“Sharing worldwide blessings”. This slogan summarizes the vision of Stavanger International Church (SIC). The Hebrew word for “blessing” (barak) means to give strength. We will seek God’s blessing and pass that blessing on to others. We will make God’s grace and goodness available to people around us. The greatest gift of all we share is the gift of salvation through faith in Christ (Ephes. 2:8). That gift gives way to the variety of other “different gifts, according to the grace given us” (Rom.12:6). In addition to spiritual gifts, there are gifts like our different talents, the money we have, the education we have gotten, the opportunity to work and serve in Norway etc.
Even though “Sharing worldwide blessings” could express a whole variety of what we already do, we may be even more specific in our commitment to daily actions of love. A powerful way of blessing people would simply be to express words of affirmation by a visit, a phone call, an SMS, an e-mail. It could also be small gifts, a service or all sorts of creative ways to strengthen others. Secondly, they would make sure to eat with other people during the week, because sharing food is so central to a shared life of community. Frost testified how simple agreed practices like these had been “explosive” to the church as a loving, growing community.
Are you encouraged to find a similar missional rhythm within our Growth Groups and our church as a whole? Let’s find simple and powerful ways to share worldwide blessings with people around us