"I am Jesus to this city"

I am listening to Daniel Bashta's song, "Unlock My Roar" (the link will take you to Spotify where you can listen for free).  You can download the chord chart here.

This song, one line in particular, has grabbed a hold of me and won't let go.  The line is "I am Jesus to this city." I want to explain why I believe this one line is so important.

There are several reasons why this line is important.  1) It is not your church's responsibility to share the gospel with your city- the people you see everyday.  By this I mean it is not an organizational duty.  Each member, partner- whatever you call the people active in the church and sharing in its vision- should be showing Jesus to the people around them. 2) When people see you on the streets in the town/ city you live in- people who have seen you in church- they will relate your actions to the church as a whole.  Your actions reflect the church's actions.  Why? Because you are the church.  and 3) We are called to minister to the people around us, to the people in our community.

Acts 6 shares with us a story that brings us deeper into this matter.  A complaint came to the Apostles that some of the widows were being neglected by the church.  The Apostles say in verse 2, "It is not right that we should give up preaching the word of God to serve tables." They then told the church to choose seven men from the community to serve as the local ministry. The 'Hospitality team,' if you will.
The Apostles knew that a) they needed to be focused on sharing the Gospel and preaching the Word, and b) they would not be as effective as someone in the community.

In Acts 1:8, Christ tells us that we "will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the world." (ESV).  The explanation to this that I have always heard is that we, as Christians, need to be His witnesses in our immediate community (Jerusalem), in our State/ Nation (Judea/ Samaria), and to the end of the world.  Local ministry is key- witnessing to people not by going on mission trips, but by ministering to the people you live next to- the people in your community.

We are to be Jesus in our city.  The city we live in.  Capstone does a fantastic job of this.  They are not a church ministering to Simpsonville, or to Greenville- but to Fountain Inn.  The leaders of the church do not live in Simpsonville, or Greenville, or Traveler's Rest- but in Fountain Inn.  They surround themselves with their community.  They are Jesus to their city.