Are you a Consumer Christian or a Follower of Christ?

 

I saw this cartoon yesterday and was thinking about how we act in church. Some of those "messages" ring true in our churches in Montgomery, AL and all across the world. We are wanting the church to be a place to come and get away from the world(understandably)but we have become so exclusive and want to "consume" their services that we are forgetting what "the church" is all about. What does the Bible say to us today?

Acts 2:41-47says:

 

41 So those who accepted his message were baptized, and that day about three thousand people were added. 42 They were devoting themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. 43 Reverential awe came over everyone, and many wonders and miraculous signs came about by the apostles. 44 All who believed were together and held everything in common, 45 and they began selling their property and possessions and distributing the proceeds to everyone, as anyone had need. 46 Every day they continued to gather together by common consent in the temple courts, breaking bread from house to house, sharing their food with glad and humble hearts, 47 praising God and having the good will of all the people. And the Lord was adding to their number every day those who were being saved.¹

1 John 3:17-18 New International Version (NIV) 

¹⁷ If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in that person? ¹⁸ Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.

 

In both verses, God shows us what the church should be: giving, fellowshipping, sacrificing for other, praying, etc.  I don't see anything in there about being "politically correct so we won't hurt feelings, being consumers and takers of what is offered, etc. That is what I see often in churches that I visit. 

Who are you? Are you a follower of Christ or a Consumer Christian? There is a difference. As we seek to serve the Lord, let us not become one who takes and consumes all the time. Let us be like those in the book of Acts, let's turn all we have over to the Lord and give to help others.....

 

 

ESL Training Yields New Teachers for Montgomery Churches

On August 7-9th, about 22 adults came together at the MBA office to attend training on how to be a teacher of ESL. These students worked very hard to become certified to teach. They had to put in 14 hours of class time plus some homework. They were great. We had a good time, laughed at ourselves and shared deep things with each other. 

A neat thing this time was that two former MBA Conversational English students came to the training. They speak very good English and were able to be trained in teaching it. They will be starting as assistant teachers for MBA CE School this Fall! WOO HOO!

Mission Serve Comes To Montgomery!

Extra! Extra!! Read All About It! Missions is Happening ALL OVER MONTGOMERY!

What a summer it has been!  To God be the Glory for seeds planted not only through our local churches neighborhood outreaches but through those who “came to” Montgomery to serve.

*Sister churches from all over the United States partnered with MBA local ministries sharing the gospel through word and deed.

*Summer missionaries Clint Knight (Eastern Hills)and Angelique Hilliard (Gateway)worked hard at Community of Hope and Forest Park Ministry Center sharing with kids and their families. They are now preparing to go back to college this fall with a different view of their city!

* The Mixteco Task Force heard from two missionaries from Mexico who work with this people group there, in fact, they work in the area that most of our Montgomery Mixteco’s are from. New direction and vision for that outreach is forming. More to come later….

Jesus continues to work in the lives of so many hurting people. Despite high crime rates and other issues greater Montgomery faces every day, God keeps working in the hearts of individuals across our great area through Christians who are open and willing to serve and love the way Christ loves us. 

One project that I would like to highlight is our Mission Serve Week, July 20-27^th.  Mission Serve is a group out of GA that brings together churches from all over the U.S. to work on local mission projects both in construction and ministry. Two churches from North Carolina and Phenix City, AL came to work that week! They worked not only with Forest Park Ministry but some of our partners such as Community of Hope, Family Promise, Urban Trec, Friendship Women’s Shelter and Inner City Evangelism. They did block parties, Backyard Bible Clubs, pizza and hot dog cookouts, cleaning, painting and sorted donated clothing. We are so grateful they came to work alongside the ministries here.

I want to thank in particular our LOCAL churches for hosting them, feeding them and praying for them. Here are the MBA churches who stepped in and did a GREAT job showing GREAT hospitality!

THANK YOU to theses churches for contributing lunches and snacks

Capitol Heights Baptist Church, Dalraida Baptist Church, Eastern Hills Baptist Church, Eastmont Baptist Church , First Baptist Church , Gateway Baptist Church , Heritage Baptist Church , McGehee Road Baptist Church , Mt. Zion Baptist Church , Snowdoun Baptist Church.

A BIG thank you to Ridgecrest Baptist Church for housing and hosting these teams!

Thanks also to individual volunteers from Gateway, Ridgecrest and Eastern Hills for transportation, serving meals on the weekend and running errands!

Thank you most of all to Sharon Myers who organized and prepared our churches for their arrival!

Looking forward to seeing how Christ will work in the Greater Montgomery area this fall through YOU and I as we continue to open ourselves up to service.