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Restoring the World One Relationship at a Time

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Did you ever wonder why Jesus walked everywhere He went? I mean, He is God, so why not roll around in a chariot or at least ride a horse?  I think the answer is simple:  Jesus invested in relationships. To ride along past people would have saved Him time and no doubt energy; it would have been more efficient. But Jesus knew that to engage people with the life He offered, He would have to build the kingdom one relationship at a time.

I have always admired our mission statement: “To reach the disconnected and grow the connected.”  It embodies the Great Commission in Matthew 28 and I can dig that. I think we all agree that as Christians we are called to reach people who are far from God with the gospel and disciple those who follow Him to be even more fruitful. But HOW? Often we hear, “invite them to church, invite them to MOPS, invite them to Celebrate Recovery.” These are all good things, but often that invite is the lowest relational collateral WE have to put in the game. God uses the power of personal invitation to begin many stories, but He always uses the power of personal people to keep those stories going.  To reach the disconnected and grow the connected we will need to do what Jesus did and engage people “one relationship at a time.” It’s not easy, efficient, or fast, but it’s worth it.  As each one of us owns this simple approach, we are following in the steps of the Master who took His time to invest in people.

What does restoring the world one relationship at a time mean to me? It means I get the chance daily to live as Jesus did, valuing people and investing in their eternal story.  So if you are running fast to get the next thing done, slow down and look for the footprints of Jesus. They may just lead you on a journey with someone that culminates in that person walking with Christ in eternity.   

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