Last night we finished week five of Exploring Christianity. We have three remaining talks: (1) What EXACTLY is the Gospel? (2) How Can I Be Saved? (3) How Can I Be Sure I Am Saved? Let me give you an update on what God is doing these first five weeks and then ask you to pray along several lines for these last three weeks.What God has been doing with our Guests
It has been evident that God has been drawing many people to Himself from the very first night of Exploring Christianity. There are many new faces on Wednesday night. Some have come from hearing about Exploring Christianity on Sunday morning, some from our Harvest Festival, and some were invited by CrossWay people.
What has been very encouraging this time around is that our attendance has remained very strong, until last night. There continues to be a hunger, and a curiosity, and a spiritual thirst in our guests to know the truth about Jesus Christ. It is not surprising that many people have experienced some form of suffering in the past and are now looking for hope and we are able to point them to Jesus Christ.
What God has been doing with the Talks
This is the tenth time I have given some of these talks, and I thank God that the truth contained in them is as fresh as ever to me. My sole purpose in these talks is to lift up Jesus Christ and Him crucified for the salvation of sinners. When I finished speaking last night I thought,
“The gospel is such beautiful news. Why would anyone want to preach any other gospel than Jesus Christ?”Every time I have the opportunity to speak at Exploring Christianity is makes me love Jesus Christ even more. Speaking about Jesus has another effect on me. It convinces more and more of the truth of the gospel.
What God has been doing with the Discussion Groups
We started with eight discussion groups of 12-14 people each and we are currently running seven discussion groups with of 12-14 people. I would guess there is a ratio of 50/50 Christians to non-Christians. I have sat in three different groups and I am encouraged by the hunger to know the truth about Jesus, and the humility in how people talk about their own life situations, and the effective leadership of our discussion group hosts and the love and care demonstrated by other CrossWay members.
I find myself rejoicing when people say, “I have never heard the gospel explained that way,” or “I know God is at work in my life,” or “I not sure I really was a Christian before.” God is powerfully at work revealing Himself through His word and through the testimony of His church.
What God has been doing with the Support Staff
Every time we host Exploring Christianity I am amazed by the strength of our ministry teams and the corporate witness of the church. Our guests are amazed as they watch this small army of people serve them and do so with great joy and affections for one another.
The Hospitality Team is always on site early and setup for dinner, they plan healthy and fun meals, and they are always serving our guests with joy. The Loaves & Fishes team prepares and delivers meals for about 150 people every Wednesday. The meal is always there on time and we always have enough to serve. The setup and take down teams completely own the setup so that everything is always in it’s place on time, and at the end of the evening it looks like the building never even hosted Exploring Christianity. The Explorers team consistently gives the children such a good time that they drag their parents back to Exploring Christianity week after week. Their care and creativity help parents relax and concentrate on the truths of the gospel.
How you can be Praying
- Pray for God’s active presence drawing sinners to Himself, convicting of sin, giving faith in Christ, and granting new life.
- Pray for a clear and compelling presentation of the gospel from week to week in the talk and in the discussion groups.
- Pray for physical health and strength for our guests and team members so that we can finish these last three weeks strong.
- Pray for God to heal people with past wounds, to give them fresh hope in Jesus Christ, and to knit them deeply into CrossWay.
- Pray for deep relationships to form in the small groups and pray that God would use CrossWay people to extend is love, care, and grace to our guests.
- Pray that God would use the ministry teams not only to serve our guests, but to serve one another so that those teams experience deep fellowship and love for one another.
- Pray for that the children would be safe, that there would be much clean innocent fun, and that the Explorer workers would be given much joy and creativity.
- Pray that those cooking the meals for Loaves & Fishes would see how this act of service is a real means to furthering the gospel and move them to pray for our guests as they cook.
