Week 10: Keep the momentum going!

Thanks for participating in The Summer of 10K Blessings!  We challenged each other to look for opportunities to B.L.E.S.S. at least one person each week this summer.  None of us did this perfectly, but together we were able to display and declare who God is to people all over our city!  And of course, this opportunity does not end with this summer.  Blessing others will always be our calling as followers of Christ.  So how do we keep this going?

Our primary answer is to encourage Community Groups and families to make it a practice to ask the “B.L.E.S.S. question” to each other.  The question has a few variations: “Who had the opportunity to B.L.E.S.S. someone who does not know Christ?” “How did you B.L.E.S.S. someone this week who you hope will experience Christ’s love?” No matter how it is asked, the intent is always the same. We want to remind one another that our faith is supposed to be displayed and declared to a broken world.  As God has blessed us, he has also called us to be a blessing to the world around us.

However, some people have said they feel awkward asking the question in their Community Group.  But let’s remember that reaching out to people who don’t know Jesus is a challenge for almost every Christian, and so we need to help each other!  Asking the BLESS question is about building each other up and encouraging each other to live out our faith.

One key is making sure that we remember that everything we do to BLESS counts — not just big things!  Every time we pray for someone we know that needs Jesus, every time we take time to listen, every time we help someone by writing a note of encouragement or serving them in any way — all these things are important!  AND these are all things that we can do and we should be doing on regular basis.  But we all get busy and we forget that there are people all around us that we can BLESS.  So how can we help each other?  At the very least we can remind each other and encourage every small step.

When you begin the practice of asking the BLESS question, you may get silence.  That is not a problem.  If no one has an answer then say, “Let’s remember that the B in BLESS is Begin with Prayer, so let’s pray right now for someone we know who needs Jesus!  And let’s pray that God will show us small things that we can do this next week to BLESS them.”  If your group took time every week to Begin with Prayer for people who need Jesus, what do you think you might happen?  It would likely lead to many stories of how God has given opportunities to Listen, Eat, Serve, and Share!