Executing ministry “outside of the box“ requires a radical mindset. This mindset requires an open- mindedness and willingness to try new things and push the ministry envelope WITHOUT undermining or compromising the Word of God.

Jesus, as our example, was a radical and a revolutionary. His teaching and preaching turned the “establishment“ upside down, challenged tradition and rejected man’s definition of religion and spirituality.

Despite His revolutionary approach, Jesus never stopped loving people nor did He ever contradict the Word.

Tonight’s focus is “radical engagement“; which implies that we must be eager and willing to make ourselves available to introduce others to the Gospel.

We must, however, be careful that our engagement does not create barriers when our ministry mandate calls for us to build bridges.

This requires a willingness to perform honest and frequent self examination, to be certain that the words that we speak and the methods that we use, though well-intentioned and thought-provoking continue to be focused on drawing people to Christ rather than pushing them away.

As believers, striving to accomplish our Kingdom assignments, we never want to be the reason why people opt to keep Jesus at a distance.

Life and death are in the power of what we say, and our daily prayer is that the words that we speak and the thoughts that we have would be acceptable to Jesus.

When these two affirmations become our daily ministry and evangelism barometer, we are well on our way to practicing radical engagement.

God’s message to Jeremiah is relevant for all of us, that we are to “go where He tells us to go and say what He tells us to say“; understanding that everywhere we go and everyone with whom we connect may not be willing or ready to receive the Good News.

We should not let people‘s un-willingness and/or un-readiness deter us anymore than we should allow it to fuel an emotional, rather than scriptural response.

Meeting God‘s ministry mandate is a daily grind that requires availability, energy, stamina and awareness. It is not about us, but it is all about Him.

When focus and commitment to God, Jesus and the Gospel mandate become our singular daily ministry areas of focus, it becomes far less likely that our engagement encounters will drive people away from the very God and salvation gift that we have been tasked to present.

Heavy Lifting
This week, take a close look at your last several ministry engagement and counters and ask your self two questions:

1. Did my level of engagement enthusiastically and appropriately represent Jesus and the Gospel?

2. In my effort to connect, did I choose words and phrases that built bridges rather than barriers between people and God?

Prayer
Lord, I thank you for entrusting the assignment of connecting people to Your Word. Help me to represent You in a way that draws people closer to You and builds bridges to the power contained within Your Word. I am humbled that you thought enough of me to give this assignment and I commit to giving You my very best in effort, energy, attitude & execution to be the Kingdom representative that you have called, equipped and positioned me to be. Amen.