180 Rivulets of Living Water

    (Note: This blog entry is based on the text for “Rivulets of Living Water”, originally shared on January 10, 2022. It was the 180^th video for our YouTube Channel, Streams of Living Water (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCB7KnYS1bpHKaL2OseQWCnw), co-produced with my wife, Rev. Sally Welch.)

   A rivulet is a small stream. Today we’re going to look at 10 practical means by which people might follow such a rivulet to a place that leads them to receive the streams of living water that is God, the Holy Spirit, and be filled. Stay with us and see what they are.

   All streams have currents. They are always moving. Today, we’re going to look at 10 ways you can point people to the living water. These are not things you can do. Only God can transform lives through faith, a living relationship with the one true living God.

   These are small things that the Holy Spirit can use as the means to move within people you know and care about to bring about life-transformation.

   They are like rivulets. Rivulets can lead us to streams. Streams of living water.

   I was standing outside the Hallmark Store in San Dimas their other day. Their slogan since 1944 has been, “When You Care Enough to Send the Very Best,” which I think is appropriate for today. God sent us his very best. How do we participate in sharing that good news?

   The following are ideas from others’ experience that I have seen online and revised, or accumulated from reading books and articles and have revised, or things that I’ve heard about and revised, though with no source that I can find or remember, but for whose inspiration I am grateful. I came up with many of them from my own experience.

1.              Wear a Sign

   You don’t have to put on a sandwich board and walk down the street. A sign is something that points to something else. Wear your mother’s gold cross necklace, your father’s fish pin, or buy your own. Wear a t-shirt or a polo shirt with your church’s name on it or with a Christian message. They can create opportunities to share Jesus.  

    In my experience, it’s mainly existing Christians who will respond, but you never know who will see them, or who will comment.

2.              Text Somebody

   Text them from church. “Guess where I am.” It’s really good.” “Come with me next Sunday”.

3.              Leave a Pen

   Have pens made up with information about your church printed on them. Leave them wherever you see them used in public.

   When you can, ask someone working at a store or a restaurant if the need pens. (They usually do and are happy to get them!) Say something brief and good about your church as you give them to them. Get them into circulation around the community you serve.

4.              Forward Email Announcements from Your Church to People

   Include an encouraging message and, when the time is right, invite them to come to church with you. As Paul writes to the church at Corinth, in 2 Corinthians 5:18-20,

¹⁸ All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation; ¹⁹ that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting the message of reconciliation to us. ²⁰ So we are ambassadors for Christ, since God is making his appeal through us; we entreat you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.

5.              Forward a Link to Your Church’s Digital Media to Someone You Know and Care About.

   The restrictions on in-person worship have required churches to get creative and develop alternatives, such as podcasts, blogs, Zoom gatherings, and digital forms of worship. Your church likely live -streams your worship services, or uses YouTube, Facebook, and/or other media.

   It is easier to invite people to take part in your church’s worship services than ever. Just send them a link! Invite them to talk about what they have seen with you afterward.

6.              Mail the Good News

   Did you get a Christmas Card from someone last Christmas? Did it have a stamp with a Christian message on it? It created an impression, didn’t it?

   Did you send them? Stock up on greeting cards with a Christian message and send them for holidays, birthdays, to say “thank-you”, times of sadness or celebration, etc. State your faith.

7.              Remember your Godchild

   Were you a godfather or godmother / sponsor at someone’s baptism? Be a consistent presence in your godchild’s life and encourage him or her in their Christian growth and in their membership in a local church. Send Christian gifts at the anniversary of their baptism, other life-event celebrations, and on Christian holidays. Remind them of the good things God has done for them.

8.              Strengthen your Faith

   Work on yourself, not on your witness. Relax. The Holy Spirit will give you the appropriate message to share. Read your Bible, pray, read Christian books, web sites and blogs, serve others in the name of Jesus. Always be ready to be the means by which the Holy Spirit acts.

   As Peter counsels in 1 Peter 3:14-16,

¹⁴ But even if you do suffer for doing what is right, you are blessed. Do not fear what they fear, and do not be intimidated, ¹⁵ but in your hearts sanctify Christ as Lord. Always be ready to make your defense to anyone who demands from you an accounting for the hope that is in you; ¹⁶ yet do it with gentleness and reverence. Keep your conscience clear, so that, when you are maligned, those who abuse you for your good conduct in Christ may be put to shame.

9.              Listen for an Opening

   “I don’t know what to do…” “I feel so stretched…” “Everything has changed during this pandemic…”, etc. could be openings for empathetic listening. Listen. Share your experiences and your wisdom. Listen some more. Share what your faith has meant to you.

10.           Witness When Eating at a Restaurant

   Pray before your meal just like at home, not to show your righteousness but to be visible and unashamed. Let your light shine. Leave a big tip. Show your server that Christians can grateful and generous.

  To share your faith, you’ve got to have something to give away. The most important thing that I can say about being a witness to the work of God is to work on yourself. That is, to be open and receptive to God’s working on you. As Jesus said, in Matthew 10:16-20,

¹⁶ “See, I am sending you out like sheep into the midst of wolves; so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves. ¹⁷ Beware of them, for they will hand you over to councils and flog you in their synagogues; ¹⁸ and you will be dragged before governors and kings because of me, as a testimony to them and the Gentiles. ¹⁹ When they hand you over, do not worry about how you are to speak or what you are to say; for what you are to say will be given to you at that time; ²⁰ for it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you.

   Now, at that time things were in flux for Jesus and his disciples, who were all Jews. It was a time of stress regarding who Jesus was and today we might even say the same thing about our experiences in some congregations. But remember, when you give a defense of your faith it is not you who speak. It is God speaking through you.

   Don’t spend a lot of time thinking about your testimony. Make of yourself a good instrument. Listen to God.

   Let things happen in God’s time. You are not in control. God is. You never know when people might respond to God’s activity through one of these means. Be patient.

   Maybe these 10 rivulets will stimulate your own thinking about how you can share the faith that God has given you.

   May they be the means by which people you know and care about come to receive the gifts of the Holy Spirit, that is, like streams of living water, when you care enough to be the means by which people come to know Jesus, the very best. The only Savior of the world.