all things to all people

Chameleons for Christ? Ever struggle with blending in so well to your surroundings that hardly anyone knows you’re an apprentice of Jesus? Christ adapted to us for a different reason Paul says we’re to mimic Jesus and him for the same reason

Ever struggle with blending in so well to your surroundings that hardly anyone knows you’re an apprentice of Jesus?

Christ adapted to us for a different reason

Paul says we’re to mimic Jesus and him for the same reason

1Cor 9 19-23Even though I am free of the demands and expectations of everyone, I have voluntarily become a servant to any and all in order to reach a wide range of people: religious, nonreligious, meticulous moralists, loose-living immoralists, the defeated, the demoralized—whoever. I didn't take on their way of life. I kept my bearings in Christ—but I entered their world and tried to experience things from their point of view. I've become just about every sort of servant there is in my attempts to lead those I meet into a God-saved life. I did all this because of the Message. I didn't just want to talk about it; I wanted to be in on it!

1Cor 9 19-23Even though I am free of the demands and expectations of everyone, I have voluntarily become a servant to any and all in order to reach a wide range of people: religious, nonreligious, meticulous moralists, loose-living immoralists, the defeated, the demoralized—whoever. I didn't take on their way of life. I kept my bearings in Christ—but I entered their world and tried to experience things from their point of view. I've become just about every sort of servant there is in my attempts to lead those I meet into a God-saved life. I did all this because of the Message. I didn't just want to talk about it; I wanted to be in on it!

The Art of Being Water “ You put water into a cup, it becomes the cup. You put water into the bottle, it becomes the bottle. You put it into a teapot and it becomes a teapot. The water can flow. The water can crash. Be water, my friend.”

“ You put water into a cup, it becomes the cup. You put water into the bottle, it becomes the bottle. You put it into a teapot and it becomes a teapot. The water can flow. The water can crash. Be water, my friend.”

Third-Culture People “ Being third culture is about being water to a world that is deeply thirsty when it comes to spirituality and meaning, and is in need of adaptive and contextualized language and forms when talking about God and Christianity.” DAVE GIBBONS The Monkey & the Fish Zondervan 2009

Third-Culture People

“ Being third culture is about being water to a world that is deeply thirsty when it comes to spirituality and meaning, and is in need of adaptive and contextualized language and forms when talking about God and Christianity.”

DAVE GIBBONS

The Monkey & the Fish

Zondervan 2009

How Might God Be Calling Us to ADAPT to a Second Great Depression? Being the love of Christ when lots of people–in our church and in our community—are hurting financially New opportunities to serve others as a Faith Village of heroic apprentices of Jesus

Being the love of Christ when lots of people–in our church and in our community—are hurting financially

New opportunities to serve others as a Faith Village of heroic apprentices of Jesus

A Ripple Effect Giving Staffing Ministries “ Creating a Faith Village” Project Every crisis is a real opportunity for Christians to listen carefully to God and for more people to look to churches for practical help offered in love

Really Love God? Then Really Love Thy Neighbor “ Ubuntu is a concept that we have in our Bantu languages at home. Ubuntu is the essence of a being a person. It means that we are people through other people. We cannot be fully human alone. We are made for interdependence, we are made for family. When you have ubuntu , you embrace others. You are generous, compassionate. If the world had more ubuntu , we would not have war. We would not have this huge gap between the rich and the poor. You are rich so that you can make up what is lacking for others. You are powerful so that you can help the weak, just as a mother or father helps their children. This is God’s dream.” Desmond Tutu, God Has a Dream

“ Ubuntu is a concept that we have in our Bantu languages at home. Ubuntu is the essence of a being a person. It means that we are people through other people. We cannot be fully human alone. We are made for interdependence, we are made for family. When you have ubuntu , you embrace others. You are generous, compassionate. If the world had more ubuntu , we would not have war. We would not have this huge gap between the rich and the poor. You are rich so that you can make up what is lacking for others. You are powerful so that you can help the weak, just as a mother or father helps their children. This is God’s dream.”

Desmond Tutu, God Has a Dream