How the Kingdom Grows

And he sent them out to proclaim the kingdom of God and to heal the sick. -Luke 9:2 (NIV)

When someone visits our church for the first time (if they leave an email or snail mail address), we send them a survey that we call "First Impressions of First Church." We are constantly seeking to make people's experience at our church more meaningful and feedback from our guests is vitally important to that end.

One of the first questions on the survey is: how did you hear about our church? There are about ten choices to choose from, one of which is "other" (in which case a blank is provided so that they can be more specific). Would you believe that most people don't hear about our church through our local advertising efforts? Or the United Methodist Find-a-Church page? Or through these awesome morning devotionals? I know...shocking, right? No, of all the different ways that people possibly hear about our church, the most cited response is "from a friend." Word of mouth. One person sharing with another person.

In the suggested reading for this morning, Jesus calls the disciples together and sends them out to proclaim the kingdom of God and to heal the sick. We're told that they then go from village to village proclaiming the good news of Jesus Christ and that they are agents of healing to the people with whom they come in contact. The early church is not unlike the church I serve today: its growth came from word of mouth. Friend to friend. Neighbor to neighbor. One person sharing with another person.

I believe that Jesus is still in the business of empowering people to share the good news and be agents of healing in the lives of others. I believe that Jesus empowers you! You don't need much for the journey. If people don't welcome you, just shake it off and move on to someone else. But your willingness to share the good news will result in lives being changed. Healing will take place. And maybe...just maybe...in addition to doing those two vitally important things, you'll get to celebrate your successes over a fish fry later (the feeding of the five thousand happens immediately after they return from their travels).

May God grant you the grace of empowerment to proclaim the good news and be an agent of healing today. That's how the kingdom grows.



Tomorrow's Reading:  Luke 10
Sunday's Reading: Luke 11
I'll be back on Monday with a devotional from Luke 12

If you're new to the Good Morning God devotionals, I try to write and share them each Monday-Friday. Please feel free to forward the devotionals to family, friends, and co-workers. I notice an increase in the number of new subscribers when readers like you share them on Facebook or re-tweet them on Twitter. It's my prayer that these devotionals might help countless people say, "Good Morning God.