Dear Edgewood,
Last Sunday, I introduced something that might have been new to some. It's a very simple way to join Jesus in His great search for people to know Him personally. It's called Pi2. Again, this is nothing original, but was modeled by the apostle Matthew in the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 9. Matthew was learning to follow Jesus, and one of the very first things he did was to invite others who were his friends to meet Jesus!
The P stands for Prayer. We can ask the Lord for the names of three (or more) people for whom we could begin praying. Specifically, these might be people who are on the outside of the church. God knows whether they are lost or not. And if they are, we are praying that they will be found by Him! Just like the sheep was found. Just like the coin was found. Just like the son was found.
The first i stands for Invest. We never view somebody as a project to be reached, but as a person to be loved. So by invest I mean that we invest in the friendship, in the person, in the relationship. We let people know that we care. We build no strings attached relationships. What this means is that even if they don't show spiritual interest. Even if they don't ask about God. Even if they never darken the door of the church, we love them anyway. There aren't strings attached to that relationship.
The second i stands for Invite. For simplicity's sake and for a clear next step, I encouraged all of us on the Pi2 card to invite them to join you at Edgewood. For many, that is a natural next step. But there are other next steps as well. It could be to invite them to your community group, or to your home for dinner, or to youth group, or to Kids Co, or to VBS, or to invite them to make a personal commitment to follow Jesus Christ. You can ask the Holy Spirit to direct you on this one. But somewhere down the line, it will probably be a very natural invitation to invite them to Edgewood.
And then we continue praying, and we continue building the friendship, and we continue inviting. Maybe one person becomes three and maybe three people become ten people. Remember that Jesus says the Father rejoices when even one person turns to follow Him.
May the Lord bless you as you practice Pi2.
Pastor Doug
Sunday, April 17
Edgewood Work Day
ICCM director, Rev. Linda Adams, invites you to join her and Bishop Samuel Kayinamura of Rwanda for dinner, fellowship, and reflection on Saturday, April 30, 2016, 6:00 pm at Pearce Memorial Church, N. Chili, NY. Celebrate the wonderful work the Lord has enabled ICCM to accomplish during the past 50 years. Linda will share how God is continuing to use ICCM to impact His children around the world. Reservations are required. Reserve or get tickets for this event online, by calling Pearce at 585-594-9488, or by visiting the Pearce Memorial reception desk. Tickets cost $15 per person.