Turning the world upside down .. rethinking the Great Commission.

These who have turned the world upside down come here also ... Acts 17:6
Just re-reading though Real-time: Linking your job with God's Glocal Work by Bob Roberts, Jr. Roberts points out that the church in the West thinks about the rest of the world with lack of creativity or insight. Challenging the readers to remember the call we are to make disciples, Roberts shows the reader how the first century church turned the world upside down. Matthew 25 shows Jesus teaching his disciples t feed the hungry, give water and clothing to those in need, provide shelter for the homeless, and seek justice for those who are oppressed. That's the job that the first church did as they took the world by storm.

I ponder today if the church in general has made their effort of getting converts get into the way of making disciples. Roberts argues that making disciples takes more time, requiring people to more than just be religious. I would agree that training disciples takes time and that we need to approach this as a life long process that changes and transforms us. I think that it's important to remember as we look at the Great Commission, that it's more about changing the world than just changing our lives. Roberts points out that the Great Commission is about getting people engaged in society; asking why not take every day workers and teach them what it means to be a disciple. A person can use their work skills in just about every country in the world, why not take the opportunity to use our skills and help fullfill the Great Commission at the same time. I might not be able to preach a great sermon, but I know that I can serve, help and see opportunities to talk about Jesus in our every day life. Isn't that what the first disciples did as they went from town to town?

So what are we going to do? At Silver Creek Fellowship, we're engaging the world in many ways as we serve the poor through Mission of Hope, the sick through Wholeperson Care, and the addicted through Redemption a new program that Suzette is kicking off. As we look to serve globally we have connections with Cambodia and Kenya. I look forward to this year as we firm up our global plans and take aim to turn the world upside down.

I'm back.

So I haven't use this mode of information in quite some time and decided that it would be good to get back to blogging, not that I've ever given it much a try. So I'm going to try to do better with it and use it as a online journal and what's up in the Life of Kirsten Barnes.

Today was an exciting day at school, let's face it any time you get to show up to work two hours late and get paid for a full days work has to be exciting. Then you add 1200 high school students to the mix and it's loads of fun. We left the window shades open, the kids seemed grateful, so that we could enjoy the beauty with all of the crazy weather. I'm curious to see what happens with the weather tonight, it would be fun to have another two hour delay. I know that I did two posting this morning for my classes at George Fox and I'll also admit that I like going to school a little bit later in the morning.

Tonight, I'm going with Tasha and Edgar to the movie The King's Speech and I'm looking forward to watching it. I think that the subject of the royal family is good but a monarch conqueoring his fears and public speaking is a very interesting topic to me. I'll let you know tomorrow how the movie went!