Missio Engage (June 2025)

Unity and Division

First I wanted to take a moment to thank Howard for his years of getting us to engage with one another on Sunday mornings like this — when we first started doing this during our worship services I thought it was super unique and I’ve always found it encouraging. Thanks Howard!

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Russia, Ukraine, Iran, Israel, ICE, Immigrants, — what do you think of when you hear those words all mentioned next to each other?

it’s easy to get drawn in to the chaos

I’ll admit I’ve found it difficult not to get sucked into all the division and the strife in the news from this week. It affects all of us in different ways, and all of us have different experiences from our past and different contexts that affect the ways we respond to what’s going on around us.

2. we can clearly see brokenness

i was reminded that this world is broken and watching some of the scenes and footage from the brokenness of the week out there made me think of Jesus and the moment when he wept over Jerusalem… the brokenness moved Him

3. finally, the world is longing for something better

everyone is in need of savior and

What the Lord put on my heart to think about and process together this morning, is that the Church already has something better, because of the Gospel we are to look different than the world. Those of us who are believers and followers of Jesus Christ are called to be set apart from the world and bring that “something better” to the world

Here are a couple of passages that came to mind:

Matthew 5:43–44 ESV

“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,

John 13:35 ESV

By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

And that’s what I want for us to work together this morning — I’d like for you to break out into groups of 3-4 people right there where you are, or feel free to get up and find a group to talk with maybe with folks you’ve never met — and I want us to work through some questions together:

In light of the current times we live in,

In what ways are Christians and the Church to look different than the world?

How does Christian love look different than the love of the world?

What are some specific things we can do to love those that we might disagree with?