After being away on business,
a UNC grad thought it would
be nice to bring his wife a
little gift. "How about some
perfume?" he asked the
cosmetics clerk. She showed
him a bottle costing $50.00.
"That's a bit much," said the
grad, so she returned with
a smaller bottle for $30.00.
"That's still quite a bit," the
grad complained.
Growing annoyed, the clerk
brought out a tiny $15.00
bottle. "What I mean," said
the UNC grad, "is I'd like
to see something really
cheap."
The clerk handed him a mirror.
Out of the Pew
ReplyDeleteBecoming a World Changer
April 17, 2008
If your church disappeared tomorrow, would your local community even notice?
Would it be missed? What vital, world-redeeming tasks would be left undone?
You might ask yourself the same haunting question: If you were to exit the
drama of life stage right this very evening, what difference would it make?
Think about this question for a moment, while I tell you about the life of
one man who did make a difference because he changed the course of history.
If you are a regular "BreakPoint" listener, or if you have seen the
wonderful film Amazing Grace, then the name William Wilberforce is familiar
to you. Few men have changed history as profoundly as this British
statesman. His deep commitment to live out the Gospel led him to wage a
monumental, 18-year campaign to end the British slave trade. This was at the
end of the 18th century, when the British Parliament was virtually owned by
slave-trading interests. It was David versus Goliath.
Yet this one man made a difference. If Wilberforce had never lived,
Britain's slave trade might have gone on decades longer, at the cost of
thousands upon thousands of lives.
But it was not just the slave trade that he impacted, as I wrote in my new
book, The Faith. Had Wilberforce never lived, some 60 charities would not
have been founded or aided by his efforts. Crucial prison reforms may never
have occurred. You never would have heard of the Society for the Prevention
of Cruelty to Animals. The British and Foreign Bible Society would not have
spread the Gospel. In short, had Wilberforce not lived, his community and
humanity would be much poorer for it.
So back to you and your church: Are you simply minding your own business or
just caring for the needs within the four walls of the church building? Or
does your Christianity have legs and arms, as well as heart and mind? When
Wilberforce first converted to Christ, his life-long friend William Pitt—the
youngest Prime Minister in English history—reminded him, "Surely the
principles as well as the practice of Christianity are simple and lead not
to meditation only, but to action."
To follow Christ's teaching means to bring that teaching to life. It means
that you and I need to be change-agents. That is why I want to encourage you
to check out a new book, Be a Worldchanger: Live to Serve, authored by
Pastor Walt Kallestad and Bob Beltz, who helped develop and produce Amazing
Grace. In it you will read stories of world-changers past and present. You
will see the connection between William Wilberforce's campaign against the
slave trade and Jesus Christ's Sermon on the Mount.
A five-week small-group study, "Be a World Changer," is included in the
book. And you will find film clips for the small-group study guide on the
Amazing Grace DVD. The study culminates in helping to get you and your small
group actively engaged in serving the needs of your community through a
"Serve Day."
Visit our website, BreakPoint.org, to find out how you can get a hold of
this book and other curriculum offered as part of the Be a World Changer
movement. And oh yes, get a copy of the DVD, Amazing Grace, and show it to
friends.
All of us would do well to take Pitt's words to Wilberforce to heart: not
just to meditate on Christianity, but to live it out in the world—and to
change the world in the process.