What is the place of social action in the ministry of the church? Where do we draw the line so as to avoid the misunderstanding that salvation and favor from the Lord is earned?
The place of social action in the ministry of the church plays a vital role. Each ministry involves social action; it works hand in hand through the grace of God. There are different ministries wherein people can get involve and can minister to others, as well. We have the gift of teaching, preaching, evanglizing, prophesying, equipping others, and building others up. Through this gift it can be useful and impart to others what gift they have that God has entrusted to each believers of Christ. The Church needs this social action in order to be effective in the ministry and function well. We can draw the line so as to avoid the misunderstanding that salvation and favor from the Lord is earned through attending Bible studies,spending time with someone who are mature in the faith in Christ, fellowship with believers, hearing sermons with Biblical truth, and studying the word of God through meditation and prayer. It is also important that as a Church that there would be unity in their vision and mission statement. Our relationship with Christ is the most important thing as we walk hand in hand in doing the ministry and pursuing the Great Commission.
Yes ate D, we can literally say that Church that does not do social actions are paralyzed Church for we are consequently part of this society and withdrawing from it does not show Christ.
As we already had known, salvation is not acquired through good works but good works are merely the result of the salvation we had. The Church is so defined as to be the assembly of believers having attested and accepted Christ's death for everybody. Since we are privileged to be a member of this body, the salvation we gained must not be in vain. It must also lead others to Jesus' feet. This will only be possible through our diligent work of the Great Commission accompanied by the Great Commandment. Loving God is inseparable from loving humanity. Our service to God are often showed with our service to others. As we continue to work on this ministry, may we also clarify to the one we are ministering to that what we are doing are not the means to eternity with Him but only through believing that Jesus, the source of goodworks, became the sin and sacrifice for us.
Yes. Indeed the good works we do are a result of the salvation we have acquired through our faith in Christ. I agree with you Elai that we should do the good works that make us arrows for Christ. Everything we do, we should do for God's glory. If it does not give glory to God, then we should just quit it and return to zero.
I affirmed to what you have said dear that, we are saved that is the reason why we serve, not to serve in order to be save, but I think some people believe the second phrase. your idea is very Biblical that as we love God it result an action to love others, that's the great commandments. and as I summarize your idea i get your point that as we do social action, we are hoping that by doing this it lead people to Jesus, not to the good work we showed. Amen...
I affirmed to what you have said dear that, we are saved that is the reason why we serve, not to serve in order to be save, but I think some people believe the second phrase. your idea is very Biblical that as we love God it result an action to love others, that's the great commandments. and as I summarize your idea i get your point that as we do social action, we are hoping that by doing this it lead people to Jesus, not to the good work we showed. Amen...
Social Ministry is a wonderful way that the church must practice, it is the way that we can help the needy people in the community we were live in, and this is one thing also to have an opportunity to share the message of the Gospel to the unbelievers surround us, it is also one of the strategy to have a relational ministry in our community. it is the act of love and concerns to the people who are in need. but we need to be careful because people of these days are more careful because they have seen in the past that some of the churches use the social action in order to convince people to join in the church. they used this as a tool to gain many members in the church, but some people miss the point, they join because they receive something from the church, not for the reason that they understand what the Gospel message really means. I remember when Jesus rebuked many people who fallowed Him after He fed them, he said, you follow me because you understand my teaching but you followed me because you filled with the bread that I was given to you. Social action is good but there's some misconception sometimes, so as a church we need to made it clear to the people that we lend a help that we did it for the Lord, whether they will believe the Lord or not, they have the freedom as long as we did our part to help them.
That's right brother. This is my prayer as we become leaders someday, that because of our desire to glorify God in our ministry,I hope that we will not tend to do what others do, just like making methods so as to trap them or make our ministry a bait for them. It is true, and it is inevitable to happen. This is a reminder for us to go to the basic especially in becoming more doctrinally sound in our teaching and the ministry we'll hold for the cause of Christ.
Truelala kuyaa. You as a pastor someday,Present the gospel clearly and boldly. and to those pastors and teachers out there my prayer is that we should share the word of God clearly and to always go back what the bible say.
Amen, we need establish relationship with people that we minister and show them genuine care and love even though their motive in joining the fellowship is not aligned in God' will. God will help them through whatever motive they had. They are still on the process but along the way they will soon understand what ministry towards them is all about.
I think that in ministry, we should put social action in places where we are not misunderstood by people. We should clarify our motives and instead of bringing the churches name, we should bring the name of Christ. Yes, it is hard to think of certain places and specific actions for this social action, but I believe it is possible. After all, God is the God of wisdom and we are able to do anything through Him. We only ought to be intentional and transparent. We should show the people that we are spreading the name of Jesus and not the religion. We can do all those social actions we usually do, but in a more innovative way. Like what Sir Dave Hine had said during chapel, we should go back to the most innovative way, we should go back to the Bible and how Jesus and others may have done it. Since there had been a lot of ways that the previous generations have done, why not go back to the Bible and see how they did these things?
Ministry should never be misunderstood by people. Clarifying objectives and motives is one of the first thing people in the ministry must be clear about in order to get away from wrong interpretations
I like your idea that we should be rooted in the word of God in every decision we make because the standard that we have as a human being is very bias and even defiled whereas if we are seeing or looking to Gods's standard then we will not be lead astray.
We should not assume that they will know we're doing ministries in Jesus' name, that's why we really need to tell them. Assumptions can lead to misunderstanding, you are right about clarifying what we're doing :) We must intentionally tell them why we're doing what we are doing and give all the glory to God and that we are just channels of blessings.
Go and make disciples the great commission that God want us to do. Maybe, social action can be part of the ministry in the church but, there are advantages and disadvantages of this. Advantages is that we can be able to help others, we can build relationship with them and we can also share the gospel but, the disadvantage of this is that people may think that we are using social action to get their attention to join our religion. The church should always think that all of these things is not about joining a religion. But to personally follow the Lord Jesus Christ. I admit that social action can attract people. And the role of the church for this is that, we need to present the gospel boldly and clearly that we are not doing this for the sake of the religion but to share the blessing that God has entrusted to us, to share the word of God that they may know Christ more and to follow Christ. They must need to know that salvation is not about good works. it is by grace through faith in Christ. The church should disciples,preach, teach and Church should serve and love people not just inside the church but outside the church. So that, people outside will see that we are truly a follower of Christ.
I do affirm on what you've written. Social actions should be our means to make people join our church but it can be used by telling them the salvation that we experience right now.
How lovely is the feet to those who bring good news. Social actions must to be clear in their intentions to help and to lift up the ministry that is a must.
true indeed Miss Teresa. We must do our best to deliver the advantages of social actions. We must focus on catering them to Christ instead of trying to persuade them to join in our church or be a part of our religion. unlike others, our salvation is in Christ, not on the things that we do, the church that we go, and the religion that we belong to.
You are true ate Tere. Sometimes people outside the church misunderstood that we attain salvation through faithfully attending church services or any good works. Of course, we cannot blame them about that. Rather, it should motivate us to reach out to them and impart the Biblical truth that it is only by grace through faith in Christ alone that we have been saved, changed, and set free. Actually, it should not be shared of to those unbelievers but also to remind the people of God about it and orient them of the urgent need to tell it to others, who are blinded to the truth.
The social action in the ministry help the people to be hook. To hook the people the church used different methods like giving to the needy, teaching the kids, counseling, and etc. But to do this we will explain to the people about the sovereignty of God and the church do this because the Lord commanded so. We ministers should always have the evaluation after the social action that the church where involved in. it is true that there are people misunderstood about the social action that the church do. That is why the Bible also commanded us that we should always be dependent to the one who holds everything. I do believe that when we are involved in any social activities and our hearts is not prepared or we did not pray before we everything we will fail to acknowledge the one who entrusted His ministry to us. Often we became arrogant for what we are doing. The Bible is very clear that He hates this action. And we are commanded that in everything we do we should do it for the Lords glory.
It is true ate Leizel that the social action in the ministry is to help the people to be hook in a lot of ways or methods like what you said as giving, teaching, counseling, and much more. However, it would be misunderstood by people if it would not be made clear to them. Like what has done back then after the typhoon Yolanda made its way and left massive destructions. In that moment, giving of foods, clothes, water, and shelter were rampant. And the church might use it to expand the number of the population of the church. Cannot be denied, it is not that we are judging, some were being forced to join in on the certain religion that greatly helped them while others failed to do so, where they were used to be, due to that belief or feelings inside---utang-na-loob. But majority came to faith in Christ as they were given hope that all things works together for good and that it would be alright again. And indeed, you are right to say that in everything as we are commanded that we should do it for the glory of Him.
i believe that we should not just focus our vision in the four corner of the church in terms of ministry. Each area, place, vocation, profession, and individuals is our market place wherein we can display our counterpart and attract others to be part of God's work. We acknowledge that we cannot afford to acquire and bought our salvation because it is only by God's mercy and grace. Mercy is about not getting what we deserve which is eternal condemnation into everlasting suffering, but He has given us grace. Grace is having something that we as sinners do not deserve.Knowing all this loving act of God how can we refuse not to share His unfailing love. The cross is a great loving reminder to all His people to go to the market place, and not just in the inside of the Church. We all encountered Christ and experience His sweet presence everyday because there is someone on the cross reached out for us. And as we reach out people we should be sensitive to their beliefs and approach them with respect in order for us to avoid conflicts.
The place of social action in the ministry of the church is support the physical needs of the people around. We can find that the Bible affirmed it. When Jesus fed the 5000 men it was an act of social action. He met the needs of those people who was hearing the good news about the kingdom. However, social actions have nothing to do with man's salvation. Jesus was always telling his disciples to care for the poor and it's matter of social action but it was not the beginning of their salvation. For me social actions that church are doing as their ministry such as feeding programs, disaster responses are the fruits of salvation. These are the outcomes of every believer's experience of Christ's love in the church. Some people might misunderstood it especially those who might become recipients. They might think that it is one of the church's strategy to change their religion and to be part of the church that is ministering to them. As a result, they might think that if they joined, they would acquire salvation. On the other hand, their might some people who would refuse to join because they were thinking that if they were persuaded to join, they might lose their salvation which is the common belief of Roman Catholics. In this sense, the people are thinking that salvation can be earned by this activities. This needs an intervention. The gospel is a very powerful tool in order to eliminate this misunderstanding. Perhaps telling the people whom the church is ministering the purpose of their social actions, not because they wanted to add church members but to show compassion to those people as what Jesus also did. The church can insert the gospel through saying this. I do believe in the power of the gospel. It can change the person's life though it is impossible for us. So the bottom line is, while doing these social actions, emphasize the gospel through our actions and our speech in order to avoid misunderstanding.
Jesus’ teachings in the Sermon on the Mount and elsewhere in the gospels reflect his passion for helping people transcend their unexamined lives and move toward healing all of creation. But taking part in such a program—walking in such a way—requires spiritual practices like prayer and meditation. Such practices must give rise to concrete actions in the world—actions informed and defined by the consequences of unconditional love: cooperation, compassion, forgiveness, reconciliation, justice. The great challenge for all spiritual communities, now, is to draw deeply on the substance of traditions that get us back to Oneness. We must recover the deep and essential connection between spirituality and social action.
Our ministries should never be separated from our Spiritual motive. We are driven by Christ's love for the people that's why we do social actions--to show Jesus' love to those who need it. You're right upon stating to recover the essential connection between spirituality and social action.
There are many social action that church today are doing. This social action is the key for us to share the gospel to the unbeliever. It is not bad to have feeding program in the church but we should not ruined the message of the gospel by feeding only by their stomach. we should also feed their souls. The reason why we do outside ministry in order for the people to know about Christ. It sad to see sometimes that many people attend to the church because they can eat. But we should put in mind that we need to share to them about the gospel and it is God's work to change that man. it is not our's.
I agree with your idea Jess, it is indeed our way to share the love and grace of God to the community. In is really a good approach to treat them as fellow human beings. Thus we must not forget to let the light of God shine through us by our good works like that feeding programs.
the place of social action in the ministry of the church can be involved both physical needs and spiritual needs. although Christ had did before in his time that he feed the crowds by his power to do miracles and in that we are not him to do miracles but we can do adoption like in a particular place we do in planting churches we can adopt a family by helping them what they needed not just that but we can help also in spiritual manner. Jesus had said to his disciple to teach people they make as disciple to obey everything what Jesus was also teaching them so in us as His minister we can draw these things by building our self in the foundation of the Bible because the Bible is our final authority and in there we can stand of what is in the truth specially in salvation that salvation is cannot be earned but salvation is by the grace of God that is why we are save and that grace shown by Jesus Christ at the cross.
Social action must be use in ministry correctly. motives and intentions must be constantly checked. Just like other things social justice is very essential and beneficial in doing ministry but it can be also dangerous if the chief end of that action is not about glorifying God. One mistake that most of the time I noticed in every churches when it comes to social action, they ought to bring the church into popularity by doing so rather than the name of God. They ten to serve the people around them, the society, for religion's sake. They wanted to see the whole community in their churches everyday, and so that is why they do social actions. For me, social action must be use for ministry mainly to radiate God's love and grace to those who don't know him yet. Let us not do it for our church but for the Christ that we serve. Let us do our bet to humble ourselves, set our flesh out of the light and let their gratitude and thankful heart for being served be directly set to God and not to us or our religion, or our church. "In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good needs and glorify your Father in Heaven" Matthew 5:16.
It is true Sarah that we should radiate to them the grace and love of God. Because we are doing this not for our own glory but to God. We are only an instrument to show the goodness of God to our lives.
Social action of the church marred with negative thought of the people. Because they are thinking about us as "mangabig nasad". This is sad to know that they think us negatively. But we can help them to change their perspective about us. Present Christ to them instead of presenting or introducing our church. This is the mistakes of some churches because they wanted to be known to everybody. In ministering them, they have an authority to know our purpose why we are doing these social action. We should explain to them clearly that our purpose is not to change their religion, but to help them to know more about God, and what was written in the Bible. We conduct feeding program, children outreach, medical mission, and sport ministry. In these way we can spread the gospel to them and to show what Christ has done to our lives.
Somewhere in the history the link between inner spirituality and its expression in the world as loving social action grew faint because some misuse it or perhaps misinterpret it. That's why it is a great challenge for all spiritual communities now to draw deeply on the substance of traditions yet we must recover the deep and essential connection between spirituality and social action. In ministering people, we must present to them that they are cared of not on earthly and physical things by giving them food, clothing, shelter, justice and even education but it is should more clearly to them that we didn't do outreach just to make them convert in our religion but to help them in their physical and spiritual need. The Greatest Commandment as restated by Jesus in the Gospel summarizes concisely the purpose of man’s existence—which is to love God, to love our fellow man and to love ourselves. When we begin to understand that the three parallels, love for God, love for neighbor, and love for self, are the essence of God’s great design for human actions on earth, we will be driven to response.
The motive of the heart towards helping other people is important . We are the servant of God, we spread the good news to his people and there's nothing more. God himself will do the rest in changing or working in the hearts of the people that we have shared the good news. Jesus before did his ministry in a benevolence way, and we should to. They can say what they want to say as long as we know in our hearts that we are doing it for the glory of God and not to gain more new members in our church. it is always in that way and we cannot change the marred idea of the people when we helped especially in the community they will always emphasized and pay attention to the religious name group and all we can do is to be humble, pray for them and let them see, that through our ministry we are showing the love of God that we received from him and sharing it to them.
Amen Madam..sometimes doing social action in our churches misinterpret by many and sometimes they think that we did that because we want them in our church to add number but it is always matter with the motives that we have in our hearts.We should not be guilty with that as long as we know that we are doing that for God and not for our own interests.
The motive of the heart towards helping other people is important . We are the servant of God, we spread the good news to his people and there's nothing more. God himself will do the rest in changing or working in the hearts of the people that we have shared the good news. Jesus before did his ministry in a benevolence way, and we should to. They can say what they want to say as long as we know in our hearts that we are doing it for the glory of God and not to gain more new members in our church. it is always in that way and we cannot change the marred idea of the people when we helped especially in the community they will always emphasized and pay attention to the religious name group and all we can do is to be humble, pray for them and let them see, that through our ministry we are showing the love of God that we received from him and sharing it to them.
The place of social action of the church is the community. The church must show to the people that there is no such a thing where God let man earned his own salvation. And we Christians must not show people that they are not the same human as they are. We must indeed treat them as human beings who needs the same grace that we always wanted. We must not look at them as souls who who were just lost. Let us look at them as the same human beings as we are who haven't yet understood or received the news that there is an available grace for salvation. That no man in the church could ever earn that. And by knowing that unbelievers are not just lost souls but also human beings, let us talk to them the human. We Christians must minister to the people in our community considering the reality. We must not be boastful of what we availed, it is not for us to keep, but to share such good news.
Beyond doubt, every ministry in the church needs not only social attention but also social action. In the same manner, proclamation of being Christmanship requires demonstration. People will not believe us for it was not applied. It is just end up in mere words. Believers plays role in the ministry, where they ministers and also where mentored by others. In a lot of ways accompanied by the given spiritual gifts, we can serve Him in any specific areas in the ministries. Some may be good or gifted in speaking, teaching, and a lot more. But what matters most is how we used it for the fulfillment of His kingdom agenda and to be effective enough as He enables us to do so. However, we need to draw the line so as to avoid misunderstanding that salvation and favor from the Lord is earned not through our own merits but by grace through faith in Christ alone. Basically, we ought to study His Word persistently and carefully. We should make the Bible as we all know and believe to be the final authority of our beliefs and practices. It is like familiarizing the true money first before studying the fake one. In relation to, we should keep track of the biblical truth. Whereby, people of God spends time to disciple each other in the light of His Word of how He wants us to live like Him. Without making disciples of the new converts, they would not able to grow spiritually. It is important to take note as well that church needs to have unified, humble mind, heart, and spirit on any aspects. Because without, it the church or body of Christ will be crippled---having no coordination of each other and do their own way, which they would think is best.
The place of social action in our churches sometimes misinterpret by many,they think that we are doing that to win people to our church and may be add to our number. I think social action is very important in our churches not because we want to proselyte but it is one way of winning them to Christ and through that we can also help them.I think God did not restrict us to do that in fact He is encouraging us to love and help one another and by that who knows we can have them. I this case, I think we should not force or give them conditions when we are helping them.They were some organization that they will give conditions to the people, they wanted them to see in the church, they get the freedom of the people where they wanted to worship God. This is not the way of God in ministering people but we can take this advantages in sharing the gospel to them.
We do social actions as part of reaching out to people who needed help physically like food, clothing, and shelter; emotionally like counseling; socially like visitations, and most importantly, spiritually that's embedded when we respond to their needs in other aspects. Social actions are our ministries, it's place is to show Christ's compassion and love to those who are "neglected" in the society and those who need it most be it inside the church or our outreaches. The limit that we must put here is ourselves, limit in acknowledging ourselves when we help, we must not take the credits for ourselves. Magnify Christ's love and compassion so the people will give glory to God not us. We are doing social actions as followers and believers of Jesus Christ not to be saved. The gospel of salvation should also be clarified that we do good things as fruit of our salvation, as we received Christ's love we also pass it to others so they will know that they are loved by Jesus. Good works do not save us or pardon us from sin, faith does.
Credit is really due God. Whatever we do that glorifies Him, it really is Him working through us. As the Scripture says, apart from God we are nothing. Even Philippians 4:13 says "we can do all things", but it does not just stop there, it continues with "through Christ who gives me strength."
Social action in our ministry is sometimes our front-liner to attract unbelievers, but we must not use it to force them to believe what we believe. Using social action to make people think that there is God and only that God can save us from our sin is a big help for us to lessen our the load of our work in spreading the Word of God and making disciples, as what we are commanded to do. Though there are also negative effects and perspective in this, but the good thing is that negative effect and perspective can be changed. It is our front-liner but we must also show them the core of our ministry, by it their thoughts and perspective can be shift into that core why we are ministering to them and the reason why we are doing it; that is the love of God. We must let them feel God's love, and then disciple them teach them the truth. Make them rooted with the Word of God, and help them make their foundation strong.
As we live in a civilized and economic country, it is very common for people to promote their different advocacies. Well, as its definition, social action can be a thing or an event, a ministry could be in order to bring people as part of them. So, the place of social action in the ministry also are things that we promote especially in making the name of Christ be known to people who does not know, these social actions are: feeding programs, in promoting education, DVBS that happens only a week once a year, also the giving of alms or benevolences especially in our geographical context: typhoon. Those programs or activities are good in intentions and motives. Those things give aid to needy people. And that is one of the very helpful ministries as to spread the name of Christ. So to speak, this propagandas are hitting two birds in just one stone. But it is inevitable that these ministries are misunderstood and tends to lessen, and deteriorate its deep intention. For people, it becomes a routine and a thing to be expected, which makes them work less and wait only for the Christians. On the believers part, it will be a tool to bring Christ, and practically speaking, with negativity, it becomes a trap. Which imprisons the people the freedom to choose whether to follow Christ or not. It may seem that it chokes them. In order to avoid, we must reflect on what Jesus did in His time when many people followed him because of food. He rebuked them. And we are not to do the same because we are not Jesus. But we can follow it just as he portrayed that people are like that. Another, for me, is to inform the people the purpose of the social action. By this way, we are giving them freedom, and we will become a blessing, we will not hasten the harvest, we just need to wait for the perfect time for them to receive Christ.
What a very brilliant excellent idea Pastor Rey. Yes, if we know that other people think that we do the ministry because we want to gain something, we must rebuke them. We must do it in a gentle way because they are also need Christ and we must not shut the door for them. Helping other people as a hook is good but it can be misunderstood. Our work is only to share Jesus to them and it is the Holy Spirit work to them that will change them inside out. Very nice not to hasten the harvest. God has time for everything and we do not know it that is why we cannot compel a person to accept Christ as personal savior.
The place of social action in the Church can be done in many area. Of course, it is by works and help them but how? By helping people sometimes can be misinterpreted by the unbelievers and it is not good because it can cause barrier and even can closed the door for them to Christ. Social action is one of strategy to share Christ to the people and it is the ultimate end for them, to accept Christ as their personal savior. It did not end by only helping them and make a relationship to them but it is a start to them that someday they will know Christ and accept Him as their personal savior. Pray to God for wisdom for us to be misinterpreted by other people. We must put always in our mind that this work is God's Work and we must not accept it as our own that is why we do not discourage if there are people who will deny Christ because we do not know what is the plan of God to him. We mus not also stop to share the Word of God to them by thinking that they will not accept Christ anymore because we try it and they do not want and thinking that they are not being chose by God in the first place. We do not know this things that is why we must share the Word of God to everyone. God did not tell us who are His chosen people; so that, we will not choose who will we share God's Word. Sharing God's Word is our only work as an instrument of God. That's all. The one who will work in their heart is God and have the power to change them inside out.
Somehow I agree to you erick that there are some people who misunderstood us specially in this aspect or this kind of ministry. And yes we can do social action in many ways. But let us also show compassion to those people who misunderstood us because that means that they are still blinded of what is true. Let's us pray for them that through social action it may lead them to know Christ.
Believers are commanded to go and make disciples in all nation. And one way of doing this commandment is to have a social action so that we can reach out those people who haven't yet heard the gospel. Every believers those who are true followers of Christ was given a gifts of Holy Spirit. Some of us are preacher, teacher, and other more. To enhance this gifts we have one way of doing this is to have a social action. Like feeding, making orphan and other more that involve social interaction. This activity we made there are lots of people who misunderstood this they think that we are just using this so that people may follow us and listen to what we said to them. But as we know we are not the one who can change their life and heart is God's the one who can change their life. And salvation is not through us it by the faith to Him. Social action must not be misunderstood God may use this or us to reach people and share the gospel to them. For me to avoid misunderstood about this social action that most believer do is that we need to clarify to them that its our one way to share God's word to them so that they may be given a chance to repent and accept Christ. And by telling them that salvation can't be earned by works it through our sincere faith to Him.
Yep it could be one way the social action. People has necessities in life. Yes agree also that gifts could be a help to reach out this people. Good idea kuya Allan. We have different callings and that calling would lead people to come to Christ. What really transform is not our skills but really His Gospel. Action plan is a tool in reaching the unbelievers.
We all know that people has important necessities in daily lives. Social action is a good hook for them or it will lead them to know Christ. Just to clear Salvation is by grace through faith. Social action is to help people and encourage them to know Christ. But sad thing is we Christians are misinterpret by the unbelievers. I would say social action can be used in good purposes and bad purposes. This social plans benefits to the people and the most important benefit is to accept Jesus Christ as their personal Lord and Savior. Social actions is not new to what we are right now from the present. This would help us and people to grow more mature spiritually and in all aspects. As long as the ministries has the right motives and in lined to what God's Plan.
Indeed, ate joy. This can help people grow in Christ but that growth depends only with the motives of the church or that church ministry is really centered to Christ. We must show them Christ through us for them to see realities and would hinder them from misinterpreting us.
The salvation of God does not requires any, work or anything that will earn salvation. It is freely givin as a gift, we can work our own salvation but we might fail, because we deserve hell. We can reach them through our life testimony. It's not boasting but God really save our soul from the fire. Salvation is a gift.
Social Action is very helpful to the church because helps the church to have basis of what program and things to follow. The place of social action in the ministry is helping believers to what should and what shouldn't be the proper and sound action to do. The problem sometimes of social action in the church is it leads to legalism. People in the church make it as a way to get favor or acquire salvation from God. This is the reasons why many members in the church aim to have position in the church so that they can feel approval from God but others will notice it. They think that if a person have position they are more spiritual than others. God knows the heart of a person and His standard is what's inside the heart. So in other words, social action is not the way of salvation or earning favor from God.
What is the place of social action in the ministry of the church? Where do we draw the line so as to avoid the misunderstanding that salvation and favor from the Lord is earned?
The place of social action in the ministry of the church plays a vital role. Each ministry involves social action; it works hand in hand through the grace of God. There are different ministries wherein people can get involve and can minister to others, as well. We have the gift of teaching, preaching, evanglizing, prophesying, equipping others, and building others up. Through this gift it can be useful and impart to others what gift they have that God has entrusted to each believers of Christ. The Church needs this social action in order to be effective in the ministry and function well. We can draw the line so as to avoid the misunderstanding that salvation and favor from the Lord is earned through attending Bible studies,spending time with someone who are mature in the faith in Christ, fellowship with believers, hearing sermons with Biblical truth, and studying the word of God through meditation and prayer. It is also important that as a Church that there would be unity in their vision and mission statement. Our relationship with Christ is the most important thing as we walk hand in hand in doing the ministry and pursuing the Great Commission.
ReplyDeleteYes ate D, we can literally say that Church that does not do social actions are paralyzed Church for we are consequently part of this society and withdrawing from it does not show Christ.
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ReplyDeleteAs we already had known, salvation is not acquired through good works but good works are merely the result of the salvation we had. The Church is so defined as to be the assembly of believers having attested and accepted Christ's death for everybody. Since we are privileged to be a member of this body, the salvation we gained must not be in vain. It must also lead others to Jesus' feet. This will only be possible through our diligent work of the Great Commission accompanied by the Great Commandment.
ReplyDeleteLoving God is inseparable from loving humanity. Our service to God are often showed with our service to others. As we continue to work on this ministry, may we also clarify to the one we are ministering to that what we are doing are not the means to eternity with Him but only through believing that Jesus, the source of goodworks, became the sin and sacrifice for us.
Yes. Indeed the good works we do are a result of the salvation we have acquired through our faith in Christ. I agree with you Elai that we should do the good works that make us arrows for Christ. Everything we do, we should do for God's glory. If it does not give glory to God, then we should just quit it and return to zero.
DeleteI affirmed to what you have said dear that, we are saved that is the reason why we serve, not to serve in order to be save, but I think some people believe the second phrase. your idea is very Biblical that as we love God it result an action to love others, that's the great commandments. and as I summarize your idea i get your point that as we do social action, we are hoping that by doing this it lead people to Jesus, not to the good work we showed. Amen...
DeleteI affirmed to what you have said dear that, we are saved that is the reason why we serve, not to serve in order to be save, but I think some people believe the second phrase. your idea is very Biblical that as we love God it result an action to love others, that's the great commandments. and as I summarize your idea i get your point that as we do social action, we are hoping that by doing this it lead people to Jesus, not to the good work we showed. Amen...
DeleteSocial Ministry is a wonderful way that the church must practice, it is the way that we can help the needy people in the community we were live in, and this is one thing also to have an opportunity to share the message of the Gospel to the unbelievers surround us, it is also one of the strategy to have a relational ministry in our community. it is the act of love and concerns to the people who are in need. but we need to be careful because people of these days are more careful because they have seen in the past that some of the churches use the social action in order to convince people to join in the church. they used this as a tool to gain many members in the church, but some people miss the point, they join because they receive something from the church, not for the reason that they understand what the Gospel message really means. I remember when Jesus rebuked many people who fallowed Him after He fed them, he said, you follow me because you understand my teaching but you followed me because you filled with the bread that I was given to you. Social action is good but there's some misconception sometimes, so as a church we need to made it clear to the people that we lend a help that we did it for the Lord, whether they will believe the Lord or not, they have the freedom as long as we did our part to help them.
ReplyDeleteThat's right brother.
DeleteThis is my prayer as we become leaders someday, that because of our desire to glorify God in our ministry,I hope that we will not tend to do what others do, just like making methods so as to trap them or make our ministry a bait for them. It is true, and it is inevitable to happen.
This is a reminder for us to go to the basic especially in becoming more doctrinally sound in our teaching and the ministry we'll hold for the cause of Christ.
Truelala kuyaa.
DeleteYou as a pastor someday,Present the gospel clearly and boldly. and to those pastors and teachers out there my prayer is that we should share the word of God clearly and to always go back what the bible say.
Amen, we need establish relationship with people that we minister and show them genuine care and love even though their motive in joining the fellowship is not aligned in God' will. God will help them through whatever motive they had. They are still on the process but along the way they will soon understand what ministry towards them is all about.
DeleteI think that in ministry, we should put social action in places where we are not misunderstood by people. We should clarify our motives and instead of bringing the churches name, we should bring the name of Christ. Yes, it is hard to think of certain places and specific actions for this social action, but I believe it is possible. After all, God is the God of wisdom and we are able to do anything through Him. We only ought to be intentional and transparent. We should show the people that we are spreading the name of Jesus and not the religion. We can do all those social actions we usually do, but in a more innovative way. Like what Sir Dave Hine had said during chapel, we should go back to the most innovative way, we should go back to the Bible and how Jesus and others may have done it. Since there had been a lot of ways that the previous generations have done, why not go back to the Bible and see how they did these things?
ReplyDeleteEverything is to be clarified to avoid misconceptions, wrong interpretations and prejudices.
DeleteMinistry should never be misunderstood by people. Clarifying objectives and motives is one of the first thing people in the ministry must be clear about in order to get away from wrong interpretations
DeleteI like your idea that we should be rooted in the word of God in every decision we make because the standard that we have as a human being is very bias and even defiled whereas if we are seeing or looking to Gods's standard then we will not be lead astray.
DeleteWe should not assume that they will know we're doing ministries in Jesus' name, that's why we really need to tell them. Assumptions can lead to misunderstanding, you are right about clarifying what we're doing :) We must intentionally tell them why we're doing what we are doing and give all the glory to God and that we are just channels of blessings.
DeleteGo and make disciples the great commission that God want us to do. Maybe, social action can be part of the ministry in the church but, there are advantages and disadvantages of this. Advantages is that we can be able to help others, we can build relationship with them and we can also share the gospel but, the disadvantage of this is that people may think that we are using social action to get their attention to join our religion. The church should always think that all of these things is not about joining a religion. But to personally follow the Lord Jesus Christ. I admit that social action can attract people. And the role of the church for this is that, we need to present the gospel boldly and clearly that we are not doing this for the sake of the religion but to share the blessing that God has entrusted to us, to share the word of God that they may know Christ more and to follow Christ.
ReplyDeleteThey must need to know that salvation is not about good works. it is by grace through faith in Christ. The church should disciples,preach, teach and Church should serve and love people not just inside the church but outside the church. So that, people outside will see that we are truly a follower of Christ.
I do believe also that we are commanded to go and make disciple.
DeleteI do believe also that we are commanded to go and make disciple.
DeleteI do affirm on what you've written. Social actions should be our means to make people join our church but it can be used by telling them the salvation that we experience right now.
DeleteHow lovely is the feet to those who bring good news. Social actions must to be clear in their intentions to help and to lift up the ministry that is a must.
Deletetrue indeed Miss Teresa. We must do our best to deliver the advantages of social actions. We must focus on catering them to Christ instead of trying to persuade them to join in our church or be a part of our religion. unlike others, our salvation is in Christ, not on the things that we do, the church that we go, and the religion that we belong to.
DeleteYou are true ate Tere. Sometimes people outside the church misunderstood that we attain salvation through faithfully attending church services or any good works. Of course, we cannot blame them about that. Rather, it should motivate us to reach out to them and impart the Biblical truth that it is only by grace through faith in Christ alone that we have been saved, changed, and set free. Actually, it should not be shared of to those unbelievers but also to remind the people of God about it and orient them of the urgent need to tell it to others, who are blinded to the truth.
DeleteThe social action in the ministry help the people to be hook. To hook the people the church used different methods like giving to the needy, teaching the kids, counseling, and etc. But to do this we will explain to the people about the sovereignty of God and the church do this because the Lord commanded so. We ministers should always have the evaluation after the social action that the church where involved in. it is true that there are people misunderstood about the social action that the church do.
ReplyDeleteThat is why the Bible also commanded us that we should always be dependent to the one who holds everything. I do believe that when we are involved in any social activities and our hearts is not prepared or we did not pray before we everything we will fail to acknowledge the one who entrusted His ministry to us. Often we became arrogant for what we are doing. The Bible is very clear that He hates this action.
And we are commanded that in everything we do we should do it for the Lords glory.
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DeleteAmen!!! I believe that God allow social medias in order for us to use it for His kingdom as well, and for the expansion of His works.
DeleteIt is true ate Leizel that the social action in the ministry is to help the people to be hook in a lot of ways or methods like what you said as giving, teaching, counseling, and much more. However, it would be misunderstood by people if it would not be made clear to them. Like what has done back then after the typhoon Yolanda made its way and left massive destructions. In that moment, giving of foods, clothes, water, and shelter were rampant. And the church might use it to expand the number of the population of the church. Cannot be denied, it is not that we are judging, some were being forced to join in on the certain religion that greatly helped them while others failed to do so, where they were used to be, due to that belief or feelings inside---utang-na-loob. But majority came to faith in Christ as they were given hope that all things works together for good and that it would be alright again. And indeed, you are right to say that in everything as we are commanded that we should do it for the glory of Him.
Deletei believe that we should not just focus our vision in the four corner of the church in terms of ministry. Each area, place, vocation, profession, and individuals is our market place wherein we can display our counterpart and attract others to be part of God's work. We acknowledge that we cannot afford to acquire and bought our salvation because it is only by God's mercy and grace. Mercy is about not getting what we deserve which is eternal condemnation into everlasting suffering, but He has given us grace. Grace is having something that we as sinners do not deserve.Knowing all this loving act of God how can we refuse not to share His unfailing love. The cross is a great loving reminder to all His people to go to the market place, and not just in the inside of the Church. We all encountered Christ and experience His sweet presence everyday because there is someone on the cross reached out for us. And as we reach out people we should be sensitive to their beliefs and approach them with respect in order for us to avoid conflicts.
ReplyDeleteThe place of social action in the ministry of the church is support the physical needs of the people around. We can find that the Bible affirmed it. When Jesus fed the 5000 men it was an act of social action. He met the needs of those people who was hearing the good news about the kingdom. However, social actions have nothing to do with man's salvation. Jesus was always telling his disciples to care for the poor and it's matter of social action but it was not the beginning of their salvation. For me social actions that church are doing as their ministry such as feeding programs, disaster responses are the fruits of salvation. These are the outcomes of every believer's experience of Christ's love in the church. Some people might misunderstood it especially those who might become recipients. They might think that it is one of the church's strategy to change their religion and to be part of the church that is ministering to them. As a result, they might think that if they joined, they would acquire salvation. On the other hand, their might some people who would refuse to join because they were thinking that if they were persuaded to join, they might lose their salvation which is the common belief of Roman Catholics. In this sense, the people are thinking that salvation can be earned by this activities. This needs an intervention. The gospel is a very powerful tool in order to eliminate this misunderstanding. Perhaps telling the people whom the church is ministering the purpose of their social actions, not because they wanted to add church members but to show compassion to those people as what Jesus also did. The church can insert the gospel through saying this. I do believe in the power of the gospel. It can change the person's life though it is impossible for us.
ReplyDeleteSo the bottom line is, while doing these social actions, emphasize the gospel through our actions and our speech in order to avoid misunderstanding.
Jesus’ teachings in the Sermon on the Mount and elsewhere in the gospels reflect his passion for helping people transcend their unexamined lives and move toward healing all of creation. But taking part in such a program—walking in such a way—requires spiritual practices like prayer and meditation. Such practices must give rise to concrete actions in the world—actions informed and defined by the consequences of unconditional love: cooperation, compassion, forgiveness, reconciliation, justice. The great challenge for all spiritual communities, now, is to draw deeply on the substance of traditions that get us back to Oneness. We must recover the deep and essential connection between spirituality and social action.
ReplyDeleteOur ministries should never be separated from our Spiritual motive. We are driven by Christ's love for the people that's why we do social actions--to show Jesus' love to those who need it. You're right upon stating to recover the essential connection between spirituality and social action.
DeleteThere are many social action that church today are doing. This social action is the key for us to share the gospel to the unbeliever. It is not bad to have feeding program in the church but we should not ruined the message of the gospel by feeding only by their stomach. we should also feed their souls. The reason why we do outside ministry in order for the people to know about Christ. It sad to see sometimes that many people attend to the church because they can eat. But we should put in mind that we need to share to them about the gospel and it is God's work to change that man. it is not our's.
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DeleteI agree with your idea Jess, it is indeed our way to share the love and grace of God to the community. In is really a good approach to treat them as fellow human beings. Thus we must not forget to let the light of God shine through us by our good works like that feeding programs.
Deletethe place of social action in the ministry of the church can be involved both physical needs and spiritual needs. although Christ had did before in his time that he feed the crowds by his power to do miracles and in that we are not him to do miracles but we can do adoption like in a particular place we do in planting churches we can adopt a family by helping them what they needed not just that but we can help also in spiritual manner. Jesus had said to his disciple to teach people they make as disciple to obey everything what Jesus was also teaching them so in us as His minister we can draw these things by building our self in the foundation of the Bible because the Bible is our final authority and in there we can stand of what is in the truth specially in salvation that salvation is cannot be earned but salvation is by the grace of God that is why we are save and that grace shown by Jesus Christ at the cross.
ReplyDeleteSocial action must be use in ministry correctly. motives and intentions must be constantly checked. Just like other things social justice is very essential and beneficial in doing ministry but it can be also dangerous if the chief end of that action is not about glorifying God. One mistake that most of the time I noticed in every churches when it comes to social action, they ought to bring the church into popularity by doing so rather than the name of God. They ten to serve the people around them, the society, for religion's sake. They wanted to see the whole community in their churches everyday, and so that is why they do social actions. For me, social action must be use for ministry mainly to radiate God's love and grace to those who don't know him yet. Let us not do it for our church but for the Christ that we serve. Let us do our bet to humble ourselves, set our flesh out of the light and let their gratitude and thankful heart for being served be directly set to God and not to us or our religion, or our church. "In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good needs and glorify your Father in Heaven" Matthew 5:16.
ReplyDeleteIt is true Sarah that we should radiate to them the grace and love of God. Because we are doing this not for our own glory but to God. We are only an instrument to show the goodness of God to our lives.
DeleteSocial action of the church marred with negative thought of the people. Because they are thinking about us as "mangabig nasad". This is sad to know that they think us negatively. But we can help them to change their perspective about us. Present Christ
ReplyDeleteto them instead of presenting or introducing our church. This is the mistakes of some churches because they wanted to be known to everybody. In ministering them, they have an authority to know our purpose why we are doing these social action. We should explain to them clearly that our purpose is not to change their religion, but to help them to know more about God, and what was written in the Bible. We conduct feeding program, children outreach, medical mission, and sport ministry. In these way we can spread the gospel to them and to show what Christ has done to our lives.
Somewhere in the history the link between inner spirituality and its expression in the world as loving social action grew faint because some misuse it or perhaps misinterpret it. That's why it is a great challenge for all spiritual communities now to draw deeply on the substance of traditions yet we must recover the deep and essential connection between spirituality and social action. In ministering people, we must present to them that they are cared of not on earthly and physical things by giving them food, clothing, shelter, justice and even education but it is should more clearly to them that we didn't do outreach just to make them convert in our religion but to help them in their physical and spiritual need. The Greatest Commandment as restated by Jesus in the Gospel summarizes concisely the purpose of man’s existence—which is to love God, to love our fellow man and to love ourselves. When we begin to understand that the three parallels, love for God, love for neighbor, and love for self, are the essence of God’s great design for human actions on earth, we will be driven to response.
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ReplyDeleteThe motive of the heart towards helping other people is important . We are the servant of God, we spread the good news to his people and there's nothing more. God himself will do the rest in changing or working in the hearts of the people that we have shared the good news. Jesus before did his ministry in a benevolence way, and we should to. They can say what they want to say as long as we know in our hearts that we are doing it for the glory of God and not to gain more new members in our church. it is always in that way and we cannot change the marred idea of the people when we helped especially in the community they will always emphasized and pay attention to the religious name group and all we can do is to be humble, pray for them and let them see, that through our ministry we are showing the love of God that we received from him and sharing it to them.
ReplyDeleteAmen Madam..sometimes doing social action in our churches misinterpret by many and sometimes they think that we did that because we want them in our church to add number but it is always matter with the motives that we have in our hearts.We should not be guilty with that as long as we know that we are doing that for God and not for our own interests.
DeleteThe motive of the heart towards helping other people is important . We are the servant of God, we spread the good news to his people and there's nothing more. God himself will do the rest in changing or working in the hearts of the people that we have shared the good news. Jesus before did his ministry in a benevolence way, and we should to. They can say what they want to say as long as we know in our hearts that we are doing it for the glory of God and not to gain more new members in our church. it is always in that way and we cannot change the marred idea of the people when we helped especially in the community they will always emphasized and pay attention to the religious name group and all we can do is to be humble, pray for them and let them see, that through our ministry we are showing the love of God that we received from him and sharing it to them.
ReplyDeleteThe place of social action of the church is the community. The church must show to the people that there is no such a thing where God let man earned his own salvation. And we Christians must not show people that they are not the same human as they are. We must indeed treat them as human beings who needs the same grace that we always wanted. We must not look at them as souls who who were just lost. Let us look at them as the same human beings as we are who haven't yet understood or received the news that there is an available grace for salvation. That no man in the church could ever earn that. And by knowing that unbelievers are not just lost souls but also human beings, let us talk to them the human. We Christians must minister to the people in our community considering the reality. We must not be boastful of what we availed, it is not for us to keep, but to share such good news.
ReplyDeleteBeyond doubt, every ministry in the church needs not only social attention but also social action. In the same manner, proclamation of being Christmanship requires demonstration. People will not believe us for it was not applied. It is just end up in mere words. Believers plays role in the ministry, where they ministers and also where mentored by others. In a lot of ways accompanied by the given spiritual gifts, we can serve Him in any specific areas in the ministries. Some may be good or gifted in speaking, teaching, and a lot more. But what matters most is how we used it for the fulfillment of His kingdom agenda and to be effective enough as He enables us to do so. However, we need to draw the line so as to avoid misunderstanding that salvation and favor from the Lord is earned not through our own merits but by grace through faith in Christ alone. Basically, we ought to study His Word persistently and carefully. We should make the Bible as we all know and believe to be the final authority of our beliefs and practices. It is like familiarizing the true money first before studying the fake one. In relation to, we should keep track of the biblical truth. Whereby, people of God spends time to disciple each other in the light of His Word of how He wants us to live like Him. Without making disciples of the new converts, they would not able to grow spiritually. It is important to take note as well that church needs to have unified, humble mind, heart, and spirit on any aspects. Because without, it the church or body of Christ will be crippled---having no coordination of each other and do their own way, which they would think is best.
ReplyDeleteThe place of social action in our churches sometimes misinterpret by many,they think that we are doing that to win people to our church and may be add to our number. I think social action is very important in our churches not because we want to proselyte but it is one way of winning them to Christ and through that we can also help them.I think God did not restrict us to do that in fact He is encouraging us to love and help one another and by that who knows we can have them.
ReplyDeleteI this case, I think we should not force or give them conditions when we are helping them.They were some organization that they will give conditions to the people, they wanted them to see in the church, they get the freedom of the people where they wanted to worship God. This is not the way of God in ministering people but we can take this advantages in sharing the gospel to them.
We do social actions as part of reaching out to people who needed help physically like food, clothing, and shelter; emotionally like counseling; socially like visitations, and most importantly, spiritually that's embedded when we respond to their needs in other aspects. Social actions are our ministries, it's place is to show Christ's compassion and love to those who are "neglected" in the society and those who need it most be it inside the church or our outreaches. The limit that we must put here is ourselves, limit in acknowledging ourselves when we help, we must not take the credits for ourselves. Magnify Christ's love and compassion so the people will give glory to God not us. We are doing social actions as followers and believers of Jesus Christ not to be saved. The gospel of salvation should also be clarified that we do good things as fruit of our salvation, as we received Christ's love we also pass it to others so they will know that they are loved by Jesus. Good works do not save us or pardon us from sin, faith does.
ReplyDeleteCredit is really due God. Whatever we do that glorifies Him, it really is Him working through us. As the Scripture says, apart from God we are nothing. Even Philippians 4:13 says "we can do all things", but it does not just stop there, it continues with "through Christ who gives me strength."
DeleteSocial action in our ministry is sometimes our front-liner to attract unbelievers, but we must not use it to force them to believe what we believe. Using social action to make people think that there is God and only that God can save us from our sin is a big help for us to lessen our the load of our work in spreading the Word of God and making disciples, as what we are commanded to do. Though there are also negative effects and perspective in this, but the good thing is that negative effect and perspective can be changed. It is our front-liner but we must also show them the core of our ministry, by it their thoughts and perspective can be shift into that core why we are ministering to them and the reason why we are doing it; that is the love of God. We must let them feel God's love, and then disciple them teach them the truth. Make them rooted with the Word of God, and help them make their foundation strong.
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ReplyDeleteAs we live in a civilized and economic country, it is very common for people to promote their different advocacies. Well, as its definition, social action can be a thing or an event, a ministry could be in order to bring people as part of them.
So, the place of social action in the ministry also are things that we promote especially in making the name of Christ be known to people who does not know, these social actions are: feeding programs, in promoting education, DVBS that happens only a week once a year, also the giving of alms or benevolences especially in our geographical context: typhoon.
Those programs or activities are good in intentions and motives. Those things give aid to needy people. And that is one of the very helpful ministries as to spread the name of Christ. So to speak, this propagandas are hitting two birds in just one stone.
But it is inevitable that these ministries are misunderstood and tends to lessen, and deteriorate its deep intention. For people, it becomes a routine and a thing to be expected, which makes them work less and wait only for the Christians. On the believers part, it will be a tool to bring Christ, and practically speaking, with negativity, it becomes a trap. Which imprisons the people the freedom to choose whether to follow Christ or not. It may seem that it chokes them.
In order to avoid, we must reflect on what Jesus did in His time when many people followed him because of food. He rebuked them. And we are not to do the same because we are not Jesus. But we can follow it just as he portrayed that people are like that. Another, for me, is to inform the people the purpose of the social action. By this way, we are giving them freedom, and we will become a blessing, we will not hasten the harvest, we just need to wait for the perfect time for them to receive Christ.
What a very brilliant excellent idea Pastor Rey. Yes, if we know that other people think that we do the ministry because we want to gain something, we must rebuke them. We must do it in a gentle way because they are also need Christ and we must not shut the door for them. Helping other people as a hook is good but it can be misunderstood. Our work is only to share Jesus to them and it is the Holy Spirit work to them that will change them inside out. Very nice not to hasten the harvest. God has time for everything and we do not know it that is why we cannot compel a person to accept Christ as personal savior.
DeleteThe place of social action in the Church can be done in many area. Of course, it is by works and help them but how? By helping people sometimes can be misinterpreted by the unbelievers and it is not good because it can cause barrier and even can closed the door for them to Christ. Social action is one of strategy to share Christ to the people and it is the ultimate end for them, to accept Christ as their personal savior. It did not end by only helping them and make a relationship to them but it is a start to them that someday they will know Christ and accept Him as their personal savior. Pray to God for wisdom for us to be misinterpreted by other people. We must put always in our mind that this work is God's Work and we must not accept it as our own that is why we do not discourage if there are people who will deny Christ because we do not know what is the plan of God to him. We mus not also stop to share the Word of God to them by thinking that they will not accept Christ anymore because we try it and they do not want and thinking that they are not being chose by God in the first place. We do not know this things that is why we must share the Word of God to everyone. God did not tell us who are His chosen people; so that, we will not choose who will we share God's Word. Sharing God's Word is our only work as an instrument of God. That's all. The one who will work in their heart is God and have the power to change them inside out.
ReplyDeleteSomehow I agree to you erick that there are some people who misunderstood us specially in this aspect or this kind of ministry. And yes we can do social action in many ways. But let us also show compassion to those people who misunderstood us because that means that they are still blinded of what is true. Let's us pray for them that through social action it may lead them to know Christ.
DeleteBelievers are commanded to go and make disciples in all nation. And one way of doing this commandment is to have a social action so that we can reach out those people who haven't yet heard the gospel. Every believers those who are true followers of Christ was given a gifts of Holy Spirit. Some of us are preacher, teacher, and other more. To enhance this gifts we have one way of doing this is to have a social action. Like feeding, making orphan and other more that involve social interaction. This activity we made there are lots of people who misunderstood this they think that we are just using this so that people may follow us and listen to what we said to them. But as we know we are not the one who can change their life and heart is God's the one who can change their life. And salvation is not through us it by the faith to Him. Social action must not be misunderstood God may use this or us to reach people and share the gospel to them. For me to avoid misunderstood about this social action that most believer do is that we need to clarify to them that its our one way to share God's word to them so that they may be given a chance to repent and accept Christ. And by telling them that salvation can't be earned by works it through our sincere faith to Him.
ReplyDeleteYep it could be one way the social action. People has necessities in life. Yes agree also that gifts could be a help to reach out this people. Good idea kuya Allan. We have different callings and that calling would lead people to come to Christ. What really transform is not our skills but really His Gospel. Action plan is a tool in reaching the unbelievers.
DeleteWe all know that people has important necessities in daily lives. Social action is a good hook for them or it will lead them to know Christ. Just to clear Salvation is by grace through faith. Social action is to help people and encourage them to know Christ. But sad thing is we Christians are misinterpret by the unbelievers. I would say social action can be used in good purposes and bad purposes. This social plans benefits to the people and the most important benefit is to accept Jesus Christ as their personal Lord and Savior. Social actions is not new to what we are right now from the present. This would help us and people to grow more mature spiritually and in all aspects. As long as the ministries has the right motives and in lined to what God's Plan.
ReplyDeleteIndeed, ate joy. This can help people grow in Christ but that growth depends only with the motives of the church or that church ministry is really centered to Christ. We must show them Christ through us for them to see realities and would hinder them from misinterpreting us.
DeleteThe salvation of God does not requires any, work or anything that will earn salvation. It is freely givin as a gift, we can work our own salvation but we might fail, because we deserve hell. We can reach them through our life testimony. It's not boasting but God really save our soul from the fire. Salvation is a gift.
ReplyDeleteAmen, salvation is not our own work but it is God who offer it to us. We believe that God looked in our heart not on the things we do.
DeleteSocial Action is very helpful to the church because helps the church to have basis of what program and things to follow. The place of social action in the ministry is helping believers to what should and what shouldn't be the proper and sound action to do.
ReplyDeleteThe problem sometimes of social action in the church is it leads to legalism. People in the church make it as a way to get favor or acquire salvation from God. This is the reasons why many members in the church aim to have position in the church so that they can feel approval from God but others will notice it. They think that if a person have position they are more spiritual than others. God knows the heart of a person and His standard is what's inside the heart. So in other words, social action is not the way of salvation or earning favor from God.