Friday, August 22, 2008

Getting the BIG Picture and Sharing It!

God is faithful in providing us all we need to penetrate the world as His ambassadors. A new way of "opening" the flow of God's Spirit from our lives to others may just be as simple as drawing some circles on a napkin.

A friend of mine sent me a link to this website maintained by James Choung, a graduate from M.I.T. and currently serving as
the divisional director for InterVarsity Christian Fellowship in San Diego. He has come up with a new communication model (which can use a napkin!) for sharing Christ that focuses not merely on getting into heaven, but on God’s desire to use us to bring healing and new life to a broken world. (See Matthew 6:9,10: Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.)

In the training material explaining the four circles, Choung points out that a person’s view on his/her salvation may be out of balance. This new model addresses that possibly paralyzing imbalance.

He maintains we need to balance the items on the left with the God ordained, biblical and non-optional aspects of one’s relationship with Christ on the right…

A relationship with Christ involves:

  • A decision but also PERSONAL TRANSFORMATION into someone who lives more like Christ guided by his Spirit, truth (the Word) and His purposes.
  • An individual relationship with God through Christ, but also a life connected to the COMMUNITY OF FAITH as a part of the BODY OF CHRIST. (Note: “Connected” does NOT mean just “attending” services at a church)
  • Going to heaven later, but also, GOING INTO THE WORLD WITH A PURPOSE AND MISSION RIGHT NOW.
Think about that for a minute: life with Christ involves
  • Decision AND Transformation
  • Individual Commitment AND Commitment to Community
  • After-Life Later AND Mission-Life Now

When we start believing all of the Bible (not just the parts we like), and believing that God’s Spirit is real, and is up to something wonderful in our lives, then we’ll see (and others, too) what abundant living is like!

Please remember that Choung's presentation is a tool to open conversations with people about Christ and is not a complete Gospel presentation. Click below for parts 1 and 2 of Choung’s presentation of the “Big Story.”





Part II...


For even more information:
The author's website:
http://www.jameschoung.net/

Article in Christianity Today:
http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2008/july/11.31.html

Actual training manual from Intervarsity:

http://www.jameschoung.net/wp-content/uploads/2008/03/explanation-of-the-big-story-32.pdf

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