“…into all the world”
As Southern Baptist we have several distinctives that set us apart in our denomination. Here are a few of those distinctives: local church autonomy, believer’s baptism, the Bible as the final authority in all matters of faith and practice, local congregational governance, religious liberty, cooperation, and many others. One of the most important of these distinctives is our willful cooperation to advance the Great Commission (Matt. 28:18-20) into all the world. The heart of this cooperative distinctive is best expressed when the Bride of Christ displays Christ’s saving power through proclaiming the Good News. Recently the LGBT community here in Union County have made efforts to transform our county into to a more “tolerant” and “accepting” county in regards to homosexuality. They have made efforts to bring drag queens into the public library to read to children. This effort was stopped by the Union County manager. They also are planning to hold a “pride festival” at Belk Tonawanda Park on Sunday, September 18th. We could stand back and wring our hands and lament the condition of our county or we could seek to exercise the Baptist distinctive of willful cooperation and make a concerted effort to carry the Gospel message to these people. They are like we once were, “alienated and enemies in their mind by wicked works” (Col. 1:21). They are dead in their trespasses and sins and need the transformative power of the blood of Jesus Christ. We who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of His cross (Eph. 2:13), and have become Ambassadors for His name sake. As Ambassadors we have the high honor and privilege of cooperating together to extend the great love of our God to these folks.
Therefore, the association is proposing that we partner together to seek the face of God in fervent prayer and in an intentional evangelistic outreach next month. The UBA Evangelism Committee and the UBA Council have been discussing this opportunity. The Evangelism Committee is proposing that we meet on Saturday September 17th to gather in downtown Monroe and to pray walk the city center. We hope 1000 people from our churches will be present that day. Times and location for this is still to be determined (our weekly email, called Church Happenings, will carry all the information). If you are not on our email list, please call our office and ask Bessie to put you on our list. The next day (Sunday18th) will be the Gay Pride Event in the park, and we will be sending evangelism teams into the park to share the Good News of freedom and salvation that is only found in Jesus Christ. We will also have a free coffee and water station located at the Farmers Market just outside the park where we can pray, evangelize, and extend the life transforming love of Christ. The Evangelism Committee will be offering evangelism training sometime this month to those people who would be interested in participating. Please share this with your Sunday School class, home groups, small groups, youth groups, etc., and encourage them to participate.
Acts :40-41 And with many other words he (Peter) testified and exhorted them saying, Be saved from this perverse generation. Then those who gladly received his word were baptized; and that day about three thousand souls were added to them. Acts 2:47 And the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved. If you have any questions, please call our office for more details 704-283-8383.
Serving the King Together,
Eric