Bridgeview Church

Ministry Update by Blue Flame Coordinator, Randy Horn


Can we witness without first building a relationship?  This seems to be an interesting question that has been on my mind for some weeks now.  Some would tell you that you have to build a relationship before your witness will be effective.  Others will tell you that you do not have time to build the relationship.  You must witness now and worry about the relationship later. I would guess that both groups are right.

We have all heard of or know missionaries who move into a foreign community, build relationships, get involved in the community, witness and eventually lead people to Christ.  They are very effective.  We also know evangelists who travel to communities, share their faith, lead others to Christ then move on.  They are also very effective.  Both of these methods are good.  The only bad method is the one where we isolate ourselves, read, study and grow internally, but do not share our faith with others.  We have the best news ever known to mankind and we need to be sharing it!

In either case we have to put ourselves out there in order to find the opportunities to share our faith.  We have to get involved and maybe even become a little bit vulnerable in order to be put into a position to be used by God.  One thing to remember though is that we never go alone.  God sends His Holy Spirit with us to give us words and make us strong (the Holy Spirit empowers us to witness).

So, I encourage you to get out there and get involved.  There are many opportunities within our church that you can get involved with.  But there are so many more things that you can do.  You can build that relationship with your neighbor and ease into a conversation about your beliefs.  You can get involved with Faith In Action and help out in the community showing others you practice what you believe.  You can perform random acts of kindness and explain you do it because you love God.  You can stand on the sidewalk at the mall and ask people for a chance to tell them about the best thing that has ever happened to you.  All of these are good ideas and good methods, but again I say, the only bad method is no method.

If you are wondering how you can get involved or just want to talk with someone about outreach, give me a call.