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Kurt Steinbrueck June 21, 2020

Special Posts evangelism, Mission, Sent Series

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Sent: A Month of Mission – Day 21

Pray for Specific People Who Need Jesus.

This is another reminder day. On Day 2 we talked about the importance of praying for people who don’t, yet, know Jesus. You came up with a list of people to pray for.

I hope you have continued praying for these people. If not, this is a great time to start again. Also, maybe over the past few weeks, another name or two has come to mind. If so, add them to the list.

Today: Pray for specific People who need Jesus.

In Christ’s Service,

Pastor Kurt

Kurt Steinbrueck June 20, 2020

Special Posts evangelism, Mission, Sent Series

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Sent: A Month of Mission – Day 20

“On hearing this, Jesus said to them, ‘It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.’” – Mark 2:17

Look for the Hurt

When you read the Bible, particularly the Gospel, there is a group of people, the Pharisees, that have a lot of issues with Jesus. It’s interesting. The “sinners” and tax collectors loved hanging out with Jesus. The religious leaders, the Pharisees, tended to despise Jesus. You’d think it would have been the other way around.

Why did the sinners like Jesus and the Pharisees hate Him?

Jesus offered forgiveness and healing. The sinners knew they needed that. The Pharisees thought they had it all together and had no need for that.

Everyone hurts. Everyone struggles. Some of us are aware of our hurts and struggles and some are less so. If you listen enough, ask intentional questions, and look for it, you can often start to see people’s hurts and struggles.

If we can see someone’s hurts and struggles, we can (carefully) talk with them about those hurts and share how Jesus is here to help them with those struggles and so are we.

Jesus came for the sick. We are all sick. He came for the sinners. We are all sinners. We can bring Jesus to the sinners all around us, not as a judge, but as a doctor, offering healing.

Today: Pray that God would give you insight and discernment to see people’s hurts and struggles and offer them healing through Jesus.

In Christ’s Service,

Pastor Kurt

Kurt Steinbrueck June 19, 2020

Special Posts evangelism, Mission, Sent Series

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Sent: A Month of Mission – Day 19

“My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry,” – James 1:19

Actively Listen to Others

Have you ever had a conversation with someone where you could tell they weren’t really listening to you? They were just waiting for their turn to speak.

How did you feel about that conversation?
Did you think that person cared about what you were saying?
Did that make you care more or less about what they were getting ready to say?

We’ve talked about connecting with people, asking intentional questions, and sharing the Gospel. One thing that will help with all these is listening. Listen to the stories and the details and the joys and the sorrows. Listening will help you truly get to know that person. It also shows you care and allows you to better show the love of Christ with them.

Active Listening
Don’t just listen, though. Try actively listening. When I trained in the seminary for pastoral counseling, they taught us this is one of the most important and effective things you can do for someone.

Active listening means you not only listen, but you face the person, maintain comfortable eye-contact (no messing with devices during the conversation), and periodically respond in acknowledgment (“right”, “uh huh”, nodding, etc.). This encourages them to share and shows you are listening and care.

After the person shares something, briefly repeat it back to them in your own words. This shows that you listened and understood and allows them to correct you if you misunderstood something. It also makes you focus on what they are saying while they speak instead of on what you want to say in response.

You would be amazed how much active listening can help show people they matter, comfort them during hardships, and deepen relationships. Honestly, this isn’t just something to do when on mission. You can do this with everyone all the time, especially your close friends, spouse, and children.

Today: Practice actively listening in your conversations and continue tomorrow…and the day after…

In Christ’s Service,

Pastor Kurt

Kurt Steinbrueck June 18, 2020

Special Posts evangelism, Mission, Sent Series

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Sent: A Month of Mission – Day 18

“For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.” – 1 Corinthians 2:2

Know the Gospel

Many people feel nervous about evangelism because they feel like they don’t know what to say. That’s something you can fix, though, at least to some extent.

First, it’s okay if you don’t know the answer to every question. “I don’t know,” is an acceptable answer. While it’s nice to be able to answer questions, sharing the Gospel isn’t about debating or convincing. It’s about sharing the Gospel.

Second, you may not know the answer to every question (I don’t either), but you can know the Gospel…and probably already do. This is one of the reasons we say one of the Creeds every week in worship. If you know the Apostles’ Creed, you know the Gospel. If you don’t know the Apostles’ Creed, click here to download a copy. You can learn it.

It’s really as simple as saying, “I believe God created us and loves us, but sin separates us from God. We’ve all sinned, I have and you have. We’ve all done things that are wrong. But God loved us so much that He sent Jesus to die for us and take the punishment for our sin so we could be forgiven. God says if we believe in Jesus we are forgiven and will have eternal life with Him.”

If you’d like, you can also share your personal story of how you came to believe or a personal story of something God has done in your life.

The idea is that you don’t have to have all the answers nor is there any one, perfect way to share the Gospel. Pray. Ask the Holy Spirit to give you the words to say. Then speak.

Today: Get Comfortable with the Gospel. Maybe practice saying it a few times. You can use your own words or the Creed.

In Christ’s Service,

Pastor Kurt

Kurt Steinbrueck June 17, 2020

Special Posts evangelism, Mission, Sent Series

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Sent: A Month of Mission – Day 17

“whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave—just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” – Matthew 20:26-28

Serve Others

Serving others is one of the best ways we have to connect with people, deepen relationships, and love people authentically. When we serve others, we meet their needs, show them we genuinely care for them, and demonstrate that we don’t think or ourselves as “better” than them.

You can serve in organized service activities, like providing meals for the homeless or cleaning up a park, and you can serve in personal ways, like helping a neighbor fix their car or watching someone’s kids for a few hours.

In addition to meeting people’s needs, serving is also a great opportunity to connect with new people and deepen relationships. This may be with the people you are serving or with people who are serving alongside you.

Today: Think about some ways you can serve others in the coming weeks.

In Christ’s Service,

Pastor Kurt

Kurt Steinbrueck June 16, 2020

Special Posts evangelism, Mission, Sent Series

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Sent: A Month of Mission – Day 16

“Then Jesus came to them and said, ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.’” – Matthew 28:18-20

Connect with Others – Discover Where People Already Gather

As we’ve discussed in previous days, sharing Jesus with people requires us to connect with people. We’ve already talked about creating deeper connections with people you already know and getting to know our neighbors. Today, I want to take one more step further out, meeting new people.

It wasn’t all that long ago that as I was thinking about ways to share the Gospel with people I realized I didn’t really know many people who weren’t Christians. My friends were from church, my extended family members are all Christians, and I didn’t know many neighbors. I realized I needed to meet new people. So, I started to look for places where I could do that.

You may be way ahead of where I was and already have plenty of places to meet new people, especially people who don’t yet know Jesus. If not, it’s time to start looking for some. For me, I joined the Chamber of Commerce and started being more intentional about talking to the parents at my kids’ activities.

One more thing…Find something you find interesting. You don’t want this to be a “chore.”

Today: Find something you can get involved in where people who don’t know Jesus are already gathering.

Here are some possible ideas:

Your kids’ activities
A sport (softball league, karate etc.)
An interest-based club (bird-watchers, astronomy group, etc.)
Weight Watchers (lose weight and meet people)
A group related to your field of work
An exercise class

In Christ’s Service,

Pastor Kurt

Kurt Steinbrueck June 15, 2020

Special Posts evangelism, Mission, Sent Series

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Sent: A Month of Mission – Day 15

“Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity.” – Colossians 4:5

Pray for Opportunities to Love Others and Share the Gospel

You may be thinking, “That sounds a lot like what we talked about on Day 3.” That’s because it is.

Some of the things we’ve talked about are things to consider or things to do from time to time. Some are things that are good to do every day and deserve a reminder or two.

Additionally, we can start thinking about these in the context of other things we’ve talked about.

Notice in Colossians 4:5 how it combines the ideas of being wise in our we act towards others and making the most of the opportunities God gives us. As we pray for opportunities, pray that you would love others authentically knowing that how we treat others can create those opportunities we are asking God to provide.

Today: Pray that God would give you opportunities to show his love and share the Gospel.

In Christ’s Service,

Pastor Kurt

Kurt Steinbrueck June 14, 2020

Special Posts evangelism, Mission, Sent Series

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Sent: A Month of Mission – Day 14

Ask Intentional Question

How’s it going? Nice weather we’re having, isn’t it? Did you catch the game yesterday? (if we ever have sports again)

These are typical questions people have in conversations, especially when they don’t know the person well. They provide content for a conversation, but they don’t do much to help us to get to know each other or deepen our relationship.

As we connect with new people or try to deepen our relationships with people we know, it’s important to get past these surface, impersonal questions and be intentional about asking deeper questions.

You don’t need to jump into questions about the person’s marriage or beliefs. In fact, you probably shouldn’t. Getting too personal too quickly can be off-putting. However, you can ask about things specific to their life and, over time, move to more significant subjects.

Maybe it starts with questions about things their kids are doing (sports, school, etc.) or questions about project they are working on. The idea is to be intentional about talking about something that means something to them and is specific to them so you can get to know each other better.

Today: When you have a conversation with someone you don’t know well, be intentional about talking about some things that are deeper than the weather.

Tip: You Share, Too.
One thing that can really help to open up a conversation is to share something about yourself. For example, I may want to ask what someone’s kids are doing during the summer. So, I start by sharing what my kids are doing and then ask. Similarly, I may want to ask what passion project someone is working on, so I start by talking about something I’ve been working on and then ask them if they have something like that which they do that they love.

In Christ’s Service,

Pastor Kurt

Kurt Steinbrueck June 13, 2020

Special Posts evangelism, Mission, Sent Series

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Sent: A Month of Mission – Day 13

Schedule Margin

Business is a big problem in our culture. We pack every second of every day. It’s left us with more stress and missing out on spontaneous moments.

It reminds me of the parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37). What if the Samaritan had been too busy to stop for the injured man on the side of the road?

A lot of ministry takes place in the interruptions. The interruptions have great conversations, opportunities to help others, games, prayers, laughter, crying, and so much more. If, however, your life is so packed that you can’t be interrupted, you’ll miss those great opportunities.

It’s time to unpack…your life. Leave some free time in your schedule so when you come across someone on the side of the road, you can be the Samaritan or when your kids want to play, you can.

Today: Take a look at your schedule and, if you don’t already have some, start scheduling some margin, some open time.

In Christ’s Service,

Pastor Kurt

Kurt Steinbrueck June 12, 2020

Special Posts evangelism, Mission, Sent Series

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Sent: A Month of Mission – Day 12

Share the Victories

When a football player scores a touchdown, other players usually come over and they do a celebration dance of some sort. In soccer, when a goal is scored, the players will jump all over each other in celebration. In baseball, it’s high-fives and hitting butts (what?)

Celebrating victories is more than just an expression of joy. It strengthens the bonds of the team. It encourages and energizes others.

I remember going to a Christian conference and hearing about the work done in some of the churches and seeing lives change. I was excited for them, but also motivated to go do that in my community. This wasn’t about bragging, but praising God for what He’s doing in people’s lives.

We don’t’ have to have conferences to do that. We can do that in our churches, our small groups, and with the people we are teamed up with to encourage each other. We can celebrate restored relationships, people who come to faith, victories over addiction, and more.

Today: (Well, really more in the future) Find ways to share the victories.

In Christ’s Service,

Pastor Kurt