Related Message

The Power of Proximity

Off the beaten path.

Welcome to your space to Read. What you'll find here are two different kinds of reading recommendations, resources to read in order to encounter God's revelation of himself in more in depth and personal ways: a list of daily Bible readings to sustain your personal time with God throughout the week, and a few book recommendations to more deeply explore the themes we encountered in worship. "Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path," (Ps. 119:105).

Daily Bible Readings for February 5-11, 2012
Faithfully follow this reading plan in 2012 and by the end of the year you will have read through the entire Bible, cover to cover, having encountered the New Testament twice! Sit with God's word. Let it soak into your soul. Listen for God revealing who he is, who he desires you to be, and the life he is calling you into.

(For an introduction to the biblical book of Leviticus, click here and here.)

Book Recommendations for Bursting Your Bubble: The Power of Proximity
Dig deeper and explore further the themes we encountered in worship this weekend. Grab a good book, a pencil and a journal and thoughtfully open yourself up to more intentionally and deeply love God with all of your mind.

If the gospel really is good news, why do most Christians avoid evangelism? Why is “witnessing” often a negative experience? In Evangelism Without Additives, Jim Henderson suggests that it is possible to communicate the good news without having to become a spiritual salesperson. What if you didn’t have to make a speech in order to “witness”? You could use everyday experiences to nudge others closer to Jesus? The things you’re already doing counted as evangelism? What if being yourself and becoming unusually interested in others caused them to ask you about Jesus?

 

Evangelism is as simple and as scary as walking across the room. Bill Hybels' heartfelt burden for sharing the Christian message is clear as he guides readers to a new understanding of why and how they can help others meet God. Just Walk Across The Room offers solid advice on evangelism, yet does so without sounding like he's checking off items on a spiritual list. His approach to evangelism is relational, focusing on the three Ds—develop friendships, discover stories, discern next steps—in a clear, conversational way, all the while challenging Christians to move beyond their insulated "evangelism-void vacuum."

Christendom is dying and needs to be removed from its life-support system. In The Shaping Of Things To Come, Michael Frost and Alan Hirsch present an alternative model for ministry in today's post-Christian context. Instead of mourning the demise of the Western church as the religious guardian of Western society, the authors explain how the church can be reborn through incarnational mission, Jesus-shaped spirituality, and apostolic leadership. Church leaders who heed the authors call will see death turned into new life through the creation of a vital, missional church.

For this week's spiritual exercises, check out REFLECT.
For this week's conversations starters, check out TALK.