Wise Words on Making a Difference Where You Live, Work, and Play

From Bob Adgate
b2g Leader and Metro Detroit Leader

All around us God is moving and drawing people to Himself, where we live, work, study, relax, and play. Sometimes this movement of God seems almost undetectable, but it is the biggest thing happening on our planet—and God allows us to have a part in it with Him!

What does Colossians 1:5,6 tell us about the nature of Christ's Gospel movement?

" . . . the gospel is constantly bearing fruit and increasing, even as it is doing in you. . . . "

We are part of Christ's life-giving movement as we live as "insiders" with unique access to co-workers, classmates, neighbors, family members, and others in our social network who are yet to know Christ. We can live as Christ's insiders among our friends by:

• Seeing people and opportunities right in front of us.
• Not going it alone, but partnering with other believer friends.
• Praying for our friends who are yet to know Christ.
• Building authentic relationships with them by getting close enough for them to see our humanity and to see the attractive difference Jesus is making in our humanity.
• Conversing about our faith in natural ways with them.
• Inviting friends, in God's timing, to explore Jesus more by reading the Bible together or talking about spiritual things.

As we live and linger among friends right where we live, work, and play, we trust God to use our lives to influence them and draw them to Himself. What stands out to you in I Thessalonians 2:7,8 about being a witness for Christ as an insider?

" . . . we were gentle among you, like a mother caring for her little children. We loved you so much that we were delighted to share with you not only the gospel of God but our own lives as well, because you had become so dear to us."

Based on 2 Corinthians 2:14, what can we trust God for as we live as insiders among our friends?

"Thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and manifests through us the sweet aroma of the knowledge of Him in every place."

Seeing the opportunities right in front of you

In the book The Shaping of Things to Come, authors Michael Frost and Alan Hirsch say, " . . . for there is nothing in which he [God] cannot be found. It's all in the ‘seeing' and the perceiving. Having broadened our concept of God's involvement in the world and our part in it, Christians can then be free to engage missionally in any and every place. The whole world becomes an arena for the in-breaking of God's kingdom."

Free to engage in any and every place. That means you can be an insider right where you are . . . living out and advancing the Gospel together . . .

• in living rooms, lunch rooms
• in chat rooms, game rooms
• in coffee houses, offices, front yards
• in the inner-city, suburbia, on your street
• in Ultimate Frisbee groups
• tennis clubs, book clubs
• among neighbors, co-workers, students
• among friends and family
• anywhere with anyone!

Seeing the people right in front of you

Slow down to see the people and opportunities right where you live, work, and play. God has made no mistake in placing you "next to" the people He wants you to rub shoulders with and connect with. We need God's help to have eyes to see an array of people and opportunities right in front of us. Here are some questions to pray over and ask yourself in discovering people and opportunities God has given you as His insider among them.

1. What are the "traffic patterns" of your week and month? Where are you, with whom, doing what? Who is "next to" you in your weekly traffic patterns? Write out names that come to mind. 
   • Co-workers
   • Family members
   • Friends
   • Neighbors
   • Coffee shop customers and employees
   • Book club, recreational club, or social club members
     
     
2. What do you enjoy and with whom do you enjoy doing it?

Answering these questions will help you realize there are people all around you that you can influence for Jesus. In their book The Insider, Jim Petersen and Mike Shamy say, "Are you looking for your calling, wondering what God wants you to do? Paul [the apostle] is saying, open your eyes and look! You are surrounded."

Indeed friend, you are surrounded.