I really enjoy being a part of making individual mentoring matches between people from my church and kids in Homewood. I know each match has the potential to transform the lives of both the mentors and the mentees. I have tremendous hope that God will work through each match. However, I also know there is much more potential for my church to impact Homewood, the city of Pittsburgh, and the world! God has designed his Church to be the hope of the world, and when we fail to live out that mission then we fall short of the plans God has for the church.
In The Hole in the Gospel, Richard Stearns writes, "It's important to understand why churches are so strategically important to carrying out the mission that Jesus described in Luke 4, of bringing the good news of the kingdom of God to the whole world. As individuals, we all have an important role to play in demonstrating the gospel through our lives. We can pray, give, volunteer, and become effective personal ambassadors for the gospel. However, our greatest power to change the world is released when we come together in collective action to organize and focus the resources of the whole body of Christ. A church of one thousand members can have a much more powerful impact by harnessing the power of the whole than its individual members can have acting alone. God established the institution of the Church as a key strategy for building His kingdom and for leading the social revolution required by the gospel - 'on earth as it is in heaven' (Matt. 6:10). Said another way, without the collective and organizing power of churches, the ability of Christians to impact the world is greatly compromised."
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