Own It | Week 1

Week 1 Own It! 

Big Idea: "Following Jesus should look and sound a lot like Jesus." 

Introduction:  

Once upon a time, the Church changed the world, not because of what they believed, but because of how they behaved.  

That influence over the years has dwindled. Church attendance by adults dropped below the majority in 2020 to 47%, and in May of 2023, only 31% of adults said they attend Church regularly.  

What happened?  

The top 5 reasons are specifically linked to the behavior of the Church.  

• Be it a moral failure, judgmental attitude, or treatment of others inside and outside, the Church lost its influence on the masses.  

• None of the reasons had to do with Jesus.  

Like it or not  

Bad Christians happen to good people. 

• Many people object to the behavior of Christians, and that's not something new. 

When writing a letter to C.S. Lewis about potentially converting to Christianity, author Sheldon Vanauken wrestled with this exact thing in his book, A Severe Mercy: 

"The best argument for Christianity is Christians: their joy, their certainty, their completeness. But the strongest argument against Christianity is also Christians — when they are somber and joyless, when they are self-righteous and smug in complacent consecration, when they are narrow and repressive, then Christianity dies a thousand deaths. "

• How the Church behaves shapes what people believe about Jesus and their heavenly father's opinion of them.  

1. What is the Church?  

   "Following Jesus should look and sound a lot like Jesus." 

2. How does this statement define the Church?  

   Read Acts 15:19, The Brother of Jesus said.  

   "It is my judgment, therefore, that we should not make it difficult for the Gentiles who are turning to God."  

3. What are some obstacles the Church may have created that made it difficult for some to come to Jesus or follow Jesus?  

   -Only when we own the shortcoming of the past can we hold the responsibility to be the Church Jesus intended for us to be.

   Read Mark 16:15  And he (Jesus) said to them, "Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation. 

4. As the Church, all of us have the same instruction from Jesus.   

   What is your world?  

   How can you better own the responsibility to show the Gospel to your world?  

As a collective body, It begins here.  

5. "If we're going to reach the unchurched, underchurched, dechurched, and postchurched with the gospel in a culture that's trending post-Christian, we must rethink our approach." 

Read I Corinthians 9:22b  

I have become all things to all people so that by all possible means, I might save some.  

• As the Church, we must marry the message & date the model.  

• What does the above scripture and statement mean to you?  

• What are some things you have seen at TFF that show we are changing our approach?  

• What is something you are doing or can do to change your approach?  

• What can we as a body do better?  

• What can you as an individual do better?  

  6. In 2009 God rekindled that passion for Don Womble, our lead pastor, and others to return to the original idea of Church, and The Fountains Fellowship began. 

• The purpose: Lead people step by step into a growing relationship with Jesus. 

• The mission: For the community to know we're here, are happy we're here and are better off because we're here. 

• We who call ourselves believers are spiritual contributors, not consumers. The Church does not exist for us; we are the Church, and we exist for the world. 

  7. The Church is a family expecting guests.  

• How does that shape our attitude toward the weekend services?  

  8. Once upon a time, the "love one-another" culture of the Church stood in sharp contrast to the "bite and devour one-another" culture of the world.

• Imagine a world where people were skeptical of what we believed but envious of how well we treated one another.  

  9. You, the Church, are God's agent of transformation for the world. 

• Joining together as an owner with TFF is our opportunity to participate in that transformation.  

• What steps do you need to take to be a contributor and not just a consumer at the local Church and in your world?  

  10. How can our influence or lack of influence impact the next generation?   

• For your children, and your children's children, to know the love of their heavenly father and to connect and stay connected in a relationship with him by following Jesus.   

• We must leverage all that we have to show them that following Jesus is what’s best for their lives.  

• So when they go into the world, the world will be better because they are in it.  

• So that the next generations can participate in God's purpose and the message of love, hope, acceptance, forgiveness, and freedom continues for them and through them.  

  11. We do not presume that we at TFF are perfect or have it all figured out.  

• We all have a next step in growing our relationship with God and others.  

We are A Gathering of People in progress. 

Over the next 5 weeks, we submerse ourselves into the 5 core values of TFF. Our hope is they become ingrained in our hearts and minds.  

What is one action you can take this week to begin your next step in becoming a true representation of Jesus in your world?