Discussion 3: Christ-Like presence in the community (3%)

[Dave]

1. Describe what a humble, Christ-like presence of the church in communities means, and give
examples of how this could be applied in practice.

Humility is a biblical characteristic that can be defined as the capacity to be without pride,
arrogance, or egotism. Jesus Christ is by far the best example of One who humbly followed God
the Father’s plan.

You need to explain what power there is in establishing and developing a humble, Christlike presence in communities based on the above-mentioned statement.

• How does this virtue of humility build bridges in a community?

[Mignon Duvenhage]

Jesus was such a wonderful example of a humble presence in a community. Phillipians 2:5-7 states, “You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had. Though He was God, he did not think of equality with God as something to cling to. Instead, he gave up his divine privileges; he took the humble position of a slave and was born as a human being.”

The Lord has gifted His church with many different gifts and therefore also many different ways to serve the community. He has also placed members of the church in various positions and spheres of influence within the community. A humble, Christlike presence means that the church firstly takes time to build relationship with various leaders, organisations, schools etc in a community, as relationships form the basis of any future impact. It also means that the church submits to the various authorities and chooses to serve and respect these leaders. It also means that the church does thorough research of real needs (not only perceived needs) in a community and chooses to get to know all the various organisations already helping in these areas. In this way, the church can partner where this is a possibility or rather strengthen already existing sources of help (instead of re-inventing the wheel and starting their own programs).

A church’s main focus should always be to live out Mark 12:30 “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your mind and with all your strength. The second is this, ‘Love your neighbour as yourself.’” Humility is shown in the fact that the church has no desire to build an image to be proud of. Rather, they would love to be know for their service in the community and their sincere love for God’s people.

Celebration church is a wonderful example of a church like this for me. A few practical examples include the fact that they offer office space free of charge to the SAVF to better serve families in the community. Another example includes outreaches to schools and training offered free of charge to teachers. Celebration church truly is known as a church humbly serving the community of Mokopane! True love, authentic relationship, kindness and generosity are sure ways of building bridges in the community and drawing people to Christ.

[radebevusi28@gmail.com]

Jesus’ heart for mission is seen in the bible, Matthew 9:35-36 ” When H e saw a crowd, He had compassion for them because they were harassed and helpless, like a sheep without a shepherd. This shows Jesus’ deep empathy the driving force behind mission to heal and teach”
As Jesus show his love for people and wanting to reach to communities who seems to have no shepherds, even today God is calling us as church to go out there with passion and strength that God provides to the communities that are without shepherds.
We are to tell the them the Good news of Gospel of Jesus Christ that He has come to set the captive free from sin and announce the day of liberty.

To those who experience the bad news everyday of their lives we are to tell them about the Good News of saving grace of God through Jesus Christ, To those who are helpless and harassed tell them that the Lord is their Shepherd.
To those who are vulnerable we want to let them know that Jesus is their identity and they were created in the Image of the Father.

Let us therefore Go and tell them that Jesus loves them.

[Author]

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