The Cost of Advent

Message from 12/14/2008. The Cost of Advent

What is Cornerstone About?

As we have moved into a new facility the question has come up: what is Cornerstone about and how are we doing? The answer to the first part of the question could be stated in several ways but each response would ultimately boil down to this: Cornerstone is about loving God and loving others. We use the statement that “God wants to change the World by touching lives in Pullman” to convey this and that there is a larger mission involved beyond “just me”. For many churches this is summed up in Jesus’ commission in Matthew 28:18-20 where he says to “Go and make disciples of all nations.”

In the past we wrestled with this topic and concluded that there are several areas Cornerstone needs to emphasize in order to be faithful to God’s calling. These are not the only things necessary for ongoing discipleship, but because we have so many people who are with us for only a few years (primarily university students) we felt these are areas we should focus on. In hopes of helping people remember what these are we chose five words that begin with the letter I and called them the “5 I’s.” (Now isn’t that catchy!) They are “invite”, “include”, “involve”, “invest” and “intercede”.

The first I, “Invite”, focuses on the area of inviting people to consider following Jesus Christ. I like how Andrew invites Nathanael to consider Jesus, saying simply “Come and see!” (John 1:46). To invite someone is not to browbeat or manipulate them. It is to be excited about what you have discovered in Jesus (like Andrew) and to tell your friend “come and see!” It is to take seriously your friend’s value as being created in the image of God and to realize that is exactly why Jesus Christ came: “to seek and to save what was lost (Luke 19:10).” A person only seeks something that is lost because of its value to him. Jesus left the glory of heaven (Philippians 2:5-11) to seek the lost, and the value of each person is seen in that Jesus willingly gave up his life on the cross for them.

Because Jesus sees their value and knows they are created in the image of God, he treats them with dignity. This means he doesn’t coerce or manipulate a response but allows the person the right to decide. That is why we have chosen to use the word “invite”. It expresses a heartfelt desire for the person to join with us in following Jesus, but one that gives the person the respect and dignity to exercise their choice: yes or no.

This November we used the Natural Church Development survey to assess the health of Cornerstone. We received the results and learned that we are doing “okay”. Our average score of the eight factors measured is a 53 (which puts us just above the mean of 50). Our maximum factor is holistic small groups at 62 and our minimum factor is need-oriented evangelism at 45. [They use three words to describe need-oriented evangelism: prayer, care and share. What do these word choices reveal?]

This assessment indicates that we love being together but we are not doing very well inviting others to join us. I would like to ask you to consider why that is and what we might do to grow in this area. Leave your comments here (the link is at the bottom of this article), send me an email or drop us a message on the church phone. Most important, ask the Lord for His input on this topic. As we seek God’s will and wrestle with this together I think we might be surprised by what God says and does.

"My food," said Jesus, "is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work. Don't you have a saying, 'It's still four months until harvest'? I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest. Even now those who reap draw their wages, even now they harvest the crop for eternal life, so that the sower and the reaper may be glad togheter. Thus the saying 'One sows and another reaps' is true. I sent you to reap what you have not worked for. Others have done the hard work, and you have reaped the benefits of their labor." John 4:34-38