Doing an outreach project is one of the four required things for Growth Groups – it’s part of the design to help groups grow through serving others and we hope will lead to others coming to Christ! Here’s 7 ideas to serve others this Christmas…
- Second Saturday! This is always fun and easy to organize! There are two left in this trimester: Nov 14 and Dec 12. Let Liz know you’re coming (email her at liz@crossroadsgrace.org).
- Provide a Thanksgiving meal to a family as a group – this not only involves buying it, but also delivering it! You’ll be able to register on the Crossroads website from this Sunday. Read more here.
- Plan homeless box parties as individuals for your neighbors to join you. This would involve praying as a group for each person’s party and then reporting back afterwards how it all went! You’ll be able to register on the Crossroads website from this Sunday. Read more here.
- Adopt one, two or more Christmas scrolls. You’ll be able to register on the Crossroads website from this Sunday. Read more here.
- Help out with the Turkey Bowl! Your group could help with refreshments, setup, being referees, etc! Read more here and register to help at the Crossroads website from this Sunday.
- Go “Christmas Caroling” in a neighborhood. (Thanks to Greg Myers for this idea…his group is doing this Dec 23 in the mobile home park they served at during Takin’ It To the Streets! Great idea to continue to build that link!)
- Provide free gift wrapping services at a store. Ask for permission, of course!
So there’s some ready-made ideas, or there’s always your own idea!
I’d love to know what you’re doing and collect a list of the various projects groups are doing for future ideas! Would you email me your idea?
Have fun letting your light shine!
“You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.” Matthew 5:14-16
It often happens in our Christian walk that we are saved by grace and live the Christian life by works. We receive eternal life through Jesus’ death and resurrection, but somehow try to live now through our own power.
One implication of this is that when we want to produce more fruit in our walks (like love, joy, peace, or patience), we try to force it to happen through more effort. We say, “I’ve got to try be more patient!”
But is that really possible?
A better question might be: “Does God call us to produce fruit in our lives?
As with many things, the answer is “Yes” and “No”.
Let’s deal with the “No” first. Paul wrote in Galatians 6 that the “fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, … “, not “the fruit of your effort is …” So Paul is saying if you want fruit, you need the Spirit.
So from this we might conclude, you can’t force patience into your life, but you can ask God to continually fill you with His Spirit who produces that fruit in you.
But the answer is also “Yes”. There is a sense in which you are responsible to produce fruit. Paul says in Philippians 2:12,
“Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed—not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence—continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling…”
That “work out” means to bubble over salvation into all of your life (not “work out your salvation” as if it were a puzzle or a math problem). For example, since you received salvation through Christ forgiving you, work at forgiving others (Ephesians 4:32).
So from that we might conclude that “Yes” you are responsible to work out your salvation and produce fruit.
One Hand makes light work
There’s a catch however in this “Yes” & “No” answer.
Look what Paul says in Philippians 2:13 (immediately after the above quote):
“…for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose.”
In other words. At the same time you put effort to produce fruit, God is at work producing fruit. And I don’t know about you, but God’s effort is A LOT more effective and powerful than mine.
So are we supposed to work at producing fruit in our lives?
Yes, we must work at producing fruit in our lives, but most of that effort is to be focused on allowing the Spirit to fill our lives. We should work at being patient or joyful, but always conscious of the fact that if God is a central part of that process, the work load for us is dramatically lightened.
It’s the one case, where one Hand makes light work.
Takin’ It To The Streets was fantastic! Over 1,000 people serving our community. Let’s pray that it builds trust with our community and people are willing to hear the message of the gospel through it!
The day caught the attention of our local newspapers…here’s a link to the stories: MANTECA BULLETIN , MODESTO BEE and STOCKTON RECORD.
Got a story to share? Share it here on Crossroads Website.
This happened yesterday in my lunchtime men’s group. One of the guys was attending his first small group meeting ever. He shared a prayer request about needing approval for an epidural for back pain. So far he had been waiting three months. We prayed for him. That was the beginning of his first meeting. 10 minutes before the end, he gets a call from his doctor saying that the epidural had been approved! What a cool answer to prayer! And what a cool way God showed this guy the importance of praying for one another and of community!
Got a cool story to share from your growth group? Share it by clicking “Leave a comment” above.
I just want to say that Acts is a page-turner! Been reading it and haven’t wanted to put it down! The story of Paul’s courage and faith in the midst of beatings, ship-wrecks, and imprisonment is inspiring and fills me with courage!
But here’s what stuck out to me even more. God allowed Paul to face so many hindrances in his task of spreading the gospel. God doesn’t allow anything without reason of course, but consider how the greatest apostle spent much of the last years of his ministry in prison rather than preaching and building churches. It is of course because of that that we have his writings. Paul had strong desires to be preaching and visiting the churches (he told them that in his letters). But God’s desires was to preserve the faith in writings that would be passed on for multiple millenia and many billions of people including us and our children and our children’s children.
So here’s my point. If you see obstacles to doing ministry, perhaps they’re not. Perhaps they’re the very vehicle which God is going to do His work through. God cannot be mocked and his purposes cannot be thwarted.
We see obstacles. God doesn’t.
