Devotions

Rev Gav

Connection

Romans 15.14–21

I am fully convinced, my dear brothers and sisters, that you are full of goodness. You know these things so well you can teach each other all about them. Even so, I have been bold enough to write about some of these points, knowing that all you need is this reminder. For by God’s grace, I am a special messenger from Christ Jesus to you Gentiles. I bring you the Good News so that I might present you as an acceptable offering to God, made holy by the Holy Spirit.

So I have reason to be enthusiastic about all Christ Jesus has done through me in my service to God. Yet I dare not boast about anything except what Christ has done through me, bringing the Gentiles to God by my message and by the way I worked among them. They were convinced by the power of miraculous signs and wonders and by the power of God’s Spirit. In this way, I have fully presented the Good News of Christ from Jerusalem all the way to Illyricum.

My ambition has always been to preach the Good News where the name of Christ has never been heard, rather than where a church has already been started by someone else. I have been following the plan spoken of in the Scriptures, where it says,

“Those who have never been told about him will see,
and those who have never heard of him will understand.”

Reflect

Paul wrote, “My ambition has always been to preach the Good News where the name of Christ has never been heard.”

Yes! This, and this again!

This week, I was chatting with a friend about how we ‘do’ church, including our finances, our Sunday worship, our programmes, and so on, and I was reminded that all these things stem from the people groups or communities to which we are called. A friend of mine used to tell me, “The church is the only club that exists for its non-members,” and although the church isn’t a club, I get the idea!

We all have concentric ‘spheres of influence’ — on a personal level, on a church level, and, if in one, on a denominational level, and it is worth asking the questions:

1. To whom is God calling me to reach with God’s love?
2. To whom is my church called to reach with God’s love?
3. To whom is my denomination called to reach with God’s love?

If we do not know the answers to these questions then we need to spend time with God, and others, discerning to whom we or our church is called. There’s no point in putting on contemplative worship if our calling is to reach Under 10s, and there’s no point in holding programmes for teenagers if our calling is to connect with the elderly, and so on. Some churches have a broad focus, and some have a narrow focus. We need as many different churches as there are people groups!

I once led a Hip-Hop church in a city centre. It was a Christian community called to reach members of the Hip-Hop community — break-dancers, DJs, MCs (rappers), graffiti artists, and beatboxers. Our worship times were AWESOME! We didn’t try and convert people to a pre-existing way of worshipping or a traditional method of expressing their Christianity. We had food and drink, then massive canvases on which people could communally paint and draw, a dance floor where dancers could express worship to God, microphones and a sound system, decks, and lights. We weren’t going to connect the existing Hip-Hop community to God by getting people to sit in rows on hard pews whilst singing Victorian hymns!

Although everyone is welcome to join FAB, we have a joint ministry and mission to marginalised groups, particularly people who have been hurt or rejected by the Christian Church because of their sexuality, gender, age, ability, race, or social status. If you know of someone that might benefit from being part of the FAB community, please do let them know about us.

To paraphrase Paul from today’s Bible Reading, “I, Rev Gav, am fully convinced, my dear Fabbers, that you are full of goodness and that you know Christ so well you can teach others all about God’s love.”

Amen.

Pray

Holy God
Thank you that my
faith is not personal
but that you call me
to share and live
the good news of your love.
Help me to reach
those who have been
hurt or rejected by the Church
and to demonstrate
compassion, healing,
forgiveness, and love.
This day and forever.

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