Several years ago, Vineyard Cincinnati Pastor Steve Sjogren was thoroughly disgusted on a Monday morning. He had just woken up after sleeping off an 18 hour day of praying, preaching and ministering his heart out with very little visible results and he was mad. Maybe he should just quit and drive a school bus all the time instead of part time like now.
But the Holy Spirit had some encouraging words for Steve and those words turned into an approach to outreach that has taken the world by storm. It is called, Servant Evangelism.
SE is a simple idea. Go out into the highways and byways and do good works for the people you meet. Such activities would be well received and people would then be attracted to God. It has worked all over the world. Write Steve at stevesjogren@servantevangelism.com
Serving one another is a very good way to defeat the devil's defenses and draw the best emotions from people to the Lord. We know it was the preference of Jesus as a means of evangelism because He did it in Luke 9 and Luke 10 with startling results. But, will it actually have a positive effect in Christians as well as Pre-believers?
What if a husband were to decide to win his wife's heart by serving her instead of criticizing her? Would she be likely to show him more affection after being served than before? Pre-believers seem to have more trust for God and the church after being touched by folks who offer them God's love "with no strings attached".
Would a wife develop more trust and openness if a man were to offer her Servant Encouragement with no strings attached?
Think about it. Would you like to ask the Lord to help you develop an attitude of Servant Encouragement for the people in your family? Do you have enough grace and mercy to serve them and demand nothing in return? (Husbands, love your wives as Christ loved the church and gave His life for her. Ephesians 5:25)
Can Servant Encouragement take the Christian world by storm? (Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other just as God in Christ also forgave you. Eph 4:32)
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A few years ago God began leading me back to the Catholic church, which I had left in my late teens. One of the things that I appreciate most about the Catholic church is the emphasis on loving and serving, for its own sake, not to achieve some end result. Mother Teresa is the most vivid and visible example of that in our time. She cared for the most extreme outcasts who could give nothing in return AS IF they were Jesus himself. Her serving was so joy-filled because of her communion with God and her belief that she was touching God by serving the dying poor of Calcutta! I believe the core of Christian sprirituality is the sort of humility and dying to self that is essential to such acts of ministry. In the past couple of years I have found that dying to myself (my ego, and it's demands) is the 'secret' to true joy. The prayer of St. Francis sums it up quite eloquently. It is in loving that we find love, it is in forgiving that we find mercy, it is in dying that we find true life.
I have been involved in jail ministry for a year and a half. Not much glory for the ego in that! But it has blessed me immensely to serve and to love those who are like lepers in our society. What a privilege it is to tell those folks about the compassion and mercy of our God.
I have also grown in grace and willingness to serve my husband of 31 years, Dave. Before we were married, our pastor told us our primary calling was to be a channel of God's grace to each other. At times when I was mad as heck and wanted OUT, I recalled those words, and I was caught up short. I stayed, and I'm glad I did. Our love for each other is deeper, sweeter and more tender than ever!! OF COURSE we are called to serve one another! It is our society's warped view of marriage (and how to find happiness) that leads us to expect that marriage is a way to get OUR needs met. Jesus told his disciples to love one another AS HE had loved them. He said that the world would know we are his disciples by the love we have for one another--not by our beautiful churches, charasmatic leaders, or awesome music. I think we have failed miserably at this. This kind of love is only possible when we are intimately connected with the source of Love, so that we KNOW God's love for us. Our relationship with God is the source of love, and the power to overcome the selfishness that keeps us from loving fully.
Many Christians struggle to know God's will for their lives. While God may lead one here, and another elsewhere, His will for each of us is to be transformed into the likeness of Christ. How do we do that? By imitating Christ. 1Cor 13 spells it out quite clearly. Be patient, kind, merciful, longsuffering, forebearing, self-controlled, etc. In doing so, we are bit by bit transformed---shaped as clay on the potter's wheel.
Using a term such as 'servant encouragement' may get some people's attention, and they may consider this as a radical new concept. I call it obedience. But hey---what ever works!!!
Peace,
Vicki Gottfried
Vicki, It is so good to hear from you. Keep up the good work of loving Dave and others. We can't improve on that can we? I have many great memories of you two and the ways God touched us through His love and power and truth.
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