Ambassadors For Christ

Have you ever thought about what your dream job would be? How about a teacher or maybe a doctor or perhaps a US senator? What would your perfect job description look like? The options are almost unlimited…

How about if I were to suggest that God has already revealed an ideal job description for his children? Any idea what that exciting job description is? Well, the apostle Paul makes this job description clear in 2 Corinthians 5:20:

“Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.”

That’s a pretty weighty, responsible job description especially when we review a job description of an Ambassador:

“An official envoy, a diplomatic agent of the highest rank accredited to a foreign government or sovereign as the resident representative of his or her own government, or kingdom.”

But wait … this is not just a job description… it is also a calling and identity issue. Think about it for a moment: we personally represent the sovereign ruler of the universe, King Jesus. We can either continue to be the “mini-kings” of our own limiting self kingdom or expand our job description to one that represents a heavenly kingdom here on earth.

Has thinking about his unique calling and identity to Ambassadorship begun to raise the bar of our spiritual understanding? For instance, since it is associated with our identity, do you have a 24/7 every day mindset or are we still on a normal, regular working hour shift? Remember, an Ambassador represents his government at all times, not just when it fits our scheduled agenda.

How about your orientation towards his divine calling? We are to faithfully represent him in every personal encounter he puts in our path… at home, school, work, our neighborhood, as well as at church. Wow, think of the implications… if your life was the subject of a video cam filming over the past 6 weeks… how would you do in regard to your calling and identity as an Ambassador for Christ? I was quite convicted when I reflected on how these past 6 weeks of my life were spent in view of my personal Ambassador calling and identity… how about your film study?

In fact, the implications of being an ambassador for Christ Jesus is just one of many topics we are teaching from Instruments in the Redeemers Hands in our Wednesday night Institute of Disciple-Makers class. The NCBC Gospel Care Center ministry is excited to sponsor this class as we partner together with the overall NCBC focus of building effective discipleship awareness and skills within each member of our church community. (See Matthew 28:19-20 and Ephesians 4:12-13).

Now, let’s take a closer look together at our Gospel Care Center Ministry (GCCM):

Our Ministry vision is: Under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, along with the collaboration and oversight of our NCBC Elder team, we will strive to be a biblically based, gospel centered, counseling and discipleship ministry that serves our NCBC church community as well as the various spiritual needs of individuals within our Fox Valley corridor.

So what is the DNA structure of the GCCM practically and functionally? We operate at the “far end” of the “continuum of care” spectrum within our church community. Our Center ministers to more specialized discipleship / counseling needs that require a formal counseling relationship with one of our trained counselors.

What does this formal counseling care look like? Our Gospel Care Center website description is helpful here:

“This kind of focused care is for the person who feels stuck… in a particular sin or in an unhealthy pattern of behavior or a destructive relationship or trying to heal from a personal loss or haunted by the past… or who has experienced some deep trauma… perhaps a bereavement, or a betrayal of relationship (such as divorce) or a life-threatening illness… and realizes that they need specialized care that will enable them to get back on track and live more confidently in God’s grace.”

You are invited to visit our GCCM website (under Ministries section at www.newcbc.org). A visit to our site will provide you with:

• Helpful background information about our trained staff counselors, David Sommer and Karen Aldridge.
• Information on the care process we employ to assist those in need of our counseling/discipleship Center services.
• Counseling education resources including the Christian Counseling Education Foundation (CCEF) biblical counseling model we utilize at the Center. (Also see www.CCEF.org for further info).

Please partner with us in praying for the following ministry needs:

1. For those who enlist our discipleship / counseling services… that these counselees would feel supported and encouraged in their suffering struggles as well as seeing their need for gospel-centered change and transformation specific to their counseling situation.
2. May the Lord guide us in our future ministry direction so we would fully depend on him as well as the partnership opportunity and guidance of our Elder team… specifically, that he will help us to effectively utilize our counseling resources so as to maximize teaching opportunities that effectively contributes to a gospel care culture shift at NCBC.
3. That we would be wise in the establishment of upcoming church ministry budgeting decisions that involve the Gospel Care Center.

Thank you for taking time to both learn about and build personal awareness of your NCBC Gospel Care Center Ministry. Please let anyone on our staff know if we can assist you or answer questions you might have.

What a joyful privilege we have as we partner together to live out our unique calling and identity as Ambassadors for our great King of Kings and Lord of Lords!

Elder,
Frank Chihowski