More on Frontline Arlington…
I read from Matthew 9:36-38 at the beginning of my message Monday night in Arlington at our first worship service in our new campus. Matthew tells us that Jesus is looking at the crowd around him and “[Jesus] had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord or the harvest therefore to send out workers into his harvest field.” I explained that the harvest is huge in Arlington and that the workers are few, but he has now called 400 of his workers into the harvest field to work the harvest that is to come. God has brought is together for such a time as this.
The only thing standing between the harvesters and the harvest is a word that gets very little use in our culture today – compassion. Jesus had compassion on the crowd. We tend to feel frustration, anger, and apathy toward the masses around us in our busy lives rather than compassion. Compassion is the seed of evangelism. Compassion is the seed of hope. We must pray that God give us compassion for those around us, especially those who bring out more negative emotions in us. What might happen if thousands of young adults who regularly attend Frontline on Sunday and Monday nights were to start each day with prayer to God for the vary same compassion Jesus possessed for the world around Him? How great would our impact be?
Carpe Deum! (Seize God!)
Todd Phillips
www.toddphillips.net
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
How would you say that opening up multiple campuses is different from church planting?
Daniel,
Great question! Eventually, there will be a book written about this relatively new phenomenon (if there hasn't already) but the main differences are as follows:
1. Being good stewards of God's money. Planting churches costs money through an entirely new group of staffers over time as well as building costs. We leverage our staff at the main campus to serve the needs of the newer campuses. For example, we use the same administration department for all campuses.
2. Each campus has exactly the same vision and mission, although there will be unique ministries that will develop in each location.
3. The same preacher preaches at each location either live or via video so the same message is heard by every campus.
There are many other reasons that campuses are different from church plants but these are some of the more impacting reasons.
It's important to note that a very large percentage of church plants fail as opposed to the church campus philosophy that sees a high success rate.
Hope this helps!
Please comment with any more thoughts or questions.
Post a Comment