One of the primary objectives of Christianity is to make God’s name famous in our circle of influence, pointing everyone we can to the true King, Jesus. We have the answers to the questions that burden the heart of the unbeliever: Is there a God? If so, who is he? Does my life matter? YES! His name is Jesus! And YES!
Christians are God’s mouthpieces and get to share in the call to declare God’s truth and love to the world. We have been commissioned and equipped to do so! Commissioned in Matthew 28 when Jesus told his followers to “Go, therefore and make disciples of all nations…”; and equipped with the Holy Spirit inside of us.
God declared this truth through the prophet Isaiah to the ignorant who carried around idols and prayed to gods that could not save them:
“There is no God apart from me, a righteous God and a Savior; there is none but me. Turn to me and be saved, all you ends of the earth; for I am God, and there is no other. Before me every knee will bow; by me every tongue will swear, They will say of me, ‘In the Lord alone are righteousness and strength.’” All who have raged against him will come to him and be put to shame. Isaiah 45:21-24
Outreach is focused time spent pursuing those outside of our immediate family and church family circles. Time spent reaching that outer ring of people keeps us from living an overly selfish, me-focused life. Don’t get me wrong, we shouldn’t neglect the former in pursuit of the latter. Taking care of ourselves and investing time with other believers is key. But, if it stops there, we miss the point.
At New Day Nichols and Vandalia we deeply value both the people already in the family of Christ as well as those who may not know Him yet. We consider how we can impact those around us by making connections in the community and with the neighbors who pass our buildings each week. Our Nichols campus is holding a Candy Trail on Oct. 31st for this very purpose. We look forward to continuing to reach Cass county and the Nichols and Vine neighborhoods in 2021.
At New Day we will never give up this pursuit we’ve been called to and equipped for knowing our impact will be exponentially greater when we work together to make God’s name famous!