ECC-Evangelical Covenant Church
The Kingdom of God took root in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus, and with the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, the Kingdom of God began to take shape in the world, as well.
The book of Acts is a story of action, faith, courage, and boldness in uncertain times. Then, it was persecution that deployed the Church; today, it is a virus. Tomorrow, it may be something else. How might the Kingdom take shape in our world, as it did then?
Join us Sundays at 10:30am (ecclife.net/stream or facebook.com/ecclife) as we rediscover the passion and power of the early Church and what they have to teach us in our uncertain and anxious times today.
The Kingdom Takes Shape: The Prime Directive
May 24, 2020
The Sunday after Ascension Day
Stacey Littlefield, Lead Pastor
Acts 8:26-40 NIV
Write this week's good news statement below.
Questions to ponder.
What has been the hardest challenge for you, personally, during this pandemic season?
What opportunities for growth, if any, have you discovered during this time?
Questions to ponder.
In your own words, what is the Prime Directive of the Early Church in the book of Acts? In your own words, what is the Prime Directive for ECC? Or your life, personally?
Questions to ponder.
Who might feel "excluded" from the kingdom of God in today's world? Why do you think they feel this way? What is the "good news" to them?
Questions to ponder.
What is your experience of the Holy Spirit? What were you taught about the Holy Spirit, if you grew up in the faith? How do you sense the Spirit speaks to you today?
Quotables.
Read the passage below from Chris Green, as he reflects on the evangelism done by the Samaritan woman at the well after her encounter with Jesus in John 4 ("Then, leaving her water jar, the woman went back to the town and said to the people, 'Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Messiah?' They came out of the town and made their way toward him.").
How do Green's thoughts inform your own experience or expectations about what it means to be an evangelist? Where do his words challenge your thinking or what you've always believed? How might they create in you the possibility of sharing your experience of Jesus with someone who does not yet know him?
"She was tactful--overjoyed, but neither overeager nor pushy. With her testimony, she gently created the same space of possibility for her neighbors that Christ had created for her. John says that many believed on him because of her witness, although they make it clear to her, 'It is no longer because of your words that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves...' (4:41-42a). And, astonishingly, they come to understand him in a way she had not even suggested. He is not only Israel's Messiah but the Savior of the world (4:42b).
"We have much to learn from her witness. Not least that our task is not to convince our neighbors to believe in Jesus, much less to accept our beliefs and way of life as their own. We need to remember that our calling is nothing more or less than to bear witness to what God has done in our lives in ways true to his character--his humility, his gentleness, his mercy, his patience, his compassion.
"In evangelization, the how and the what are inseparable and mutually determined. The kindness of God leads to repentance, Scripture says. So it is only as we kindly bear witness to God's kindness that we can help others find the way to repentance. We are at most only midwives: we do not create life in others; we merely come alongside them to help them give birth to the Christ the Spirit has formed in them." (Surprised by God, p.78)
For children.
Can you think of a time when you felt left out? How did that feel? Did anyone try to make you feel better? Can you think of a time when you made someone feel welcome?
Prayer for the Sunday after Ascension Day
O God, the King of glory, you have exalted your only Son Jesus Christ with great triumph to your kingdom in heaven: Do not leave us comfortless, but send us your Holy Spirit to strengthen us, and exalt us to that place where our Savior Christ has gone before; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, in glory everlasting. Amen.