Making new “guests”

marioby Mario Vega

Common sense tells us that a guest can not be “made.” People are simply there, and you either invite them or don’t invite them to a cell meeting. However, in Elim we emphasize to our leaders that guests are not just there; we have to make them.

Obviously, I am talking about a church that has worked for 22 years already and has exhausted in most cases its “oikos.” To invite a person under these conditions is a process.

The process begins by selecting a specific person. Building rapport comes next. This is what Pastor Cho calls “holy indiscretion.” This means that we need to tap into people’s lives, looking for those areas of need that might be used for the invitation.

Here are some examples; an ailing grandmother, bruises on the wife’s skin, alcoholism problems, a mother who needs a break from her many children, etc. In general, it means seeking for what appears to be a person’s most pronounced need, to solve it through the gospel.

We’ll continue later on with this subject. But what do you think of this?

Mario

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Haciendo un invitado.
El sentido común nos indica que un invitado no se puede ‘hacer’. Simplemente las personas están all y se las invita o no a una célula. No obstante, en Elim enfatizamos a nuestros lderes que los invitados no están all, hay que hacerlos.
Obviamente, estoy hablando de una iglesia que ha trabajado ya por 22 años y que ha agotado en la mayor parte de casos su ‘oikos’. El invitar a una persona bajo estas nuevas condiciones es un proceso.
El proceso comienza por seleccionar a una persona especfica. Luego, viene el acercamiento. O lo que el Pastor Cho llama la ‘indiscreción santa’. Ésta consiste en husmear en la vida de las personas por indicios que puedan utilizarse para la invitación.
Una abuela enferma, moretones en la piel de la esposa, problemas de alcoholismo, muchos niños que cuidar, etc. Éstos son algunos ejemplos de detalles que se toman muy en serio en esta primera etapa de observación. En esencia, es buscar la que parece ser la necesidad más marcada en la persona a fin de resolverla por medio del evangelio.
Luego seguiremos sobre éste tema. Pero ¿qué piensas de ello?

1 thought on “Making new “guests”

  • I was reading in John 4 the other day, and I noticed Jesus doing this very thing with the woman at the well – dealing with her social/moral wounds. I think this is great, but I know from the people I minister to, that it is sometimes difficult not to feel like a salesman with some ulterior motive when we are befriending others in this way. I guess if that motive is love for them and total healing from the gospel, than so be it.

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