Mission Van Zandt

This Sunday is one at Stonepoint we have previously called Stonepoint Serves.  We take one Sunday out of the year and do not just go to church, we remember that we are the Church.

This Sunday, we meet for one "service" where we will sing a couple of hymns/choruses and say a prayer, and then that's it at the building.  From there, we will go out and spend the morning serving and meeting needs in the community.  Yard work, small construction projects, painting, whatever needs we can address.  Journey Groups (small groups/Sunday School-like classes) will work together.  Other members will be broken up into groups.

It's about giving back to the community.  About making the community better.  About serving and meeting the needs that we can see or are brought to our attention.  About feeding the hungry, giving drink to the thirsty, inviting in the stranger, clothing the naked, caring for the sick, and visiting the imprisoned.

This year, it's gone beyond our church.  It's Mission Van Zandt involving churches around the area.  It's part of a larger weekend of service. On May 25 and 26, area churches across denominational lines will be actively helping meet the needs of the community through service projects.  It's an opportunity for the Church as a whole to be about the Lord's business.

For if we just sit in pews, Sunday after Sunday, without anything outside the walls, where will we have gotten?

"When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, He will sit on His glorious throne. All the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate the people one from another, as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will place the sheep on His right and the goats on His left.

Then the King will say to those on His right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave Me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave Me something to drink, I was a stranger and you took Me in, I was naked and you clothed Me, I was sick and you looked after Me, I was in prison and you visited Me.’

Then the righteous will answer Him, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You something to drink? When did we see You a stranger and take You in, or naked and clothe You? When did we see You sick or in prison and visit You?’

And the King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of Mine, you did for Me.’

Then He will say to those on His left, ‘Depart from Me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave Me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave Me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not take Me in, I was naked and you did not clothe Me, I was sick and in prison and you did not visit Me.’

And they too will reply, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to You?’

Then the King will answer, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for Me.’"

Matthew 25:31-45

Why I Love My Church 2 - Stonepoint Serves

"You, my brothers, were called to be free.  But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature; rather, serve one another in love."

Galatians 5:13

This is one of my favorite Sundays of the whole year.  Stonepoint Serves.  We take one Sunday out of the year and do not just go to church, we remember that we are the Church.

This Sunday, we will all meet at 9:00 am.  One "service" where we will sing a couple of hymns/choruses and say a prayer.  That's it at the church.  From there, we will go out and spend the morning serving and meeting needs in the community.  Yard work, small construction projects, painting, whatever needs we can address.  Journey Groups (small groups/Sunday School-like classes) will meet and work together on specific projects they have noticed and identified within the group.  Other church members will tackle projects identified by nomination or request.

It's about giving back to the community.  About making the community better.  About serving and meeting the needs that we can see or are brought to our attention.  About feeding the hungry, giving drink to the thirsty, inviting in the stranger, clothing the naked, caring for the sick, and visiting the imprisoned.

And it makes an impact.  We can see it and observe it.

Could you imagine if all churches could do this?  What would it look like if every church took one Sunday morning to go out and serve?  For it to be such a priority that they took the regularly scheduled worship time to serve?  What would our community look like?

In a quick search, I can identify twenty four churches in Wills Point, Texas alone.  If every church took one Sunday, that works out to the Church serving the community nearly every other Sunday.  And it does not matter if the church has five members or five hundred members, it is still the church getting out of its walls and acting as the hands and feet of Christ, whether in one project or fifty.

Full confession, I write this as Jamie and I are visiting family in San Antonio and not able to be a part of the activities this morning.  But we are anxiously looking forward to serving with our Journey Group on an alternate date.  And we would love it if the church added one or more Stonepoint Serves Sundays throughout the year.

It's a reminder that our call is to care for and serve our neighbor just as much as it is to evangelize.  Loving them requires both.

"For we are God's handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do."

Ephesians 2:10

The Living Bible translates this passage as "It is God himself who has made us what we are and given us new lives from Christ Jesus; and long ages ago he planned that we should spend these lives in helping others."  The "good works" reference is service.  It is what we are to be about, to serve God and to serve others; to serve God by serving others.

Further, where it mentions "God's handiwork", it should be translated as a work of an artisan, not just of a craftsman.  We are the pinnacle of God's workmanship.  His masterpiece.

So let's go serve and live like it.