Tag: world renew

Live 58 + Serve

Click here to watch the video about how Youth Unlimited, Live 58 and World Renew have teamed up to make Serve a life changing experience for students, their congregations and communities.

“In collaboration with Live 58 and World Renew, Youth Unlimited connected the one week Serve to a global initiative. Live 58 supplied much of the biblical messaging and World Renew supplied stories of international impact. Students learned about the needs in North American communities while also realizing the impact of their daily lives on food security around the world. 

Live 58’s invitation to Pray, Fast, Give and Shout became a rallying point with the hope that students will engage their own congregations throughout the year in efforts like the World Renew Hunger Campaign. Many churches and youth groups are now inspired not to simply feed the hungry, but to end hunger.

Youth Unlimited doesn’t just involve students in a one week mission trip. Youth Unlimited is engaging them and helping them to mobilize the church all throughout the year.” 

It’s not just about one week… It’s about The Other 51.

True Religion – More than Justice

[Adapted from Session 3 of the 2014 Theme Material]

 

We all love a story in which the dark and ugly turns glorious and good. A story where a creature so hideous no one dared look on it turns into a handsome prince, the cowardly lion takes courage and protects others, Cinderella rises from the mop bucket to become queen and rule kindly, Pinocchio turns into a real boy, Scrooge becomes generous . . . they become everything they never thought they could be – transformed.

 

As humans we love stories of transformation where a person is not just improved but made new. The story of mankind that God is writing does not end with justice but with transformation.

 

Micah 6:8 was written to people in need of transformation. Though the book’s tone is one of judgment, the theme of restoration cannot be missed. The God of all creation sees and cares about the most vulnerable and weak. He cares enough to warn his own people that they are also vulnerable and weak. He urges them and we are urged to be humble, to love mercy and to be just. That is, in fact, required by God.

 

Maybe the simplest way to increase humility and mercy is to intentionally grow in justice. While only God can transform he has clearly stated what he requires from us. Justice is:

  • Straight Forward: In Isaiah 1 and Micah 5 there are basic commands: stop doing bad and selfish things and do good. Take care of the weak, lift up the poor, free the oppressed and feed the hungry.
  • A Way of Life: God wants justice – not in fits and starts or here and there. God wants justice to permeate, penetrate and restore people. He wants justice to refresh the weary, to ease the thirst of the downtrodden. God wants justice to wash away injustice. He wants it to soak in and nourish our relationship with one another. Like a never-ending river, God wants justice to flow day and night
  • Us, Not “Us and Them”: Unfortunately, we often take on a rescuers mentality, but the people we serve are able to teach us much about life and they bear the image of Almighty God. They are to be valued and their skills, gifts and abilities understood to better the community. See https://vimeo.com/25101770.
  • Using the chainsaw first and then, maybe, the tweezers: We have to confront the beam in our own eye (Luke 6:42). Jesus’ admonition has an almost instant humbling effect reminding us we are in need of transformation.

 

Our culture of consumerism and greed set us up as “haves and have-nots”. This attitude must not be transferred into our pursuit of a just life. In fact, justice in not what we eagerly await but transformation by God’s grace and Christ’s work. The gospel brings us the opportunity, desire and power to adhere to God’s requirements of humility, mercy and just living.

 

As mortals we are, by God’s grace and through the work of Christ, being moved from darkness into his light. He is causing us to take courage and teaching us to rule kindly in his kingdom. Part of us must love those stories of transformation and truly find fulfillment in helping others because we long to see God’s complete work in our own lives and world.

 

For real life stories of how the Gospel is transforming lives around the world be sure to check out World Renew’s website at worldrenew.net.

 

Fast Without the Furious

A pastor I’ve known for a long time challenged me to fast periodically. I used to grit my teeth and commit to grind out the duration of the fast, believing it was good for expanding my heart’s passion for the Lord and compassion for others. I joked about reversing the Daniel Fast and only eating meats and sweets. Of all the spiritual disciplines, fasting is the one I’ve struggled with the most.

In the book, Fast Living, I finally caught a glimpse of fasting that touched my heart and moved me to a more genuine act of worship. The author points out that there are moments in the human experience that no one would consider eating, such as a bride taking the arm of her father to walk down the isle. At that moment stopping for a meatball sub would never cross her mind. Similarly, no one approaching the scene of a tragic accident reaches for a snack. No one enters an appointment to hear a serious diagnosis with a to-go bag.

There are moments in life, points of impact, when human appetites fade due to something more significant. Life priorities shuffle. We realize the most important things in life are unseen, untouchable by hands and only touched in the deepest places of our hearts.

This is a good introduction to fasting.  As we get a glimpse of this world the way God sees it, our human appetites for the things of this world fade and laying them aside for a season is just reasonable or even welcome. With a true view from God’s perspective one could ask: “How can I consume so much when others have so little? How can I enjoy such comforts and excess when God’s heart is broken for people in need of basic life resources? Can’t I use more of what he has given me to help them?”

We are convicted that for a season we could:

  • Eat less and less often so that, through God’s leading, we can pray more and more fervently for those around the world in need.
  • Shower quicker and pray more as an act of solidarity with those who have little water.
  • Abstain from an entertainment in order to spend more time with the Lord and others following him so we can pray, listen and then act.

Listening to the Lord and becoming educated on his view of the world is essential then for True Fasting.

This is why Youth Unlimited has collaborated with both LIVE 58 and World Renew for the 2014 Serve theme material. Together, we just sent 2,500 copies of Fast Living to church pastors across Canada and the U.S.

LIVE 58 has become an amplifier for Isaiah 58, making the message of God’s heart for a hurting world simple to access. Their website and resources are creative, fun and meant for friends and groups to do together. Check them out at http://live58.org/resources/.

World Renew has many real life stories not just of need, but of courage and hope and followers of Christ around the world who pull together the assets of a community and make a difference through the gospel of Jesus Christ. Check them out at worldrenew.net.

This year, we want to help your students sense the heart of the Lord for this hurting world. We want to see the appetites of this world fade in the light of God’s longing for his people to help others. The Serve experience will call students to fast for a week from ordinary comforts and conveniences and inspire them to engage in praying, fasting, giving and being an advocate in their church for the rest of the year.

Want to know the latest information about SERVE and ThereforeGo Ministries?