The Pugwash Factor:

“The Pugwash Factor: How to Turn Mingle into Mission”

www.pmchurch.tv

Matthew 9:9-13

“Christ’s method alone will give true success in reaching the people. The Saviour mingled with men as one who desired their good. He showed His sympathy for them, ministered to their needs, and won their confidence. Then He bade them, ‘Follow Me.’” (Ministry of Healing 143)

• Following in Jesus’ Five Strategic Steps:
  • #1—You  among people as one who wants the very best for them.
    • To mingle simply means to show up where already are.
    • Becky Pippert: “How can we be the salt of the earth if we never get out of the salt shaker?” (Out of the Salt Shaker 124)
    • Jim Cymbala: “Christians often hesitate to reach out to those who are different. They want God to clean the fish before they catch them. If someone’s gold ring is attached to an unusual body part, if the person doesn’t smell the best, or if the skin color is not the same, Christians tend to hesitate. But think for a moment about God reaching out to us. If ever there was a ‘reach,’ that was it: the holy, pure Deity extending himself to us who are soiled, evil-hearted, unholy. God could have said, ‘You’re so different from me, so distasteful, I would really rather not get too close to you.’ But he didn’t say that. It was our very differentness that drew his hand of love. Jesus didn’t just speak the healing word to lepers from a distance of thirty yards. He touched them.” (Fresh Wind, Fresh Fire  8)
    • Practice what the top Fortune 500 CEOs do—M By W  A.
    • Philip Samaan: “Taking the initiative to mingle with others naturally comes easier to some than to others. I always find it more comfortable to mingle with individuals I encounter in normal daily events. The people we rub shoulders with as we work, shop, bank, [study] and carry out other daily activities. . . . Because we have built bridges with such individuals, they (and we too) are much less likely to be apprehensive or fearful of each other.” (Christ’s Method Alone 53)
    • Sports events, school concerts, weddings, parties, service clubs, community volunteering, after-school tutoring, PTA meetings, neighborhood projects, et al
  • #2—You show your for them.
  • #3—You identify and minister to their .
  • #4—You win their .
    • Gregory Boyle: “There is no force in the world better able to alter anything from its course than love. Ruskin’s comment that you can get someone to remove his coat more surely with a warm, gentle sun than with a cold, blistering wind is particularly apt. Meeting the world with a loving heart will determine what we find there. . . . Sooner or later we all discover that kindness is the only strength there is.” (Tattoos on the Heart: The Power of Boundless Compassion 124)
  • #5—You then invite them to meet .
    • Francis of Assisi: “Preach the gospel at all times and when necessary use .”
    • Desire of Ages: “As disciples of Christ we shall not mingle with the world from a mere love of pleasure, to unite with them in folly. Such associations can result only in harm. We should never give sanction to sin by our words or our deeds, our silence or our presence. Wherever we go, we are to carry Jesus with us, and to reveal to others the preciousness of our Saviour.” (152)
    • Ty Gibson invitation
    • Mary Oliver: “There are things you can’t reach, but you can reach out to them all day long.”

The Good News of the Gospel is Jesus.