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Revolution faith community is about connecting and sharing
Connecting Without Boundaries

(Mission Work Video)

We’ve been talking this month about the work of the church in connecting people with God and with each other. What I want you to realize today is that when you partner with and support the Revolution Church, you are literally reaching into your community, across your state, throughout North America, and even around the world with the love and the truth of God.

We do this because this was the commission that Jesus gave His disciples and His church:

"Go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Teach these new disciples to obey all commands I have given you. And be sure of this – I am with you always, even to the end of the age." – Jesus’ words recorded in Matthew 28:19-20

Now we mention quite often our church’s partnership with local service organizations, like the Saline County Habitat for Humanity and CJCOHN, which provides a food pantry and utility assistance here in Benton.

When you give an offering to Christ and His Church here at the Revolution, a portion of every dollar you give goes to those community organizations to provide housing and food for our neighbors.

I want you to know we’re also in the process of setting up a partnership with a new, local homeless ministry which seeks to help men get out of shelters and re-integrated with the community while teaching them to follow Christ. Our desire is to be able to share with you more details about that in the weeks to come.

But let’s look beyond our own community.

Through our church’s partnership with the International Mission Board, we join with over 45,000 other churches in the United States and thousands of congregations across the world, and we pool and share our funds together so we can do more to connect people to God and His love.

We support over 5,000 full-time missionaries world-wide and thousands more short-term and volunteer workers. Through their efforts, over 1,000 new churches are started each year. In 2009, this work led to over 800,000 people committing their lives to Christ and being baptized.

Let’s get more specific.

(Haiti Slide)
Since the earthquake in Haiti last year, we have supported the work of thousands who have traveled to that island nation to provide medical care, fresh water wells, shelter and crisis counseling. Our workers have built hundreds of new homes and provided hundreds of thousands of meals. We are also building new churches there and training local Christians to staff those ministries.

(Africa slide)
In one rural area of Africa, malaria is the #1 cause of death, because the majority of the people live too far from the nearest medical clinics for treatment. So in that region, our missionaries are distributing a plant called the "Artemisia annua," which has proved nearly 100 percent effective in treating malaria. Farmers and families are being taught to grow and care for the plants, so they will no longer be dependent on others for their treatment.

(Southeast Asia slide)
In Southeast Asia, we support a tutoring program for impoverished children where they are also provided food that meets their nutritional needs five days a week. Local officials have recorded weight gain, improved health, better grades in school and growth in self-esteem for hundreds of children. Because of the success of this program and the goodwill it has created, the Gospel of Jesus has also been shared with thousands of people, and new community churches are springing up across the region.

One more:

(Water well digging slide)
In countries in the Middle East and Central Asia, the IMB has field personnel working on hundreds of projects to provide clean drinking water. These ventures range from digging wells to providing community or home holding tanks and rainwater catchment systems. Local residents are taught to provide maintenance on the systems, and the lives of over 100,000 people have been improved. In every region where these projects are started, there have been local residents who have come to receive God’s love through faith in Christ.

Folks, we could go on and on talking about what you’re doing when you support and give to God’s Work through the Revolution.

Let me show you what our 2011 budget calls for us to give this year:

Arkansas Ministries $2,765
CJCOHN $4,130
Men’s Homeless Ministry $4,130
Habitat for Humanity $8,260
International Missions $16,575

This represents 13% of our total ministry budget and is over twice what the average church in America gives to missions and ministries beyond its own walls. Of course, the only way we as a church can give those funds is if all our families and individuals support and give to the Revolution.

And of course, we provide opportunities for you to participate personally in projects through Habitat and CJCOHN, and this summer we will take a team of teens and adults to Durango, Colorado to worship and minister with folks from across the country.

So I want you to understand when you connect with the Revolution Church, you’re connecting with the world to share God’s love and the truth about the kingdom of God that comes by faith in Christ.

Now, as I’ve said each week this month, we’re taking some time here on Sunday mornings to connect and get to know each other, since we all share the work and the fellowship of Christ’s church.

And this morning I’ve got some more small group questions for you. So right now we’re going to organize into our groups and talk to each other a little bit.

(Group Organization)

Connection Questions
#1 Where is your favorite place that you have ever visited or vacationed, and why was that your favorite?

#2 Where is the place that you would like to visit or vacation one day, and why that place?


#3 Which one of the following acts of service or ministry would you most like to be involved with and why?
Visiting in Nursing Homes Teaching / Working with Children
Taking Food to Bereaved Painting / Repairs on Houses
Church Greeting / Hospitality Counseling / Listening to Others
Helping in Food Pantry Recreation Outreach
(Other)

#4 Who would you like to see get better connected to God and Christ’s Church this year? How can you assist in that process?

Folks, at the Revolution Church, we say our goal is to CHANGE YOUR WORLD.

We want to change your world by helping you get to know God better and by letting you grow and share life with others in Faith Community through the church.

We want to change your world by empowering you to let God work through you to bless the lives of others.

So every year, we talk about what it means to be the Revolution Church, and we give you the opportunity to identify with the church through a Membership Covenant.

Pick up a copy of the Membership Covenant that was in your seat.

(Go Over Membership Covenant)

Next week is Covenant Membership Sunday, and we’d like you to make a commitment to be a partner with everyone else as we strive to live out God’s purposes for your life.

Membership Covenant Card