Archive for Bridging the Gap
Bridging the Gap Through Giving
The whole reason the church exists is to share the Good News of God ?s gift to the world, his son Jesus and the forgiveness of sins that he offers. As we focus on the season where even the world focuses on giving gifts, let us bridge the gap through our giving. The obvious gap [...]
Bridging the Gap Joyfully
The season of Christmas provides the best opportunities to bridge the gap. It ?s a time when families come together, despite their dysfunction. It ?s a time when communities come together, despite their differences. It ?s the time when the most people are made aware of the name of Jesus, whether they recognize who he [...]
Bridging the Gap Through Prayer for Each Other
The sermon on Sunday, November 4, encouraged us to ?do everything without complaining, ? (Philippians 2:14). Easier said than done, right? Much of the complaining we do comes from differences in personality, background, and measures of faith. We ?re not all at the same level of spiritual maturity; so we experience friction. As we strive [...]
Bridging the Gap as a Family
Sunday, October 21, was a great family reunion. After our regular three services, during which we find ourselves segregated at opposite ends of the building for various reasons, we came together to ordain deacons, an elder, and a minister. There were children, teens, young adults, parents, and grandparents all sitting together, singing together, celebrating together. [...]
Bridging the Gap by Example
In his letter to Titus, the apostle Paul lays out a plan that would help the church in Crete get their act together. In a nutshell, Paul tells Titus to lead by example and encourage all Christians to do the same. In chapter two Paul tells Titus how various groups within the church ought to [...]
Bridging the Gap Missionally
If you didn ?t get a pack of M&Ms on September 16, don ?t worry; there will be more. We ?re trying to develop a habit of thinking of evangelism and discipleship as if we are missionaries in our own families, schools, neighborhoods, and workplaces. So when we find opportunities to do that as a [...]
Bridging the Gap Encouragingly
The idea of ?bridging the gap ? is appealing because it ?s so easy for us to see the gaps between people. We recognize the gaps between individuals quickly: our appearance, our words, our actions, our beliefs. But sometimes it ?s tough for people in the church to know how to bridge those gaps, especially [...]
Bridging the Gap Intentionally
It ?s back-to-school time! My kids don ?t share my enthusiasm, but I have always loved getting ready to go back to school. I could live in an office supply store, looking at pens and pads of paper, checking out the latest binders and backpacks. As I grew up, I loved choosing classes and planning [...]
Bridging the Gap Transparently
I spent the week of July 15 serving at Wolverine Christian Service Camp as a family leader and workshop leader during Senior High Week. The theme for the week was ?Audacious Authenticity, ? and the phrase of the week was ?lowering your waterline. ? The waterline refers to an iceberg, which has only a small [...]
Bridging the Gap Through Hospitality
During the North American Christian Convention, I attended a workshop about the missional nature of the church. Basically, to quote author Ed Stetzer, ?Missional means being a missionary without ever leaving your zip code. ? In other words, Christians need to be missionaries within their own culture. While the phrase ?cultural relevance ? has become [...]
Bridging the Gap Patiently
As we continue to bridge the gaps between God and people and among people, we find ourselves experiencing various forms of discomfort. While many long for the discomfort of maxing out our seating capacity, the experiences we will have before we get to that point may cause friction among the people who come into our [...]
Bridging the Gap Creatively
As we get closer to July 4 and start thinking about our Independence Day celebrations, I start thinking about what it means to be free. I ?m thankful to live in a country that offers us so many freedoms in how we live our lives. But I ?m more thankful for the ultimate freedom we [...]
Bridging the Gap Through Shared Responsibility
I ?ve always been intrigued by the mechanics of the human body. In fact, I was pre-med until the fifth grade. The most fascinating thing about the human body is how the many different parts and systems work together in a complex series of chemical, electrical, mechanical, psychological, emotional, and spiritual activities orchestrated to accomplish [...]
Bridging the Gap Through Service
Many people look to Romans as a summary of Christian theology, but there ?s just too much there for it to be a summary. Read Ephesians 2. Now that ?s a nice summary. ?Let me sum up. ? Paul says that we were once dead in our sins, all of us, because we live in [...]
Bridging the Gap with Selflessness
This past weekend, the sermon directed us to look inward to find the tension we have with worship. Without rehashing the whole sermon, the inner tension we have with worship is probably related to the fact that we are created in God ?s image. Because we are made in the image of God, we sometimes [...]