Investing where?
Building what?
Reaching who?
By Jim Leffel
Elder and Sunday Night Sphere Leader
I'm convinced that the best years for Xenos are in the future. Just think about the fact that today we have more than 1,000 young people from junior high through college. Behind them nearly 1,000 children fill the Oasis classrooms.
Now is the time to take stock of our enormous potential as a movement and build on the awesome vision God has granted us. As we begin to take concrete steps to invest in this vision, I'd like you to consider some important things.
The building program reflects a decentralized strategy to develop effective evangelism and vital Christian community both on our present site and in key urban areas. As in almost every major American city, the evangelical church in Columbus is looking to grow in the prosperous, expanding suburbs. And as in almost every major American city, low and marginal income areas of Columbus have been largely ignored by the church.
By establishing a permanent physical presence in South Linden and north campus, substantial populations largely isolated from the gospel will have a compelling witness on their turf.
While focusing on youth, these structures also will have the capacity to facilitate holistic ministries for everyone living in these communities. I look forward to the day, not long from now, when vibrant spheres from Xenos powerfully emit the light of the gospel throughout the city.
making a vision reality
This vision is no pipe dream:
- Xenos has had a long-term presence in South Linden through Urban Concern and the Harambee Christian School. This ministry currently serves more than 150 people through primary school education, youth groups, and weekly adult Bible study.
- At 600 active members, the campus ministry is already the largest evangelical presence in the campus area.
- And this fall the sphere serving the “Bottoms,” the impoverished near West Side, is being launched with about 120 to 130 people actively serving this community.
Clearly, God has been laying the foundation for dynamic urban-centered ministry through Xenos for more than a decade. Now is the time to take these ministries to a higher level.
Actualizing the vision God has set before us will involve real personal and financial sacrifice. Raising $5 million dollars in a church of our size and affluence, while not easy, is certainly realistic.
I've been thinking quite a bit about how my family can give generously to this campaign. In leaning against the myriad reasons for holding back—my son in college, my daughter at Calumet School, the house needs a new furnace, retirement in the future…—the Lord has brought me back to Jesus' teaching.
I'd like to share the convictions God is impressing on me. Meeting the needs of those least able to meet their own is a defining feature of authentic biblical faith.
God's challenging words
In Matthew 25:31ff, Jesus tells us that when God brings the nations before him, he will identify the righteous saying, “'I was hungry and you gave Me something to eat; I was thirsty and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger, and you invited Me in; naked, and you clothed Me; I was sick and you visited Me; I was in prison, and you came to Me.'
“Then the righteous will answer Him, saying, 'Lord, when did we see You hungry, and feed You, or thirsty, and give You drink? And when did we see You a stranger, and invite You in, or naked, and clothe You? And when did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?' And the King will answer, 'Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mind, even the least of them, you did it to Me.'”
What piercing truth! “Love the Lord your God,” and “love your neighbor as yourself” turn out to be totally connected.
John reminds us, “Whoever has the world's goods, and beholds his brother in need and closes his heart against him, how does the love of God abide in him?” (1 John 3:17). So love for God is expressed by the way we serve those in need.
Matthew tells us that when Jesus moved among the crowds, “He felt compassion for them, because they were distressed and downcast like sheep without a shepherd” (Matthew 9:26).
It was compassion that enabled Jesus to see the true state of a broken world and his compassion took concrete form by saying to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Therefore beseech the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into His harvest” (Matthew 9:27).
no holding back
I believe that today, the Lord has raised up Xenos to reap God's harvest in those areas of Columbus in greatest need and with the least active Christian presence.
I pray the testimony of our church will be that when God opened doors of opportunity to glorify him, we didn't hold back. I live in the hope that eternity will look very different because love for our neighbor in need had real substance.