You Say You Want A Revolution?

Before becoming disciples many of us were searching for true purpose and upon becoming disciples, we found it. But, over the years, many began to believe that our sole purpose was to make other disciples. Although initially exciting, such a singular focus caused weariness and disillusionment, and many singles began to feel as if the life to the full that Jesus came to bestow on us was a nice thought but far from reality. Thankfully, Jesus is full of grace and truth, and we can always count on his promises, but to find this life to the full that Jesus died for all of us to possess, we’d have to venture outside the box, many had put themselves in.

A few years ago, the Turning Point Church embarked on an exciting campaign called 40 Days of Purpose based on Rick Warren’s top selling, extremely influential Christian book, The Purpose Driven Life. The congregation began to reach another level of unity and purpose, as we read a chapter a day from the book, memorized a weekly scripture, and eagerly digested life applicable messages on Sundays and midweek services. The book, which is filled with hundreds of scriptures, outlines five purposes that God has for our lives:

• Worship – Loving God with all of our heart, mind, soul and strength.
• Fellowship - Loving and caring for one another as only God’s family can.
• Discipleship - Maturing and becoming more like Christ.
• Ministry – Serving God and His church.
• Evangelism – Introducing people to God.

It was exciting to learn that our lives are meant to be a balance of all of God’s purposes rather than a heavy focus on one or two. What is even more exciting is the fact that over the past few years, very specific steps have been taken to ensure that the church, particularly the singles ministry, continues to grow in the area of living a balanced spiritual life.

Worship - Give yourselves to God…Surrender your whole being to Him to be used for His purposes. - Romans 6:13 (TEV)

The Turning Point Singles Ministry has been rejuvenated by many of the changes in our midweek and Sunday worship services. One of the most radical and impacting changes has been the music. Musical director, Jay Minor felt it was time to go in a new direction and started to incorporate contemporary Christian songs into the services from artists like: Jeremy Camp, Lincoln Brewster and Hillsong. In January of 2008, Jay engineered a very special service called Lift that would not only unite the singles within the Los Angeles church but the campus ministries as well. A worship service filled with simply music and scripture readings was new to many as were most of the songs, but aided by the lyrics posted on huge monitor above the stage, the disciples’ voices practically lifted the roof off of the Wiltern Theater.

Fellowship – Christ makes us one body, connected to each other. - Romans 12:5 (GWT)

The call to “love one another” like Jesus loved us, is quite often a challenge - a challenge we took up when we proclaimed “Jesus is Lord” at baptism. Although fellowship is usually an area the Turning Point Singles have excelled in (and thoroughly enjoy), it became clear that many were discouraged by the dating scene. Although hearts needed to change and soften in order to see dating within the church for what it should be, a fun, godly, and practical way to build friendships between men and women, it became apparent that quite often money was an obstacle. Resolved to not allow something like money to get in the way of strengthening the fellowship, a plan for the ministry to help financially subsidize dates came to the table. It was so uplifting to many to know that money was no object when it came to meeting this need. The ministry pitching in financially for dates allowed for more consistent dating and provided a great opportunity for brothers and sisters to encourage and grow in their love for one another.

Evangelism – Jesus said to his followers, “Go everywhere in the world and tell the Good News to everyone.” – Mark 16:15 (NCV)

The call to share the gospel with the world was a new concept to many before becoming true disciples of Christ. Finding new and exciting ways to go about “bringing in the harvest” is the challenge for every church and very often methods vary due to the congregations’ DNA and its geographic location. In February 2008, the Turning Point singles ministry split into two different groups: The Point – a primarily 30 and over ministry focused on spiritual maturity and the Crux - a mission-minded band of mostly “twenty-somethings” formed specifically to reach out to the “Y Generation.” This generation (18-25 year-olds) is arguably one of the most difficult in history to impact for Christ. Without a campus ministry to feed into the Turning Point, the success of the Crux to invigorate the church’s youth is vital. So far, the group has baptized two new disciples and several other men and women are currently studying the bible.

Ministry – For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. – Ephesians 2:10

We are all uniquely made and have been given gifts to serve God and His family. We are at our best when we serve in ways that God has equipped us to serve. Traditionally, in churches, 20% of the members do 80% of the work. This should not be. As a result of the 40 Days of Purpose campaign, we launched a S.H.A.P.E. class which identifies your unique God-given gifts: Skills, Heart, Abilities, Personality and Experiences to help determine what ministries would be a good fit. The S.H.A.P.E. classes have not only helped boost involvement in ministries such as: ushering and Kid’s Kingdom but has played a huge part in new ministries being created. The First Impressions Ministry employs smiling faces, warm hugs, coffee and donuts and anything else that will help visitors to immediately feel welcome. The Dramatic Arts Ministry uses plays, dance and film to help people come to know and understand God on a deeper level. Ministries such as Grief Recovery and Chemical Recovery help disciples to break crippling patterns that threaten to hamper their spiritual walk. The staffs of InSpirit Magazine and Faith21 use their creative writing skills to entertain, inspire and educate, while the Group Date Team focuses on providing fun and exciting outings to encourage deeper and more fulfilling fellowship.

Discipleship – God wants us to grow up like Christ in everything. - Ephesians 4:15a (MSG)

We all want to be like Christ when we grow up, don’t we? As the church grows older, there is a higher expectation for disciples to mature with it. Being single, we can sometimes feel that we can’t mature to the level we want without a spouse and family. The call to be like Jesus is the same no matter where we are at in life. (Jesus was never married by the way). Last September, the singles ministry made a transition where their leadership was made up of singles and two newly-married couples. This leadership team, known as The Nine, in honor of the Lord of the Rings trilogy, also began to teach class series during midweek services to help enrich, inspire, and mature, the singles. Over the last year, the singles have gone through classes on Heaven and understanding biblical grief. A multi-week session on finances informed, equipped, and challenged the singles to become excellent stewards of the money God has given them.

A class on Spirit-Controlled Temperaments helped us to understand how we are individually made by God and how that affects our weaknesses and strengths as disciples as well as strengthen our relationships with one another by understanding and accepting each others’ differences.

It has been exciting the last few years to watch as the singles have come to take more and more ownership of the ministry we‘ve been given. With great leadership, a deep love and faith in God, and the determination to maintain a balance of God’s purposes in our lives, The Turning Point Singles Ministry looks forward to taking the revolution to another level.

For more information about Turning Point Church, go to http://www.turningpointla.com