“These men who have turned the world upside down have come here also.”
Acts 17:6
Jesus
and his followers painted a wonderful picture of what it looked like to “turn
the world upside down”. They loved people more than they loved laws. They threw
the client patron system out the window (in a sense). They spent time with the
untouchables. The list goes on and on. In our world Today what would that look
like? Most would answer this question somewhere along the lines of “the world
would hate you”. I wouldn’t exactly say that (although in some places maybe),
but I would say the world would definitely be confused and curious. Today it
would look like loving the poor (spiritually poor or economically), spending
time with people in their world, meeting people where there at, a person being
so transformed by Christ that they can’t help but share what God is doing in
them to others, etc. Roberts even names a few things his self: “A church that
turned the world upside down would… look mystical… look glocal… be multiplying…
be collaborative… be filled with ecclektricity.”
When
asking someone in my community who doesn’t go to my church “what is my church
known for” I think they would emphasize on community outreach, taking care of
college kids, and taking care of the poor. I go to Immanuel but I haven’t been
there long so I don’t know much about the church but these are three things I
have seen over and over in the past few months. They do so much in the
community like working with the food pantry, serving people in many ways, park
events open to anyone where they serve free food, and working with children.
They also have a booming college ministry with many that help provide money,
food, places, and encouragement to the students. The third, taking care of the
poor, is intertwined with both the first two.
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