What We Learned
November 7, 2004
Ephesians 2:10
23rd Sunday after Pentecost
Galena-Warwick United Methodist Charge
Warwick & Galena, Maryland
Rev. Dr. Lawrence D. Jameson
back to our church home page
For we are God's workmanship,
created in Christ Jesus to do good works,
which God prepared in advance for us to do.
Ephesians 2:10 NIV
The 40 Days of Purpose are over.
What have we learned?
We have learned a lot!
1) Unity
We learned
that our entire congregation can decide
at every level
to set aside business as usual
and accomplish something significant as a family.
We did that for 40 Days.
And I have to say, I’ve never seen such unity
in the 15 churches I have served before my appointment here.
We came together
and everyone had a part to play.
When I asked everyone in this church to set aside
our normal calendar of events,
Sunday School, Administrative Board,
Trustees, United Methodist Women,
Charge Conference, and even the Family Retreat,
that’s what we did.
I am proud and grateful
for the way you responded.
When I first started talking about
this campaign
I got some funny looks.
It was such a new and different idea
that most people
had trouble just understanding what it was.
I told you that it was only for 40 Days,
and that we would only do this ONE TIME.
That’s true. We have read the book
and now we are done.
Wasn’t it great?
I love seeing the whole church
pull together and try something new and different.
I will not ask you
to do the 40 Days of Purpose again,
but
we can do something similar
with another book, or another curriculum.
It was wonderful to see our friends & family get involved
and to see the whole congregation
do something new and out of the ordinary.
We learned
that when we need to
we can pull together as a congregation.
2) Small Groups
We learned
that we can form several brand new small groups
on short notice.
A total of ten groups formed
had weekly meetings,
and did just fine
without leadership training.
Dear ones,
as we read Rick Warren’s book
we learned
that small groups are critically important
for the church
because that is where
God’s purposes have pointed us.
Worship, Fellowship, Discipleship, Ministry, & Evangelism
are most effective
when Christians come together in small groups.
When we did the Alpha Program
Nicky Gumbel talked about
Small Groups and the CIA principle.
CIA stands for Confidentiality, Intimacy, and Accountability.
Confidentiality: what you share in a small group
is respected and not told to others.
Intimacy: you can be emotionally honest and sincere
with your brothers and sisters
because there is a level of trust there.
Accountability: just by attending your group
you are helping others to be faithful
in their commitment to Jesus
and they help you to be faithful too.
3) Commitment - Love - Growth
Here is something I learned
during the 40 Days.
This is deeply true.
We all want our church to grow.
We all want to grow as individual disciples.
Growth is good,
but it doesn’t happen
unless we make a commitment first.
Commitment is costly.
I’m talking about small groups.
It costs us a lot to commit to a small group,
because we all have the same number of hours in a day
and the same number of days in the week.
In order to be in a small group
you have to give up one, or two, or even three
other things you are doing.
That’s the bottom line.
It isn’t easy. It isn’t free.
But if you make that commitment,
this is what happens:
Out of commitment - you get love.
And out of love - you get growth.
It is just that simple.
Commitment - Love - Growth
This is the way our church grows.
This is the way we grow.
4) Spiritual Lessons
We learned some powerful spiritual lessons
in Rick Warren’s book.
I didn’t read a page
that didn’t teach me something good.
I loved chapter 35
which talked about
God’s power in our weakness.
What an amazing chapter.
Just think. God is able to use
all the problems, all the flaws,
all the neediness in my life
to make me humble and teachable.
God is wonderful!
In 2 Corinthians 12:9
the Bible says,
My grace is sufficient for you,
for my power is made perfect in weakness.
I loved it when
Rick Warren wrote
Humility is not putting yourself down
or denying your strengths;
rather, it is being honest about your weaknesses.
The more honest you are,
the more of God’s grace you get.
Chapter 35 made me think
about how people talk about hypocrites in church.
Some people use the excuse that
the hypocrites keep them away from church.
In fact, just the opposite is true.
If the church were filled with perfect sinless people,
nobody would like them
nobody could feel close to them.
It is our weaknesses that make it possible
for us to get close!
Our fellowship is based on God’s forgiveness and unconditional love.
God made us imperfect
so that our love could be powerful.
This is just one of the spiritual lessons
we covered.
There are lots more.
It was a wonderful 40 Days.
5) the 5 purposes
We learned
that God has specific, understandable purposes
for our lives AND for this congregation
that we can count on the fingers of one hand:
to love Christ - Worship
to love Christians - Fellowship
to love growth - Discipleship
to love serving - Ministry
to love sharing good news - Evangelism.
I preached five sermons
in February and March of this year
about the SOFEW principle:
Stewardship, Outreach,
Fellowship, Education, and Worship.
I used different terms,
but the same general territory was covered.
Rick Warren’s terms and system of thought are excellent.
and worth our study.
The important thing is to recognize
that living a Christian life
requires
knowledge and skill
in SEVERAL DIFFERENT AREAS.
We are striving to achieve balance.
A church that ignores any one of the five purposes
is going to become weak.
A church that learns how to
obey God in all five areas
is going to be blessed.
This is a useful tool
that isn’t going away any time soon.
As you look at your own individual Christian life
you can simply look at the 5 purposes:
Worship Fellowship Discipleship Ministry Evangelism.
If you are growing in all five areas
then your life is going in the right direction.
As we talk about what our small groups should be doing
during the year
we look at the 5 purposes:
Worship Fellowship Discipleship Ministry Evangelism.
If our group is growing in all five areas
then our group is going in the right direction.
As we think about what our congregation should be doing
during the year
we look at the 5 purposes:
Worship Fellowship Discipleship Ministry Evangelism.
If our congregation is growing in all five areas
then our church is going in the right direction.
6) Conclusion
In Ephesians 2:10
the Bible says,
For we are God's workmanship,
created in Christ Jesus to do good works,
which God prepared in advance for us to do.
I’m proud of God’s workmanship
in your life.
I can see the hand of the Lord
moving you,
helping you to do good works.
These are things that God prepared in advance
for us to do!
Thanks be to God!