Sunday: Letting the Left and Right Hand Know
Image © Rolf Jansson from GoodSalt.com
Most people in the church are busy; others, for various reasons, do comparatively little. Either way, people are often not aware of what their church as a whole is planning or working toward; consequently, they don’t see how that in which they may be involved is contributing to the church’s overall goals.
Read Ecclesiastes 4:9–12. What do Solomon’s words tell us about working together? How might these words be helpful to you in other settings?
These verses describe the benefits of mutual help, support, and care, whatever the situation. What is true for two or three people is also true for the local church. For the blessings described in Ecclesiastes 4:9–12 to be realized, each person must be aware of the activities of the others. If one person is not aware of what the others are doing or planning, how can they know what support is needed, and when? If we consider these points with our local church’s witnessing and evangelism in mind, we see again that if most members are unaware of what their church is involved in, they are not able to give support and assistance when needed. Sadly, because of a lack of support, those who are on the frontline of witnessing and evangelism sometimes feel that no one cares about this vital ministry when it is simply the case that others just don’t know what is going on.
The following verses record people performing special support tasks. Write down how you think these activities contributed to the overall mission of spreading the gospel. Acts 16:14-15, 33-34.
What may at first seem to have nothing to do with the church’s witnessing and evangelism strategies will, upon further consideration, be revealed as vital to the whole process. Those who provide food and lodging for the visiting evangelist play as vital a part as those who welcome the public to the program. Many church members will volunteer to support when they are aware of the program and what is needed and when they are assured that their contribution is an integral part of the whole church program. In this context, it is important to let the right hand know what the left hand is doing.
Take a few moments to reflect upon your church’s evangelism and witnessing activities. Are you aware of the corporate church goals and strategies? Do you know what stage the church is in this year’s program? How could you become more involved in your church’s attempts to fulfill the gospel commission?
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I believe personal ministries meetings should be open to the members as well as leaders so the entire church can know and become involved in the church evangelism and personal ministries outreach programs.
David, I very much agree the personal ministries meetings should be "open." The church members that are not involved in decision making are unlikely to take "ownership" of the plans. Thus, whatever the committee decides should also be brought to the church in a general meeting for real input -- meaning a willingness to change the plans, if members indicate such a need.
But this day's lesson made me think of something else:
Weekly reporting on "missionary activities" used to be done regularly in Adventist churches. It has fallen out of favor, I suppose, because it was considered to be a "works" thing. But this lesson points out the necessity of keeping the body informed of what individual members are doing. Without such informing, there is no chance of working together.
I wonder whether we could revive the "reporting" with a slightly different emphasis -- a focus on asking for prayer and support for whatever individuals are doing in outreach. If we made this a regular part of our routine, I believe it could be a great benefit.
if a team is to reach its maximum potential each player must be willing to subordinate his personal goals for the good of the team. Alone we can do so little - together we can do much.
The very people we reject in our decision making are those with the great ideas to promote evangelism and witnessing in our church. Therefore the church should include any member of the church when planning for evangelism and witnessing.
Solomön tells to consider the benefits of being two but how are we to show this in our ministry? The Bible provides for corporate evangelism and witnessing. The left hand to the right hand, joined together for the fulfiling of the mission of the Lord.