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                    Outreach By Franklin Sampley

                    The Ability to Witness By Franklin Sampley

                    Outreach Activities

                    Resources

                    Three Ways We Want to Hear From You!

                    In Review

Matthew 9: 37-38 The harvest truly is plenteous but the laborers are few: pray ye Lord of the harvest that he will send forth laborers into his harvest.

I believe that in our community the harvest is ready. Although, many may look at the LGBT community and think that they are not interested in the gospel, not interested in a knowing and meaningful relationship with God, I believe there is a growing urge in the community to find just that. In talking to friends and people online I find more and more people are talking about finding something of meaning in life. There is a hunger in the community.

It is possible that many folks in our community do not know what they hunger for and are trying to fill that need with empty pursuits, but that my friend is where the church should come in. It is only through our witness, our love, and our reaching out that we can show people a different way. It seems every time we have a booth at an event we end up talking to some folks for lengthy periods of time about the pain they have experienced from their past church experiences, but it seldom stops there. No, those conversations often go on to explore their deep desire to somehow find that relationship with God they once had.

I’m amazed sometimes at some of the folks that have discussed God with me in the recent past—a co-worker who approached me out of the blue to say he wanted to go to church with me some Sunday—a friend ninety miles away who called to say he wanted to come and spend the night to talk about Christianity. He expressed how he and so many of his acquaintances in the community seemed to be drawn toward Christianity. Not really understanding all of it -they had a lot of questions, but the bottom line is God is doing a work in those people’s heart. He is drawing them to Him. Scripture says no man can come unless the Father draws him, and I believe He is drawing people in our community. We must be prepared to show the way.

When the children of Israel were in captivity in Egypt they had been there so long that they did not even know what it was to be free. The people alive at the time of their redemption did not know what it meant to live any other way. Yet scripture says that God heard the groaning, the cries of His people. Many in our community do not know what it means to have a relationship with God, but I believe there are many whose hearts are crying out for something of meaning and God is hearing the cries of His Children. Are you prepared to step up to the plate and to be witness? 

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The Ability to Witness By Franklin Sampley

Exodus 3:1 – 4:17 The call of Moses to Egypt. This may seem a strange passage to some when it comes to a discussion about witnessing, but this can be a powerful example of what some folks face when it comes to sharing about the Gospel. Often people will say that they are not comfortable trying to witness or working at a booth for the church because they do not know what to say. This is a lesson that I think can be used to encourage people to step out in faith to witness. The scriptures, Exodus 3: 1-18 and 4:1-17 are below –

1. Now Moses was pasturing the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian; and he led the flock to the west side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God.

2. The angel of the LORD appeared to him in a blazing fire from the midst of a bush; and he looked, and behold, the bush was burning with fire, yet the bush was not consumed.

3. So Moses said, "I must turn aside now and see this marvelous sight, why the bush is not burned up."

4. When the LORD saw that he turned aside to look, God called to him from the midst of the bush and said, "Moses, Moses!" And he said, "Here I am."

5. Then He said, "Do not come near here; remove your sandals from your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground."

6. He said also, "I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob." Then Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God.

7. The LORD said, "I have surely seen the affliction of My people who are in Egypt, and have given heed to their cry because of their taskmasters, for I am aware of their sufferings.

8. "So I have come down to deliver them from the power of the Egyptians, and to bring them up from that land to a good and spacious land, to a land flowing with milk and honey, to the place of the Canaanite and the Hittite and the Amorite and the Perizzite and the Hivite and the Jebusite.

9. "Now, behold, the cry of the sons of Israel has come to Me; furthermore, I have seen the oppression with which the Egyptians are oppressing them.

10. "Therefore, come now, and I will send you to Pharaoh, so that you may bring My people, the sons of Israel, out of Egypt."

11. But Moses said to God, "Who am I, that I should go to Pharaoh, and that I should bring the sons of Israel out of Egypt?"

12. And He said, "Certainly I will be with you, and this shall be the sign to you that it is I who have sent you: when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall worship God at this mountain."

13. Then Moses said to God, "Behold, I am going to the sons of Israel, and I will say to them, `The God of your fathers has sent me to you.' Now they may say to me, `What is His name?' What shall I say to them?"

14. God said to Moses, "I AM WHO I AM"; and He said, "Thus you shall say to the sons of Israel, `I AM has sent me to you.' "

15. God, furthermore, said to Moses, "Thus you shall say to the sons of Israel, `The LORD, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you.' This is My name forever, and this is My memorial-name to all generations.

16. "Go and gather the elders of Israel together and say to them, `The LORD, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, has appeared to me, saying, "I am indeed concerned about you and what has been done to you in Egypt.

17. "So I said, I will bring you up out of the affliction of Egypt to the land of the Canaanite and the Hittite and the Amorite and the Perizzite and the Hivite and the Jebusite, to a land flowing with milk and honey."'

18. "They will pay heed to what you say; and you with the elders of Israel will come to the king of Egypt and you will say to him, `The LORD, the God of the Hebrews, has met with us. So now, please, let us go a three days' journey into the wilderness, that we may sacrifice to the LORD our God.'

Exodus 4

1. Then Moses said, "What if they will not believe me or listen to what I say? For they may say, `The LORD has not appeared to you.' "

2. The LORD said to him, "What is that in your hand?" And he said, "A staff."

3. Then He said, "Throw it on the ground." So he threw it on the ground, and it became a serpent; and Moses fled from it.

4. But the LORD said to Moses, "Stretch out your hand and grasp it by its tail"--so he stretched out his hand and caught it, and it became a staff in his hand--

5. "that they may believe that the LORD, the God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has appeared to you."

6. The LORD furthermore said to him, "Now put your hand into your bosom." So he put his hand into his bosom, and when he took it out, behold, his hand was leprous like snow.

7. Then He said, "Put your hand into your bosom again." So he put his hand into his bosom again, and when he took it out of his bosom, behold, it was restored like the rest of his flesh.

8. "If they will not believe you or heed the witness of the first sign, they may believe the witness of the last sign.

9. "But if they will not believe even these two signs or heed what you say, then you shall take some water from the Nile and pour it on the dry ground; and the water which you take from the Nile will become blood on the dry ground."

10. Then Moses said to the LORD, "Please, Lord, I have never been eloquent, neither recently nor in time past, nor since You have spoken to Your servant; for I am slow of speech and slow of tongue."

11. The LORD said to him, "Who has made man's mouth? Or who makes him mute or deaf, or seeing or blind? Is it not I, the LORD ?

12. "Now then go, and I, even I, will be with your mouth, and teach you what you are to say."

13. But he said, "Please, Lord, now send the message by whomever You will."

14. Then the anger of the LORD burned against Moses, and He said, "Is there not your brother Aaron the Levite? I know that he speaks fluently. And moreover, behold, he is coming out to meet you; when he sees you, he will be glad in his heart.

15. "You are to speak to him and put the words in his mouth; and I, even I, will be with your mouth and his mouth, and I will teach you what you are to do.

16. "Moreover, he shall speak for you to the people; and he will be as a mouth for you and you will be as God to him.

17. "You shall take in your hand this staff, with which you shall perform the signs."

It’s important to realize who Moses was at this time. He was eighty years old, rescued from death by a powerful set of circumstances based on faith, he had been raised in the Egyptian courts with the finest education of the days while the rest of his people suffered slavery, yet he had accomplished nothing in his personal life or for God’s children by this time. In fact, he and others probably thought saving him had turned out to be quite a waste.

The objections:

1. Self-image - God tells Moses to go to Pharaoh to secure His people’s freedom, and right off what does Moses say? “Who am I that I should go?” Moses raises the objection often heard when folks are called to God’s work, be that in ministerial or just to witness – “But, I’m nobody.”

2. Worth - When God doesn’t just go away because Moses says he’s nobody, Moses raises another objection in 4:1 when he says that the people will not listen to him. However, note that God already told Moses in 3:18 that the people would listen. Now God reassures Moses again that they will listen and that He will provide a sign to ensure it.

3. Lack of Ability – After God has answered Moses first two objections, and then in 4:10 he raises his third objection – lack of ability. Again God provides for Moses to do the work He has called him to do.

Now, what’s important in all of this? God never tells Moses that he is somebody, that he is worth listening to, or that he has great ability. God never tries to build up Moses’ self-esteem to prepare him for the job that God has called him to do. God says to the first objection, I AM – revealing that He is dependable and faithful – to the second He says – I’ll provide – He still does for scripture shows that those that will hear will do so because the Father has already softened their heart to hear – it doesn’t matter what we say, it matters whether God is there – to the final objection God says – “Who has made man’s mouth? Or who makes him mute or deaf, or seeing or blind? Is it not I, the Lord? Now then go, and I, even I, will be with your mouth and teach you what you are to say.”

I don’t think there can be any better lesson for people to learn who are trying to witness than this lesson. It has nothing to do with who you are, what you know, or how well you can speak – it has to do with only one thing – is God there with you? If God is with you, then He will speak through you as only He can do. He will be your words and He will guide you to know what to say to the person to whom you are talking. Without God there is no witness – with God there is no limit to how powerful a witness anyone can be.

Our confidence and sufficiency must be in God and his Word, not in ourselves, or our self-image. So, I would encourage leaders to consider not trying to build up folk’s self-esteem when it comes to witnessing, but to build up their confidence in God’s trustworthiness to always be there when we step out as His witnesses.

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What happens in your church to reach the community?

Matt.22

[9] Go ye therefore into the highways, and as many as ye shall find, bid to the marriage.

[10] So those servants went out into the highways, and gathered together all as many as they found, both bad and good: and the wedding was furnished with guests.

Luke.14

[23] And the lord said unto the servant, Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled.

God has given us a commission to witness, Mark 16:15 says – And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. Not everyone is called to preach the gospel, but we are all called to be a witness. It’s not just from the pulpit that a witness should be given, but out in the public arena (the highways) so that those who would never come into the church can hear this gospel.

So many in the LGBT community have been harmed by the church that we must go to where they are to provide a witness. In San Francisco, we are able to do that through a number of street fairs, Pride celebration, and other community events. In some cities and towns there are no street fairs, or Pride parades to participate in as a witness, so it becomes more difficult; however, even in some of these areas there may be gathering places. Jesus went into many places that the religious folks of the day took issue with, but He always went where He could do the most good. Sometimes, we have to stretch ourselves a little and look beyond our comfort level to see what’s going on in our community in which we can participate. It doesn’t always take a banner or a revival, sometimes just being a presence can be a powerful witness.

I would love to see some sharing on this subject. What’s happening with your church? What types of Outreach activities are you doing? What’s in your community that you would like to participate in but are not sure how to do so – can someone else in TEN maybe lend some pointers?

I can think of no greater thing a body can do than to reach out and lead people to a relationship with Christ or to heal the broken in our community. Sometimes though, making that happen can require all sorts of resources, so although this may not be conclusive here are some resources that may be helpful to you.

Parades – I would encourage every congregation that can to participate in any local gay pride parades that exist in your area. This is an area where you can get a big bang for your bucks. Not sure how to build a float or what to do? Check out:

http://www.paradedisplay.com/

http://www.victorystore.com/parade/

http://www.at-a-parade-float-supplies.com/floats_kits.htm

There are float kits available from most of these places, but it is probably best to design your own. One thing that parade organizers know is that you need high energy, sound, and a surprise. The surprise could be your music! At Freedom In Christ in San Francisco we have used music from Hymns in the House which set old hymns to house music. It is always a surprise to folks when they hear that dance music and then realize that what they are hearing is some hymn such as ‘Amazing Grace’. Be creative!

Booths – if your area does not have a parade but has some sort of pride get together consider a booth. The best option I’ve found for a booth is from EZ-UP – you can find them at:

http://www.ezup.com/

They offer a variety of tent styles for functions – the standard for most events being a 10x10. They also offer attachments for banners, and are the least expensive banner makers that I have found . They also offer tables that fold up into a very small storage bag with wheels, and table covers that can have your logo and church name on them.

Give-a-ways - One consideration for your booth is to find a give-a-way present that will attract people to your booth. There are a variety of items on which you can have the name of your church printed and your website or something of that nature. At Freedom in Christ Church we have given away the following and found that they attract a lot of attention:

Sunglasses – have your church information imprinted on the arm.

Yo-Yo’s – these can be imprinted – find something flashy and colorful.

Fans – battery operated.

Flashlights.

The best source that I have found to date for both a variety of items and price is a company called Oriental Trading. You can find them at:

http://www.orientaltrading.com

Other – No organized events in your community – consider going out to wherever the folks in your community meet and making your presence known. Even without an organized event, you could hand out a give-a-way at a local bar or other area that would serve as a conversation starter or give people a chance to look at a website when they are home.

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In this issue we covered the issue of Outreach in the Church. We hope you enjoyed this issue and hope that you will give us your ideas of what you would like to see in future issues.

Right now our plan is to have a newsletter each quarter covering various church and Christian related topics as well as sharing other pertinent TEN related news.