The Well Blog

For the past several years, The Well has paused during the spring season to remind you of God’s call to love your community. As we continue to reorient mission from a “Day” of service to a lifestyle of service for “Dei” (which is Latin for God), we want to help you understand the full breadth of what it means to live a life on mission.

Together, we will wrestle with how to be an Intentional Blessing to those around us, what it looks like to be Culturally Engaged, and how we can be an Inclusive Community to those who are outside of the faith as well as inside.

The Well’s mission statement is: Helping people connect to God and to each other in every neighborhood. We believe you do not go to church, but you are the church. God wants to use your life to bring others in your neighborhood to a fuller understanding of Him.

Tell Us Your Story

Need ideas? Have ideas? Follow what others are doing right now at servedei.com or email service opportunities to ideas@servedei.com.

This is not your money. This is God’s money. What does God want you to do with it? We are called to be sacrificially generous as Christ has been to us and invest in the lives of others. What are you going to do? Go and tell us your story.

Study

Our nature as missionary people starts with our Savior Jesus and the relationship He had with the Father and the Holy Spirit.

In John 20:21, Jesus tells the disciples, “As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.” The God we serve is a missionary God. He sent Jesus to live among us to redeem us and reconcile the world to Himself. Eugene Peterson in The Message paraphrases John 1:14 as, “The Word became flesh and blood, and moved into the neighborhood.” As Jesus was sent into the world, He walked in step with God’s call through the Holy Spirit. Jesus reminds us in John 16:13, that as we are sent into this world, we have the same guide. When we understand the God of mission, we understand that as His disciples, we are called to model and imitate Him.

Read John 1:1-18.

What do you learn about the character and heart of God from this passage?

If you are called to model Jesus as disciples, and are now “children of God” as verse 12 says, what does this mean for you, and how do you model our Father?

Read Matthew 5:14-16.

How do these verses connect with John 1?

You are sent on mission in this world; now, what does it look like to be on mission as His disciple? The Well has developed a picture of what Jesus’ disciples look like. We call it The Anatomy of a Disciple.

Spiritual growth begins in core of being Humbly Submitted (center circle – our heart) and Biblically Formed (second circle – our mind), as God changes our heart and mind it affects the area of our will in being Sacrificially Generous, being Relationally Healthy and being Morally Discerning (third circle – our will). These actions of the will flow out into areas of compassion where we increasingly become an Intentional Blessing, living in Inclusive Community and are Culturally Engaged (fourth circle – our compassions). As you live on mission, you are living out the outer ring of the Anatomy of a Disciple.

Read Luke 5:27–32.

Intentional Blessing is when you take initiative to bless others in the world around you with your words and actions. This means giving of your time, your talent (skills), and your treasure (money). These are often one-time acts of sacrificial generosity where you go and do and then return home. For many, this is the easiest and often the first step in mission. You give.

How do you see Intentional Blessing being played out in the Luke 5 passage?

Culturally Engaged is when you take initiative to engage others in the world around you with your words and actions, flowing out of moral discernment. As you live out an authentic expression of the Christian faith in your culture, God gives you a burden and passion to engage in one of the 7 pillars of society: Education, Business, Media/Arts, Health Care, Government, Service Organizations, or the Disenfranchised. This is often the next step after Intentional Blessing, where you step deeper into one issue, but still remain in your own world.

How do you see Culturally Engaged being played out in the Luke 5 passage?

Inclusive Community is when you take initiative to include others in the world around you with your words and actions, flowing out of relational health. Inclusive Community is often the hardest element of living on mission because it involves inviting those outside of the faith into your life.

How do you see Inclusive Community being played out in the Luke 5 passage?

Reflection

What area of the outer ring is currently the strongest for you? Why do you think so?

What area of the outer ring is currently the weakest for you? Why do you think so?

What would it look like to use your Serve Dei resources to address your area of weakness?

How might God multiply your resources just like He did with the fishes and the loaves in Matthew 14:13-21?

Pray

Commit to a time of reflection and prayer for three days as you begin processing what to do with God’s money. Meditate deeply on the Scripture and listen for the voice of God. Feel free to use the following prayer:

Gracious God, you have promised that you have come to give me life, and to give me life abundantly. You have given me time, talents, and treasure, not simply for my sake, but so that I may also be a blessing to others, culturally engaged and an inclusive member of my community. And yet, I confess, I am often overwhelmed by what I see in the world around me: the loneliness, the injustice, and the deep sense of need. I confess my own apathy and lack of love toward those around me. Help me to see my neighborhood, workplace and city through your eyes. Fill me with compassion and creativity. Show me how to multiply the resources I have been given and invest in your kingdom and your people. Amen.

Remember

If you take the packet, you promise to:

Take time to process this journey
Study, reflect and pray – the process is as important as the outcome
Share your story

Download the Serve Dei Packet