Remember Your 5!

Remember your five is a slogan. Generally, I don't like slogans, methods, formulas, etc. They seem artificial and impersonal. But the reality is that we are creatures of habit. We all respond well to formulas, slogans, and methods like it or not. 'Remember your five' is a slogan that many of us in our region have been championing for some time now. It means that we should remember to pray for five lost individuals that we are asking God to save. I have been praying for five and reminding others to pray for five for six months or so now.

Back in March I visited a team down in Belfalas. They were struggling with a great problem. Several people had come to faith in different communities around them and they did not know exactly how to bring them together in a Church. The decision was made to not bring them together in an artificial group run by foreigners but instead to see that each individual in his or her own community would lead others to faith in their community and start separate churches. This of course, is slow work. How will the individuals relate to each other and support each other until new Churches are formed. The foreigners were at a loss as to what to do. They could disciple the individuals but how could they get them into community? Community is essential. When the religious leaders asked Jesus what was the greatest commandment He couldn't give them just one. He said that they must love the Lord with all their hearts- AND their neighbors as themselves. You must do both. If we would be real disciples of Jesus we will love God and we will love each other in community. This is what real Church is. The living out of this 'second' commandment.

I went back down to Belfalas this last week and asked them how it was going. It turns out that the foreigners did not have a clue as to how to solve the problem but God did! They taught the individual Christians in the scattered different communities to 'Remember your 5.' The result was that as these Christians were praying for their five people they felt burdened and overwhelmed. They began to meet with each other to pray for each other and encourage one another. They have not started one big church- they live in different villages- but they meet to encourage one another on a regular basis to pray for their five and to pray that God will raise up a Church in each one of their communities.

Man's problems are messy, God's solutions are always elegant. Do you have five you are praying for? Remember your five.