Motivating your church to get involved with their local community

Here are some sound bits from an event I went to yesterday called "Be the Change" http://www.communitymission.org.uk/ . Reflections & experiences from Dave Andrews a Christian who lives in intentional Christian Community in Australia and is passionate about loving people in his local community & getting other people involved http://www.daveandrews.com.au/

"Lord grant me the serenity to accept the people I cannot change.

The courage to change the one I can

And the wisdom to know that person is me"

1. Change your idea of church
"The church was never intended to be those who were called out of the community but those who were IN it but not OF it"

2. Change your image of church
"The Kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed into a large amount of flour until it worked through the dough" (Matt13:3)
"Note the yeast only does it's work when it is mixed into the flour to such a dgree that you cannot tell the difference between the yeast and the flour... it is only then that it makes a difference"

3. Change your model of church
" Don't look for something great to do for God... Paul says those who would follow the example of Christ need to empty ourselves of our ambitions to do big things, so we can respond to the call to do little things with a lot of love over the long haul"

"Christ moved in amongst us in the neighbourhood, as one of us. He did not try to be different. He lived the same life and experienced the same hassles as everyone else. He emptied Himself... Christ made himself available to the people as their servant... When it came to the crunch Christ did not cut & run. He was prepared to pay the price for His commitment to people- in blood, sweat & tears"

Other sound bites:
For those who are afraid of anything that isn't tried or tested or might be seen as controversial
* It wasn't the greatest start to Jesus' ministry to turn water in to wine (which theologically these days would be a bit controversial for some denominations) or simply because His mother insisted that He did it!

Here's a great one for those of us that feel we never get anything done because we are constantly interrupted by other people making demands on us:
"Jesus' whole ministry, if you read the Gospels, was to be constantly interrupted by people. Sometimes He was even interrupted by other people whilst being interrupted by the first lot of people"

Or for us achievement focused, task orientated types
"Always do with others what you could do far more effectively and efficiently on your own"- OUCH!