The Serving Community

The Serving Community2 0 1 4 S u m m e r S e r i e s : T h e G o o d a n d B e a u t i f u l C o m m u n i t y

Sir Ernest Henry ShackletonTo Cross Antarctica from Sea to Sea Via the South Pole

The Imperial Trans-Arctic Expedition 1914-1917

How Many Dead Penguins?The Challenge of Leading Others During Trying Times

Constant Tension

SACRIFICE & SERVICE

SUCCESS & SURVIVAL

Original Mission Inevitable Mission

SUCCESS & SURVIVAL

Reclaiming the Church’s Soul

SACRIFICE & SERVICE

Original Mission Inevitable Mission

Competing Narratives

Our needs matter most

True Narrative False Narrative

Others’ needs matter most

Competing Narratives

Focusing on SELF

Needs of Others Our Needs

Focusing on OTHERS

“The good and beautiful

community of Jesus finds its

life in Jesus himself, not

itself.”

Attendance Buildings Cash

James Bryan Smith

Jesus Came to Serve, Not to Be Served

Luke 2227 For who is greater, the one who is seated at the table, or the one who serves? Is it not the one who

is seated at the table? But I am among you as one who serves. (NET)

Jesus lives to serve because he is motivated by one thing…

A Great Love for O T H E R S

John 1513 No one has greater love than this—that one lays

down his life for his friends. (NET)

Our Hope Should Be Anchored in Christ Jesus

“We have confidence in a great future; we know that nothing will happen to us

that God, in his wisdom, has not allowed, and that he cannot use for good. We are

safe and secure. In that condition, we can move from [focusing on ourselves] to focusing on others.” James Bryan Smith

In God’s Kingdom……safe and secure

…loved forever, unconditionally …valuable and precious, worth dying for

…splendid, never-to-be-duplicated stories of grace

When we embrace and embody these truths, we are able to focus on others and their needs, even if serving them costs us our reputations, our churches, even our lives.

*Are he and EBCLA legit? Postscript on the June 2014 JEMS Mt. Hermon Conference Controversy

*

“The success of a church is not in its size but in its service to the people and the community.” James Bryan Smith

We exist to serve others and then die, just like Jesus.

Your Needs Before MinePhilippians 23 Instead of being motivated by selfish ambition or

vanity, each of you should, in humility, be moved to treat one another as more important than

yourself. 4 Each of you should be concerned not only about your

own interests, but about the interests of others as well.

EBCLA’s Lacey Nagao

Inspired more and more and more by the love of Jesus for us, we will be moved to sacrifice ourselves and to love others by serving them more and more and more.