WeLovePeople.Com

The First Apostolic Church takes its mission in the world from the commandments given to us by Jesus Christ. We want to reach every person possible within our community for Christ. Sometimes this goal becomes blurred, we get distracted by lesser goals, or we forget why God placed us in the church in the first place. It is time to take a fresh look at our mission.

We know that Jesus Christ died to save people from their sins. What we often forget is why. John 3:16 says, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” Romans 5:8 adds. “But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” The most important truth that must energize us by scriptures like these is that God loves people! In saving us, His love for us came first. After that, or because of it, he died to save us. He did not save us and afterwards learn to love us. He loved us first and devised a means to save us.

Any highly active church, or one with a high number of family ties in the congregation, has members who spend much of their time in each other’s company. This leads to closely knit groups that can keep others on the outside, with no way to break into the group. Such a development never happens on purpose. Rather, it is the eventual outgrowth of a way of thinking. That’s why we must look closely, even critically, at who we are and what we are doing. Are there any obstacles that seem to block the love of God from flowing freely through us as individuals and as a congregation? Do we truly love people to the same magnitude that Christ did?

In projecting a strategy for the future, it is absolutely necessary for our church to begin from these starting blocks of God’s love for people. We must demonstrate love for people in every way possible—-our attitudes, our programs and our vision as it is implemented. If we fail to show love for people in what we do, we must change. If we overlook opportunities to love people, we must change. If we love ourselves, our routines, our traditions or our personal friends more than people, we must change. Whether these failings are by design, default or delusion, we must change.

This new thrust will truly work only if we, as a congregation, accept the responsibility to make it happen. Our human targets ought to be as all-inclusive as we can make them: new converts, former members, people who have come to church but never committed themselves, or people who have had an experience with God but have deep personal problems.

Let us begin searching for ways to love people so that they may find salvation. Will you help? We must not simply identify the problem(s) and then send it back to the pastor or a few leaders to fix or implement. No solution is complete unless it involves every single person in the church in some way. The paramount question must be: “What can I and what will I do to start the positive change in making this church can could live up to WeLovePeople.com. If we want people to believe that we love them:

• They must sense that we mean it by giving them priority.
• They must hear it in our initial greeting and in our worship.
• They must feel it in our handshakes and hugs, as well as in our spirit.
• They must hear it in our conversation and our teaching and preaching.
• They must read it in our literature.
• They must see it in our faces.
• They must know it through the amount of time we give them and by the way we operate.
• They must be treated to Christ-like love from the time they enter to the time they leave.

This Christmas season needs to emphasize to us more than the fact that Jesus came. It must also remind us of the love that motivated him to come. In so doing, we will transform Christmas from a commemoration of a blessing past into a blueprint for future revival.