Broadly Graded NIV EXTRA!

Broadly Graded NIV EXTRA!

For Teachers of Family Bible Study Series Using the Adult NIV Leader Guide

ADULT NIV LEADER GUIDE: BROADLY GRADED

Inaction to Action

January 6, 2002

Frances Carroll

Background Passage: Acts 6:1-7; James 1:22-27; 2:14-18

Focal Passage: Acts 6:1-4; James 1:22-27; 2:4-1I

INTRODUCTION to the lesson:

Today's lesson is a hodgepodge of Scriptures pointing to one important question, "How do I demonstrate my faith in Christ?" That's a good question isn't it? Since we, as Baptist, believe that works is a result of salvation then we know that we must be identifying the work that God has for us to do and get on with it. Unfortunately many of us have lazy or dead faith that just sits and seemingly grows staler because we do not share it. Today's lesson will help us over come this problem.

Many of us have yet to identify the challenges God has for us. We are waiting around looking for some way to be helpful and wonder why God doesn't use us. Others have identified the challenge God has for us and we are about God's business in our own unique way. So, what makes the difference in a living faith and a stale faith? How do we understand God's desire for us to share our faith and put it into action?

Throughout our lives the challenge God has for us may change from time to time. God presents us with an unlimited amount of chances to help others but some people never realize this. We are all called to serve the Lord in our own way, each and every one us using our measure of faith to spread the love of God to all we encounter. As Henry Blackabee teaches in "Experiencing God", "Look around and see where God is working and then get in on it."

God moves us from one serving opportunity to another. God has given to us in an abundance all of the abilities and talents we need to serve Him. Sometimes we are so blinded by wanting to do something we feel we want to do that we overlook what God is wanting. Christians who sit around trying to figure out what God wants may be wasting valuable time. Many areas of service are so blatantly clear that we overlook them due to their simplicity in appearance. What is easy for one Christian to do may be difficult for another. If you see a need and realize you can do something about that need then you need to move from inaction to action. We need to quit being lazy Christians.

When God is in what you do He will teach you how to get the results He wants. You don't need to know how to be a master craftsman before you tackle a task, all you need to do is be available. God is the Master, you and I are merely apprentices. For the most part, God has already challenged us and set before us challenges that await us. It is He who will show us how to demonstrate our faith as we move ahead to meet His challenges. We are to desperately depend on God for everything and be aware that He will bring about a good work in each and everyone of us. Our task is to be available and get active for God.

USE-AS-YOU-CHOOSE

Before class go through old magazines and cut out pictures of a variety of topics. You may find a picture of a church, school building, aged persons, a computer, disabled persons, hospitals, children, books, someone repairing a car, etc. and place them in a sack or a box to take to class. The idea is to come up with thought starters to make people stop and think about opportunities to serve Christ by serving others.

On the day of the class pass around the pictures and ask the members to take one of them. Once they have them in hand you are ready to challenge them personally and as a whole.

Ask:

Each of you has a picture which should make you think about how a Christian can serve someone who has a need. Today's lesson teaches us that empty religion, without serving and helping others, is meaningless.

· Why are Christians called to go into the world and help others?

· Look at the picture you have in your hand and tell me how you think you could help a person or a group with the talents, gifts, and abilities God has given you?

· Where do you see a need in our church, community, or city that you believe you might be able to help?

· What do you think the Lord wants you to do about this situation?

· How does a Christian or a church move from inaction to action in serving and sharing Christ?

· What will it take to get us moving from inaction to action?

Say:

If we know we are to be helping other people and we aren't then are we being very responsible Christians?

Each one of us has our own special abilities and talents. It isn't hard to overlook the needs around us because we live such busy lives. I believe that God is tugging away at someone's heartstrings this very moment. Time and time again God has shown us where we can do "our part" in helping others and, yet, somehow, many of us have neglected His call.

God wants to move us from inaction to action to serve Him by helping others, that's what active faith is all about, faith that produces results.

Read:

Louisville native Jacque Baumgardner distributed Christmas packets from the United States to children in Bosnia late last month.

When they first went to Pakistan as Presbyterian missionaries 45 years ago, Fred and Margaret Stock would sometimes preach in marketplaces.

But with the rise of a small but vocal group of Islamic fundamentalists in recent years, the Stocks and other missionaries in Pakistan have taken a lower profile. And when graffiti appeared after Sept. 11 denouncing Americans, Christians and Jews, they were happy to evacuate on orders from the Louisville-based Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).

With the terrorist attacks on the United States and the subsequent U.S. military action in Afghanistan, locally based Christian missionaries and aid workers have had to be even more cautious about what was already a sensitive matter: bringing aid and a Christian presence to Muslim lands.

''These are much more difficult times,'' said Jim McKinley of Louisville, a retired Baptist missionary who served for 34 years in Bangladesh and keeps in regular contact with active missionaries.

Louisville faith-based mission and aid groups are assessing where they have people working and whether they are taking the right approach to providing help and spreading their message.

Presbyterians and many other U.S. and European denominations pulled missionaries out of Pakistan temporarily, according to the ecumenical aid group Church World Service. Southeast Christian Church canceled short-term mission trips in October involving more than 100 members to India, Ethiopia, Brazil and Colombia -- due both to international tensions and airline-industry uncertainties.

Nationally, the Southern Baptist Convention pulled missionaries from unidentified countries after Sept. 11, though a spokeswoman says most are back in place. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints says only that it is taking ''all prudent precautions'' with its missionaries.

Missionaries' risks were underscored when two American aid workers were imprisoned by Afghanistan's former Taliban rulers in August for spreading Christianity -- charges the workers admitted were partly true after their rescue last month, though their actions would have been legal in most Muslim lands.

But not all Christian aid groups proselytize. Daniel Rift, associate director for worldwide ministries at the Presbyterian Church, said the denomination is sending blankets and food to Afghan war refugees through Pakistani aid workers.

He said the church's refugee aid program has a written code of conduct ''that makes the giving of this aid separate from an approach of proselytizing. . . . That has served us well.''

Church World Service, supported by 36 American denominations, also has Pakistani and other local workers aiding Afghan refugees. The war has sometimes delayed aid but hasn't shut down programs, according to Donna Derr, associate director for international emergency response.

Apart from the Presbyterians' refugee aid, their missionaries do share their faith in low-key ways while primarily doing humanitarian work. ''We don't go to the bazaars and preach, but we have relationships and people ask our beliefs and we share them with them,'' said Jim Brees, a graduate of Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary who administers a 300-bed hospital in Pakistan's Punjab region. His wife, Carol Brees, works as a gynecologist and obstetrician, providing a service where cultural values often prevent male doctors from treating females.

The Breeses have been temporarily staying in Pennsylvania since their evacuation and hope to return soon.

Their visas state that they are Christian aid workers, and while the Pakistani government is more interested in medicine than evangelism, ''as Christians we can't entirely separate the two,'' said Carol, who completed her medical residency at the University of Louisville.

Jim Brees said aid workers who try to conceal their religious goals while applying for visas are making a mistake.

''Our experience with the Pakistani government has been that people who have sought to withhold information or hide their purpose for coming into the country have been resented.'' That has ''endangered people who have been totally honest.''

Fred Stock added that many Pakistanis discuss religion or ask why they are there. ''If they ask questions, you give answers. If you give answers, is that preaching? That's just responding to a question.''

For that reason, many locally based missionaries are hesitant to criticize the American aid workers who were imprisoned in Afghanistan, noting they had quietly shared their faith with friends. (Many nations, at least officially, respect United Nations-sanctioned rights to teach one's religion publicly and to change one's religion.)

The two American women, Heather Mercer and Dayna Curry, were working with other foreigners and Afghans with the group Shelter Now International, building homes, distributing food and running a shop where impoverished children could sew textiles for sale. After they showed a film about Jesus at an Afghan family's home, they and their colleagues were arrested.

The women have acknowledged that showing the film was a mistake but said they also faced false charges of proselytizing children at the shop.

The aid workers were freed last month by advancing Northern Alliance rebels and airlifted by U.S. Special Forces out of the country.

McKinley, the retired Baptist missionary, said he used to preach in marketplaces to local Muslims. By comparison, he said, ''I wouldn't have called what those women did preaching Christianity.''

Jim and Jacque Baumgardner, missionaries to Bosnia-Herzegovina who are currently in their native Louisville on furlough, take a low-key approach to proselytizing in that mostly Muslim land, where they work on everything from water projects to home reconstruction.

''If people ask (about religion), that's an open door to talk about that,'' said Jim Baumgardner, whose work with Professionals International is sponsored by Southeast Christian Church, the largest church in Kentucky. ''Some people's first question is, 'What motivates you to come here?' A big part of that motivation is wanting to offer people hope.''

Bosnia bans proselytizing those under 18, so the couple never include children in religious programs without their parents' permission.

Baumgardner said relations have been good with most Muslims, though more chilly with some foreign mujahedeen -- Islamic warriors who joined in Bosnia's 1992-95 war against Serbs and Croats before marrying Bosnian women and settling in the country. He said some of his colleagues received threats recently, but they took basic security precautions and there have been no incidents.

The Stocks are also finding the need to be cautious about a growing minority of Islamic fundamentalists studying at schools in Pakistan.

''It's sort of a new thing in the last five years or so,'' Margaret Stock said in an interview Friday at Presbyterian headquarters, where the California-based couple was attending a conference.

The stocks -- whose round- trip air tickets reflect their desire to return to Pakistan soon -- spend much of their time working with an impoverished Hindu outcast group, overseeing literacy and other programs.

''We've had some wonderful results, people really learning to read, also some people coming to the Gospel,'' Fred Stock said. ''But our pressure has not been for them to become Christians. . . . Many of them don't become Christians. That's up to them.''

http://www.courierjournal.com/localnews/2001/12/12/ke121201s120093.htm

Courier Journal December 12, 2001

By Peter Smith
The Courier-Journal

Say:

Where would we be without people who are willing to make their faith count by sharing the "good news" of Christ? Today's lesson clearly points out that faith without action is dead. Many Christians have a dead religion. They have laid their faith to rest and buried it in some isolated corner of their heart wondering why people are so lost and lonely. All around us we see needs and people who need spiritual and physical help. God has made each Christian a missionary in his or her own way, we are carriers of the Word. When we neglect the call of the Lord to step out and take action by showing and telling others about Christ then we have a dead faith. Someone is missing a blessing because we have become lazy and uncaring, or shy and unsure of ourselves. What we must remember is Christ lives within us and it is He who achieves the results He wants as we present ourselves as vessels of service. We should feel honored and humbled that He wants to use us to reach other people.

Christians at work serving and sharing, such as those who work with "Habitat for Humanity" have shown the world how God's love can make a difference by providing homes for the less fortunate. Taking up the call to serve these Christians show their love of Christ in countless ways. Their example shows us that each of us has something to contribute to a world that is in need of a Savior. Let's consider how we can demonstrate our faith today.

ASK:

· Do you see yourself as a missionary?

· How important is the Christian presence among the lost of the world?

· In what ways can Christians help those with needs in their community?

· Do you feel God's unique calling to you to serve and help others by sharing your faith and love in your workplace, community, church, and wherever you go?

· How can you and I move from neglecting our duty to share of faith and become more responsible Christians?

USE-AS-YOU CHOOSE

Bring to class an assortment of individual mints, candies, etc. Pass them around the class and ask members to select the treat of their choice.

Say:

We are somewhat like these mints and candies, different and distinct in our own way. Like these treats we have a purpose for being here, the purpose of the mints is to bring a few moments of enjoyment. Our purpose is to bring a lifetime of pleasure and service to the people God puts in our path. We are all different, and, likewise, we may not have the same challenges and functions as Christians. You should think of your life as God choosing you, as you are, making you into an image that is special and more Christ like each and every day. As you go about your life's calling you are to stop, look and listen for opportunities to show people that your faith in Christ is genuine and real. You are to be active in showing God's loving care and concern for people everywhere.

READ:

Sun Staff
Originally published December 13, 2001

Stella Tsourakis thought she was helping when she led a busload of Carroll County middle school pupils in the Lord's prayer Sept. 12, the morning after hijacked airplanes crashed into the Pentagon and the World Trade Center.

Now, Tsourakis, a driver, is afraid she'll lose her new job because the Hampstead-area children attending Shiloh Middle School - now joined by those attending North Carroll High School - will not stop praying before they get off the bus at school.

Tsourakis was told by a school transportation official Nov. 16 to stop leading the prayers or she could lose her job. Tsourakis said she stopped.

When the middle school pupils asked whether they could continue the prayers, Tsourakis told them to do what they thought was best. So they now lead their own prayer.

A few days later, when the high school students learned of the school system's order to halt the praying, they began leading a prayer, too, just as the Shiloh pupils are doing: When the bus stops in front of the school building, the doors are opened so anyone who wants to can leave and the Lord's prayer is then recited.

On Tuesday, Tsourakis said she was called in by two school transportation officials and warned again.

School officials said it was a personnel matter that they could not discuss.

Tsourakis said the prayer started after she was swept up in the tragic events of Sept. 11. "Here you have the president of the United States, telling us all to pray, national television services with praying. I'm not giving [the pupils] my beliefs. We never discussed religion at all. I can't do that," said Tsourakis.

There was disagreement about whether drivers were told during their three-day training that it was against policy to lead prayers on a school bus.

James Doolan, the school system's transportation supervisor, said that as part of their training, all school bus drivers are briefed on church-state issues and told specifically not to lead children in prayer. The children are permitted to lead themselves in prayer, however, as long as they don't disrupt normal activities.

Susan Reter, secretary of Lawrence Schaffer Bus Service in Hampstead, which employs Tsourakis, said in her experience church-state issues have never been mentioned and bus drivers have never been specifically ordered not to lead children in prayer.

The training covers such topics as touching children, handling children with special needs and enforcing discipline.

Tammy Dean, a driver who attended the same training classes as Tsourakis, said the classes never mentioned church-state issues in general or prohibitions on prayer in particular.

Reter said she will tell drivers from now on not to lead prayers. The company operates 23 buses for the school system. "We can't afford to lose our license," she said. "If we condone this, we could lose our contract with Carroll County."

Charles I. Ecker, the interim school superintendent, said if drivers weren't told of the rules regarding religion and schools or misunderstood, the school system should make every effort to be sure they understand. Generally, courts have ruled that children can organize prayer at school but school officials may not promote religious activities.

Tsourakis said she sent a note home to parents asking for their permission to say the prayer, and all but one parent approved.

But because Tsourakis initiated the prayer, said Barry Lynn, executive director of Americans United for the Separation of Church and State, "She's already poisoned the well constitutionally. Those children are obviously doing the prayers because she told them that's what they should do.

"It's organized prayer on a school bus after the kids were instructed how to do it by a government contract official," he said. "That's just wrong, and the unfortunate thing is, you can't stop the snowball from rolling down the hill at this point."

Tsourakis, of Manchester, a separated 37-year-old mother of three sons, began her $11-an-hour job for the Lawrence bus company when school opened in August. She drives two Finksburg-area routes, serving the two Hampstead-area schools.

Parents and students, her employer, local politicians and two lawyers have offered her their support, Tsourakis said.

Del. Carmen Amedori, a Carroll Republican, was called by a parent Monday night and went with Tsourakis to her hearing Tuesday morning. She said the two school transportation officials did not threaten to fire Tsourakis, "but they were pretty rough on her. I wondered to myself what would have happened if I weren't there."

Amedori said she plans to meet next week with Shiloh Middle School Principal Tom Hill. He said that he could not discuss a personnel matter and that he had received one inquiry about the prayers from a parent.

One Shiloh eighth-grader, a 13-year-old girl who Tsourakis said sometimes leads prayers, said, "Miss Stella just said if you guys would like to pray, then I'm all for it, and all of us said we wanted to say" the Lord's prayer. The words, which many of them didn't know, had been posted inside the bus but were taken down last month - after the first warning.

A few pupils initially objected and one mentioned the Constitution, the girl said, but "they were allowed to get off the bus before we say it. Usually three or four do get off."

She said her friends who don't ride the bus wanted to know "'What were you doing on there?' And I was like, 'We were praying' and they were like 'Why?' And I was like, 'It's a long story, but we're praying for the people in the Sept. 11 incident.'"

Sun staff writer Maria Blackburn contributed to this article.

Source: Baltimore Times http://www.sunspot.net/news/local/carroll/bal-ca.prayer13dec13.story

Say:

The woman in this article has put her faith into action by sharing with the children on her bus. Opportunity to

show our beliefs in Christ are everywhere. As in this woman's life we see God providing opportunities to put our faith into action any time and anywhere of the day or night. Knowing when and how to share our faith should be a natural thing to us. God is at work in and around us and we must take advantage of each opportunity.

Ask:

We need to ask ourselves, "How can I demonstrate my faith in Christ today? Today meaning, each and every day we have before the Lord calls us home.

What can you do when you realize God is calling you out among other Christians for a specific task?

Conclusion:

Just look around you today and you will realize that God is presenting you opportunities to move from inaction to action in Christian life. Perhaps we have taken for granted that the pleas for help that we have heard are not someone else's responsibility, they are ours. God wants us to open up our eyes and our spiritual ears and looks around us to see are realizing the pain that others have. How will the world know what genuine religion is unless we put it into practice?

The challenge of today's lesson spills over into the rest of our lives. What we do with our lives, how we live, what we do and what we believe will be seen as a reflection of our beliefs in Christ. Ours is not an empty, lazy faith but an active and involved faith that goes into all the world and shares Christ.

Faith more than believes, it is showing the difference that Christ makes in a person's daily situations. Our faith should demonstrate Christ is alive and working in us as we accept the challenges He lays before us. Our faith is to be shown and demonstrated as we show concern for all people.

We need