Kevin - Organic Outreach for Families: Turning Your Home into a Lighthouse

Organic

OUTREACH

F O R F A M I L I E S

TURNING YOUR HOME INTO A LIGHTHOUSE

Kevin G. Harney

& Sherry Harney

Let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.

Matthew 5:16

Many of us are missing something in life because we are after the second best. I put before you what I have found to be the best one who is worthy of all our devotion Jesus Christ. He is the Saviour for the young and the old. Lord, here I am.

Eric Liddell, Olympic gold medalist and missionary to China

O ver the past thirty years, Sherry and I have lived in all sorts of places. Weve lived in an apartment, a trailer, a triplex (in a very rough neighborhood), a townhouse, a parsonage, and a house. Though each structure was different, we observed one thing that remained constant: it isnt the type of home but the people in it that make a difference. It is through the residents, not the structure, that God shines his light in the darkness. Our prayer and desire has been the same in each place we have lived: Lord, let your light so fill our hearts and home that it shines into the community around us. Wherever God puts us, we want people to see the face of Jesus and experience his grace in natural and organic ways. This has happened in each place we have lived.

Every house, apartment, trailer, military residence, townhome, duplex, triplex, and condominium can be a lighthouse of Gods presence and grace. God dreams of this. Jesus died for this. The living God longs for his presence and power to be on display, shining brightly, in your neighborhood. The fact that you are reading this book says something about your heart. It beats with Gods heart. You want your home to be attractive to others, a beacon of Christ-honoring influence.

Homes are not the only place where God shines his light. God plants churches all over the world to reflect his love and exhibit his amazing grace. You can find plenty of books (including some that we have written) that aim to help you and your church become a more effective witness. What is often overlooked and forgotten is Gods design for every Christian home to be a lighthouse. The average home can be the place where people discover what only the Savior can bring.

Living in a neighborhood presents a strategic opportunity to be a witness of Gods grace. People see you come and go. They watch how you live. Neighbors hear how you talk to your spouse and kids. They see how you spend your time together. Living in close proximity creates an atmosphere where the Holy Spirit can move and do beautiful things. God wants people to be drawn to our homes because they are outposts of his grace, joy, hope, truth, and love in a world that hungers for all of these things. In this dark world there is a profound need for light, and when light shines in the darkness, people are drawn to it. Like a warm campfire on a cold and pitch-black night, people cant help but come near. When you add in some hot cocoa and smores, its irresistible!

My wife, Sherry, and I come from very different backgrounds. Sherry grew up in a family with strong Christian roots. She went to church twice every Sunday and attended Sunday school faithfully. She regularly attended youth group events. Each Wednesday, Sherrys family gathered with Gods people to study the Bible and encourage one another. Church activities were a valuable part of her life, and Sherry was often the last person to leave church because she so enjoyed the connection with other believers. She was hungry to learn the things of God.

I, on the other hand, grew up outside the church, with no faith framework or understanding of God. I lived in a loving and caring home, but we did not go to church, talk about God, or pray before meals, and we certainly did not recognize Jesus as our Savior. Faith was not even an ancillary part of our lives. God was a nonissue. Yet by Gods amazing grace, I heard the message of the gospel and was saved by Jesus during my high school years. I became active in sharing my faith and soon had a growing desire not only to follow Christ but to teach others to do the same.

When Sherry and I first met, in 1982, we shared this common passion for people to know the amazing grace of God, the life-changing gospel of Jesus, and the tender filling of the Holy Spirit. We married in 1984, and from the start we were unified in our vision to do all we could to let the light of Jesus shine in and through us, wherever we lived. Almost ten years into our marriage, God clarified this vision even further. We began to understand that the Holy Spirit uses ordinary people right where they live to shine his light in the darkness. So we prayed in very specific ways that our home would become a beacon of Gods light and would shine in our community to draw people to Jesus. We found we had a new passion for our neighbors to know the love and grace of God.

That vision and passion led to a three-book series on what we refer to as organic outreach. The first book, Organic Outreach for Ordinary People, focuses on how your personal lifestyle and journey of faith present natural opportunities for sharing Gods message of love with the people around you. I wrote it to help ordinary people not just the highly evangelistic, confrontational types learn to communicate and share the extraordinary message of the gospel. The concept of organic outreach is based on the conviction that we can share the love, grace, and message of Jesus in ways that feel natural for us, regardless of our personality type, life experience, or skill set, and we can learn to connect with the people around us right where they are. Organic outreach is not a program that every person follows the same way. It is an understanding of faith and life that releases every believer to share the love and message of Jesus in a way that feels right for them.

In Organic Outreach for Churches, I develop the vision of sharing the good news of the Savior in natural ways through the local church. Sadly, some congregations choose to circle the wagons, hunker down, and protect their turf. They do all they can to keep the world from getting in. But this is not Gods divine design. He wants every church to become a mighty force for God in its community and beyond.

This book, Organic Outreach for Families, shows what Gods call to share our faith in natural, organic ways means in the context of the home. Its a book weve written to help ordinary families, like yours, make a God-honoring impact right where he has placed you. We write from personal experience, so most of our examples and illustrations involve families with parents and children living at home. But while the ideas and concepts are primarily directed at families, the content will also be helpful for newly married couples, empty nesters, and any Christian who wants their home to be a place where the light of Gods grace shines.

This book is structured in three sections. The first section focuses on helping parents reach their children and extended family with the love and truth of Jesus. You will find practical tools to point your family members toward the Savior in natural, effective, and fun ways. If you are a grandparent, these chapters will also help you to communicate the love and grace of Jesus to your grandchildren. We believe that before we can be a lighthouse of Gods grace, we must know how to bring the truth and friendship of Jesus to the people closest to us. If this is where you are in your journey, begin in section one.