Paul and the worship team for a very beautiful experience this morning. Sounds like this has still got some problems, doesn't it? We'll give it a try. Well, maybe we better not. We'll set you up here. I'm kind of glad the mic didn't work for me too. Jesus said that when you have mic trouble, don't be alarmed. Mics hate me too. Isn't that something like John 15? I'm going to paraphrase there, I think.
The Apostle Paul in Romans chapter 1 verses 14 and 15 and 16 says, I am under obligation both to the Greeks and to barbarians, both to the wise and to the foolish. Thus, for my part, I am eager to preach the gospel to you also who are in Rome. For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.
And then his words again in 1 Corinthians chapter 9 where the Apostle says, For I preach, if I preach the gospel, I have nothing to boast of. For I am under compulsion, for woe is me if I do not preach the gospel. To the weak I became as weak that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all men that I by all means may save some. And I do all things for the sake of the gospel that I may become a fellow partaker of it. There we have the heart of the greatest missionary of the Church Age.
And he lays down for us a worthy pattern to follow because we too are missionaries. You see, we have a mission that God has given to us as a local church. That mission is found here and it says, Grace Church Roseville is a community of believers whose purpose is to worship the Lord Jesus Christ and prepare itself through biblical instruction, service and fellowship in order to evangelize the world.
We have said that while that is our mission, our vision, our way of seeing that is that we see ourselves as a mission center. That's our vision of ministry. We are a mission center. And we come together to do certain things, illustrated in this slide. We come together to worship. We come together for preparation or equipping as the people of God. And that equipping happens through biblical instruction, the teaching of the Word of God.
It happens through opportunities of service and ministry that we have. And it happens through fellowship, finding intimate associations with God's people with whom we can share our dreams and our disappointments. And in the mission center we also evangelize. We invite people to come to faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
But the reason that all of that happens inside that circle representing our mission center is so that we might go outside the walls of the mission center into the mission field that God has called us to. How can we accomplish the mission? Well, the way to do it is open to a lot of diversity. But as a group of leaders we see at least three broad strategies that God would have us use as a local church in fulfilling our assignment, our mission. The first one I want to talk about is on the left.
I believe that God would have us use the strategy of relational evangelism. The warmth of personal relationships brings credibility to a Christian witness. When people know they can trust us because they know us, they will be more open to the message of our Lord that we desire to give to them. And each of us has a network of relationships that God really has given to us. God wants us to develop those networks and use those relationships as a means of sharing the gospel.
We have some ways that people can be involved in relational evangelism that are already effective in our church. One is investigative Bible discussions, which you heard described last Sunday morning in the interview before the service. In business places in Minneapolis and St. Paul as well as in homes, these Bible discussions are right now, week upon week, being used by people in our church to fulfill our mission.
They've invited in associates from work or neighbors from the neighborhood where there's a relationship already established, and they're using those relationships to evangelize. Over the Christmas season, a number of people in our church had Christmas coffees or Christmas teas in which they invited in people with whom they have a relationship, and in those times together they shared the gospel.
Others are using neighborhood Bible studies of one sort or another, inviting neighbors to come to their homes. Some of the Bible studies are on video, a very easy way to lead a Bible study. Others have chosen to study through a certain packet of material or a book of the Bible. But the point is people are using their homes as a means to fulfill the assignment God has given to us. Another important way is through invitations to outreach events right here at church.
If you enjoyed the bit of drama this morning in the service, you need to know that on Easter weekend there is going to be a tremendous drama presented, and we are all encouraged to invite our unchurched, unsaved friends to come. And there in a dramatic and powerful way they will be presented with the gospel. Relational evangelism is an important strategy for us to use in fulfilling our assignment. You see, our mission is not merely inside the circle. That's my point.
God wants us outside the circle, outside the mission center, in the mission field. And one way we can do that is through relational evangelism. Another important way is on the right, cultural keys. We're talking here about creative ways of addressing the hopes and the hurts of people with whom we probably don't have a relationship. Our society today is filled with hopes that are yet unrealized and hurts that cut to the very core of the person.
Some of the hopes that people have, and we have them too, would be the following. Build a strong marriage. How can I do that? I don't know of anyone who hopes that their marriage fails. We want strong marriages. That's a hope that we share in common, even with people who don't know Christ. Rearing a healthy family, a happy family. Finding a satisfying career. Preparing for a financially secure future. Finding fulfillment in singleness. Establishing meaningful relationships.
That's important to everyone, and I might point out it's especially important to people who are not from our culture. And I'm thinking primarily of international students who live in our area by the thousands. They desire to have relationships. That's a hope that they have. How wonderful it is to be able to find cultural keys, ways of ministering to these hopes of people. But there are hurts as well. Divorce is a major hurt in our society.
How does one rebuild a marriage? Rebuild oneself after the rejection of divorce. Or loneliness. Or loss and grief. Financial bondage is very common. How can one get out of financial bondage? Addictive behaviors. How can one be released from those? Homelessness. Crime that is increasing in our neighborhoods. Hunger. Latch-key kids who have no place to go after school until mom and dad get home from work.
Poverty, which causes people to be unable to find medical, legal, or other kinds of assistance. The literacy. The inability to read. These are the hurts of people that are very real in our society. And they are means that you and I can address. They are concerns that you and I can find answers to. Now we can't do all of them obviously.
But it may be that there are some who are in a flock who would say, you know, at this time of the day, we ought to tackle one of these hurts or one of these hopes. Or there may be someone here who has a vision for a particular aspect of one of the hopes or hurts we've talked about. And you could find two or three others who would share with you that same dream, that same vision, that same strategy of fulfilling our mission outside the walls of the mission center.
And you could say, I believe God wants me to develop and to create one of these cultural keys. How wonderful that would be. Some of them are already effective and active in our church. We thank God for them. The single again ministry, ministering to those who have been through divorce. Well, these keys unlock the hearts of unchurched people. They're cynical about evangelism. They're cynical about Christians.
But once we can show to them that we are genuine because we care about their hopes and their hurts, then once they trust us and believe in us as being genuine, they will listen to our message about Christ. Someone says you're talking about something that's going to require time and sacrifice. Yes, that's true. Very true. But isn't that what being a missionary is all about? Do we expect to have no sacrifice? Of course not.
It will take some of our time. It will take some of our resources to be involved in this way. But it's worth it. One missionary in Africa was asked by a person in the United States if he really liked what he was doing in Africa. His reply shocked the inquirer. He said, do I like this work? No. My wife and I do not like dirt. We have reasonably refined sensibilities. We do not like crawling into vile huts through goat refuse.
But as a man to do nothing for Christ he does not like, God pity him if not. Liking or disliking has nothing to do with it. We have orders to go, and we go. Love constrains us. That's the way Paul was. He said I am a debtor to this message, and woe to me if I do not preach the gospel. He says I am willing to make whatever personal sacrifices are necessary so that the gospel is preached. Then we have a third strategy up there. It's the strategy of branch churches.
Whether Blaine or Brazil or Forest Lake or Finland, it really makes no difference. The point is that God wants us to be about establishing other churches. The multiplication of local churches really is the genius of the New Testament methodology. These churches themselves then become mission centers like the one that we see ourselves as being. We have talked about the three main strategies that we believe God would have us use outside the walls. But what next? What do these strategies result in?
You can see that the circles are completed. Once we have used relationship evangelism to win our neighbors, our fellow employees, our friends to Christ, we bring them into the worship center with us. Once we have employed the cultural keys, then those who are one to Christ are brought into the worship center with us. Why? So that they can worship the Lord. So that they can be prepared to serve him. So that they can be involved in evangelism that takes place within the worship center.
But so that they can also join us now in going outside the walls into the foreign culture, the mission field where God has caused us to serve. That is the vision of Grace Church. That is our mission. Last spring, hundreds of us said that we would become 621 shareholders in the work of Christ here at Grace Church, Roseville. That we were committing ourselves in a financial sense on that occasion to be shareholders. We are investing in the work of Jesus Christ.
But I want you to see that what we hold a share in is for all of us. It's this mission. It's this vision of what God wants us to be and to be about. It requires something of us and not merely our offerings, our tithes. It requires us. And it requires that we have an attitude of commitment, an attitude of determination, along with a sense of dependence, complete dependence upon God if this mission is to be fulfilled. Paul Rader was an evangelist of another generation.
On one occasion he visited the Colosseum in Rome and commented after his visit to that famous landmark, I stood uncovered to the heavens above where God sits for whom those early Christians gladly died. And I asked myself, would I, could I die for him tonight to get this gospel to the ends of the earth?
And he said, I prayed most fervently in that Roman arena for the spirit of a martyr and for the working of the Holy Spirit in my heart as he worked in Paul's heart when he brought him on his handcuffed way to Rome. That's the kind of determination it's going to take for us to get the job done. The same spirit that was in Paul, the spirit of those martyrs who were willing to give their all, believing that it was worth it because of the Lord that we serve together.
I'm going to ask you to bow with me in prayer. In just a moment we're going to sing a final hymn. And I'm going to ask the lights be brought up in the auditorium just a bit so that we can accomplish that. And we're going to sing it with the congregation seated. But I want to give you an opportunity to say, I believe in this mission. And I can begin to see how I can fit into it. I'm not sure what all it means to me, but I agree with where the church is and where it's going.
It's a mission that I buy into. It's a vision of ministry that I hold a share in. And if that is your heart attitude, along with a dependence on the Holy Spirit, I'm going to ask you to stand as you're singing the hymn. Obviously, standing means nothing of us, not from the heart. But I believe that there are hundreds of you who from the heart believe in what we've talked about and believe in what we're about as a church.
And as we sing the hymn, I want you to stand with me, but only when you're ready. Father, I pray that you will bring to a culmination the work of your Spirit in our hearts this morning. For we have a wonderful Lord, and you are beautiful. And Lord, we pray that you will shine through us, that you will take every part of what we are, who we are, what we have, and consecrate it to yourself. And unite us together as a local church around this vision of ministry that you've given us as a people.
In Jesus' name I pray, amen.