3 Practices to Activate Faith
“I thought the place would burn down when I came in.”
I have heard this quote, or something like it, numerous times at One Life as we pursue the vision of being church planters devoted to reaching unchurched secular minded people. I smile every time, because it showed we were on mission and that we are activating faith where people are.
God is the Great Activator. Scripture is littered with story after story of marginal, everyday people who became unstoppable forces for the Kingdom once their faith was turned on. Here are just a few of my favorite examples:
Esther: An orphan and concubine who delivered God’s people from genocide.
Jeremiah: A young man filled with self-doubt who, with authority, called his countrymen back into relationship with God.
Amos: A simple farmer who had no inspiration toward ‘church work’ who became a powerful deliverer of God’s Word.
Jonah: A coward and deceiver who brought the message of God’s love to a new people.
Peter: Everybody’s favorite duh!-sciple who became the first preacher of the Good News and church leader.
Paul: Former church destroyer who became history’s greatest church planter.
It’s hard for us to understand this now because Christianity is part of our cultural conscience, but the message of Jesus revolutionized the ancient world’s view of people by giving them inherent value and connecting all people to the source of life. There was no barred entry to relationship with God, and therefore no class of distinction between people, “It is your faith in the Anointed Jesus that makes all of you children of God…It makes no difference whether you are a Jew or a Greek, a slave or a freeman, a man or a woman, because in Jesus the Anointed, the Liberating King, you are all one.” – Paul to the Galatians
That is our goal for Teams, to help people tap into their relationship with God…no matter who they are or what they’ve done. Whether someone is far from God, exploring faith, or living a Christ-centered life, our Teams should be places where we help each other journey closer to Christ.
This can become real action in our lives by helping each other pursue these 3 things on our Teams:
1. Turn everything toward the Gospel.
When everything we do is filtered through the sacrificial love of Jesus, people begin to experience grace. And thanks to the Reveal Study, we know that one of the best movers of someone far from God closer to Jesus is in truly understanding grace. Once people let go of their need to fix themselves, they are free to live. I’ve heard it said that the real job of a Christian is to be the “Chief Reminding Officer” of the Good News of Jesus. We need to help each other turn everything towards Jesus.
2. Encourage daily reflection on Scripture.
Another Reveal Study discovery: The #1 mover of people closer to Christ, across the entire spectrum, is daily reflection on Scripture. Obviously we can’t group together everyday, but we can use our group time to lovingly encourage others toward spending time in the Bible. Whether that’s through accountability partners, a daily text message, a Facebook group…whatever, we should challenge each other to reflect on Scripture daily. Then, when we gather, our Teams can be a product of a life lived in God’s Word.
3. Love one another.
This is still the tried and true answer of how to activate someone’s faith. When we get to the point when we can actually say to others, “I value your life above my own,” and they experience that sort of love in ways that impact their real lives, the seeds of faith begin to grow. This type of love simply cannot be shown consistently among a crowd of strangers, but has to occur in smaller groups of people who are living life in community.
What methods or practices have you done that have helped activate the faith of people in your group where they are in one of these 3 areas?