welcome!” I like that! Is it true in your church? Too often, the church becomes a social club – not necessarily for the upper crust but anyone who is not a member will recognize that they are not exactly welcome.

At our church (Agape’ Fellowship) we determined that our major goal for 2008 was to live up to our name – to live God’s Agape’ love. The practical definition of Agape’ love is captured in the phrase, “I love you too much to allow you to die and go to hell.”

However, many times people who wish to be used of God ask the same question that the repentant people asked John the Baptist, “What should we do?” (Lu 3:10,12,14). In that case, the issue is not whether I love the sinner and want to see him (or her) be saved, the question is HOW do I go about it. In Colossians 4:5 Paul advised the church that if they showed Agape’ love to others, there WOULD be opportunities to share the gospel, “Be wise in the way you act towards outsiders; make the most of every opportunity.” Read the rest of this entry »

This is the subject of a post on Grant Thiessen’s Blog and it poses a very interesting point! Grant states that evangelism is about “Presence and Participation.”

That is a good definition. Unless and until we are “there” in a person’s life, we have done little toward bringing that person to Jesus. It is certain that the people we deal with can recognize our true agenda. If we are just trying to get them into our local congregation to increase the numbers, that cold attitude is going to bleed through the facade of concern that we place in front of us.

A friend from 40 years ago once told me (about the inmates that we were going to visit in the jail), “These people will KNOW whether or not you really LOVE them.” In retrospect, I realize that he was gently chastising me for my “Just do it” attitude – and trying to build in me a true love for the souls of men and women with whom we had the opportunity to share God’s love.

My particular “take” on this is that the LEAST measure of agape’ love is that we can sincerely say that we do not want that person to die and go to the lake of fire.

Read the rest of this entry »