Serving Christ Through Montgomery Area Churches

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4, 2016

Focus on The Gospel

Ken May

As I write these words, we are in the midst of a

rather typical heat wave in Montgomery. Such
stifling heat takes away ones energy and makes it
hard to focus on doing anything creative. Last
night at 9:00, our house was still 89 degrees. This
morning, I had to install a window in our storage
room before a realtor brought someone to see the
house, so I got an early start. It became
increasingly more complicated as I worked
taking longer than I imagined it would. Even
though I was finished by 10:30, I was thoroughly
drenched in perspiration.

conversations. I think if we asked, we would discover that many if

not most of our church members have not made any new
relationships in the last three months.
Are we caught up in keeping up with all the activities, or are we
willing to be people on a mission to build gospel focused
relationships? What would Jesus do? What did Jesus do? He
established new relationships everywhere he went Zacchaeus,
woman at the well, Bartimaeus, and Nicodemus are just a few
examples. He even called twelve men to be with him in his
ministry.

Director of Missions

Just as home projects seem to become more

difficult than I imagined, church work tends to be the same.
Sometimes, the work in the church is complicated and difficult. I
wonder, if sometimes it is difficult because we make it that way.
Can you think of a way that would make the work of the church less
complicated and difficult? How you ask? Let me tell you.
Churches do many different kinds of activities with all different
ages and groups of people. Many, if not most, of these activities are
good, but I would guess that a very large percentage of activities are
not focused on the gospel of Jesus Christ. We have fallen prey to
the idea that a calendar full of good activities is a sign that we are
successful. That is not necessarily true. If our primary function is
to make disciples who are making more disciples, then these good
activities may detract from that purpose.
For example, when I was campus minister at Troy University, I had
individual students who were active in almost everything we did:
puppets, clowns, ensemble, mime, choir, intramurals, leadership
team, etc. When I would seek to engage one in a discipleship
relationship or group, their excuse was, I dont have time. When
I asked who they were cultivating toward sharing the gospel a reply
I often received was, All my friends are here at the BCM. Our
busy-ness was detracting from our main purpose, making disciples.

News & Events

HERITAGE
BAPTIST
1849 PERRY HILL RD

6:30PM
AUGUST 10-31

Paid In Full
August 10

Lawrence Phipps
August 17

Ryan Whitley
August 24

Travis Coleman
August 31

Rescheduling our ministries and activities so that many of the

rehearsal or practice times ran concurrently meant a person had to
choose what was most meaningful to them and could not participate
in everything. This much needed change freed them up to be more
intentional about engaging in gospel focused relationships.

Rally For The Galley

Childrens Hope

August 13

will be sponsoring a
Haiti Summit
First Baptist Montgomery

One of the hardest things to do in church is to discontinue

something. My suggestion is to ask a few questions about any
activity. Is this a gospel focused activity? Will it engage people
with the life changing gospel? If not, is there a way to make it a
gospel activity? If the answer is no, then maybe that activity needs
to cease. Many of our activities are planned by us for us and our
group, while the people who need to hear the gospel are not even
considered.

Motorcycle Ride and

Food Scavenger Hunt to
stock Forest Parks food
pantry.

When we free up time, we can then challenge people to hang out

looking for openings for gospel conversations. When we hang
out in a place we dont normally go, we have the opportunity to
make new friends and build new relationships. When we make new
relationships we will have the opportunity to have gospel

Currently seeking bikers,

rally locations, and
sponsors.
To register or for more
information contact Donna
McCullough at
269-5726.

@ugust 20 | 9:30[m
in the youth center.
For more information, contact Ann Amster at
202-2714 or ann@childrens-hope.com.

Community of Hope
Annual Gospel Sing
August 5 | 6:30pm
Dalraida Baptist Church
3838 Wares Ferry Rd

A love offering will be taken to

benefit Community of HOPE.
Featuring: Calvarys Call, The Dye
Brothers, and The Jewell Brothers.

The Montgomery Baptist Association 20 Interstate Park Dr. Montgomery, Alabama 36109 334-271-6227 www.mgmbaptists.org
This publication is made possible by your churches contributions to Associational Missions.