Will you be a SEED and plan hope in others?

Making disciples isn’t just a job for leaders of a church, it is everyone’s responsibility – so it’s time to give it a go, encourages Sammy Jordan

INTRO by Mark Greenwood
If you are anything like me, and you have been a Christian for some time, you will definitely know – and have probably used – the many phrases that have made their way into the everyday language of believers: ‘Coming to faith is a journey’, ’Let’s do life’, ‘We need to find out what God is doing, and join in’.

My purpose here isn’t to diminish these phrases – quite the contrary, I think they capture something really important. But if you’re anything like me, you easily say them without understanding what they mean.

My friend Sammy Jordan is the project lead for Hope for Every Home, which is part of Hope Together, one of our strategic evangelism partnerships. I love Sammy’s approach, being really good news where she is, and it’s inspired by the idea of ‘finding out where God is at work and joining in’. I really do think she is walking the talk.

To be good news as Christians where we are we need to accept two principles – one, that the Great Commission is a command, not a suggestion, and two, that obeying it won’t happen by accident. Let’s unpack those a little.

First, obeying Jesus’ command to ‘go and make disciples’ is not an optional extra. Jesus asks all of us to make disciples as we go in our day-to-day.

To do that we must drop any notion that it’s only for the ‘professionals’, for those in church leadership, with special training or, dare I say it, for those with the gift of evangelism. Some people may find it easier than others, and our opportunities will be different, but Jesus’ commission is for all of us.

The ‘go’ of the great commission may be more accurately interpreted ‘as you go’, which means in our day-to-day; and if God has called us to our day-to-day, we know that where God calls, he equips.

Secondly, once we’ve accepted that disciple-making is everyone’s responsibility, the next thing we need to realise is that it doesn’t happen by accident. We need to adopt a posture of intentionality, daily. Without being intentional you won’t see the good news opportunities that God, by his Holy Spirit, prepares for you to step into in your day-to-day; and if you don’t see them you can’t respond to them.

For me, being good news and being intentional in my day-to-day is encapsulated in my calling to be a dandelion and in three things which form part of the structure of my life:

I intentionally break up the ground through prayer – praying for people, places and situations in my community by being open to nudges from the Holy Spirit. I intentionally feed the soil, looking for and supporting new growth, connecting with people and creating opportunities for people to connect with God through conversations as well as in more structured outreach settings.

When you are intentional God creates opportunities, and over time it becomes easier to identify and act on them.

I am intentionally windblown, daily and persistently being open to where God through his Holy Spirit is leading, always ready to follow a nudge from the Holy Spirit.

To live out these principles I need a strategy to embed them in my day-to-day and so I use the mnemonic SEEDS.

S – I SEEK God, every day. I ask God, usually when I’m in the shower, how he wants to use me that day and often he will put people and/or situations on my mind.
E – I ask the Lord to EQUIP me for the day.
E – I ENGAGE, I follow through and do it.
D – I DISCERN what God is doing. I look for patterns and evidence of God at work and thank him.
S – I allow myself to be SENT and the pattern repeats.

So why not give it a go? Like anything, it takes time for a habit to form and for muscle memory to develop, but it gets easier, and it makes life so much fun! It’s like playing in God’s playground every day and, the more I do, the more I realise that being good news isn’t scary because I’m just joining in with God.

OUTRO
I do hope you are inspired and feel you can embed SEEDS in your day-to-day to help you be really good news where you are. If you want to find out more visit hopeforeveryhome.org.uk.

This article first appeared in Direction Magazine. For further details, please click here.

Enjoy this article? Don't forget to share