This week, we take a look at the mission and core values at the heart of Engedi. It’s important for us to be reminded that we aren’t just here to help people discover Christ; we’re called to help them discover Christ and then to change the world. This is at the heart of our mission to advance the kingdom revolution of Jesus worldwide.
There are five ways we seek to accomplish this mission:
1. We Listen for God’s voice and Learn from His Word as we follow Jesus with our whole lives.
Read Acts 2.42–47.
We can only live the life God made us for when we are living out of His power and not our own. This is why it is so critical to regularly spend time reading the bible and seeking God in prayer. Some ways to help us stay engaged in these practices are finding a daily bible-reading plan, participating in periodic church-wide experiences like 21 Days of Prayer and Fasting, attending Encounter, and praying over the Sunday prayer requests.
2. We Acknowledge our journey with one another as we pursue authentic community.
Following Jesus is a personal thing, but it is never just a personal thing. We can’t read the New Testament without seeing the importance of being in intimate community with other Christians. We read in Acts 2 that the New Testament church met together regularly. One way to do that at Engedi is to get into a CABLE group. This is a great way to read, study, pray, care, and be real together with fellow followers of Jesus.
3. We Eat with those who are culturally different from us as we seek multicultural friendships.
Read Galatians 2.11–14.
Paul challenges Peter about how he lived out this principle of multicultural living. Even the man that Jesus called “the rock” needed to be reminded of the significance of living outside of his cultural comfort zone. Likewise, it takes effort on our part to remain faithful to multicultural living. To do this we, can look for opportunities to engage in cultural discussions, attend multicultural events, and eat with others who come from different backgrounds than we do.
4. We Care for the poor and vulnerable as we extend compassion.
God’s concern for the poor and vulnerable is one of the central themes in Jesus’ teaching and throughout the bible as a whole. There are more than 2000 verses in the bible about this topic—more than prayer, heaven, and hell combined. If compassion for the hurting is a big deal to God, it should be for us. There are many local opportunities to engage in the compassionate care for those in need by coming alongside our local partners like Gleaners, Kids Hope, Heights of Hope, and many more. We can also engage in efforts to meet needs around the world in our partner countries like Guatemala, Nepal, Zambia, and others.
5. We Bless our world with servant love as we share the good news about Jesus.
Each person in our city, country, and world was created in the image of God. It should be our desire to help as many people as possible become aware that they can spend eternity with Him. About half of the people groups around the globe have yet to hear about Jesus’ love and forgiveness. We can build friendships with those around us that don’t know Jesus, and share the exciting news about Jesus. We can invite them to experience church with us. We can also support global missions or even plan to travel abroad on a short-, mid-, or long-term basis.
Discussion Questions
- What are you running hard after in your own life? How will it help advance the kingdom revolution of Jesus?
- How often do you try to live in your own power (not reading your bible and not spending time in prayer)? How can you build up these habits?
- In what ways do you regularly acknowledge your journey with an intimate community?
- Who are you eating with, or meeting with, that is culturally different than you?
- How are you regularly extending care and compassion to those who are hurting?
- Who are you praying for and talking to about the love and forgiveness of Jesus Christ? When can you invite them to take a next step towards a relationship with Jesus?
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