By Nettie Holm

Most of us will be engaged in Community Ministries because we have had a strong stirring to engage beyond the walls of our church for justice and to bring the hope of Christ into our neighbourhoods. We have been (and hopefully still are) eager to live out the gospel of Christ in its full sense.

When Jesus explains the parable of the sower he says: The seeds that fellin good soil stand for those who hear the message and retain it in a good and obedient heart, and they persist until they bear fruit.(Luke 8:15).

 

Other translations use the word persevere: continue, determine, resolve.....The journey for justice and hope in our communities is not a phase we pass through on our Christian journey and then declare, ‘we’ve done that’. It is about obedience, faithfulness, determining to do as we believe Christ is teaching us to do, calling us to do. The book ‘The Hole in Our Gospel’ by Richard Stearns is the frank writings of a man who becomes the CEO of World Vision in America and is hijacked by the gospel and its focus on the poor. It is not a comfortable journey for him nor for us, but if we are to embrace the whole gospel then our continued engagement into our communities engaging with those marginalised through ethnicity, health issues, poverty, homelessness etc needs to be a long term commitment by the local church.

As you face into this new year, be encouraged by the words of Jesus: There will be fruit as you persist in obedience!

Kia mou ki to mahi. (Stick to your work!)