| CONTENTS Preface Prologue |
ANTIOCH WEEKEND LEADERS MANUAL |
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WORKING FOR CHRIST |
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| Introduction
to the Antioch Weekend
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INTRODUCTION
Speaker: The leader Duration: 45 minutes Purpose: To emphasize the need for commitment to a concrete program to make perseverance possible. To explain the follow-up program and to invite them to take part in it. To explain the need for Christian friendship and talking together about the Christian life. To encourage the students that they can succeed at living what has been presented in the Weekend. Style: Serious (knowing that a great deal depends on it), but confident of success and joyful about how good it is. Taking that the approach that this is a m a method which we all have used and one which we know will work for you. You are missing something good if you do not take advantage of what is being presented to you. Not forcing ("you've got to do it") or coaxing ("please try it"). Using many examples of how the fllow-up program is lived and how the Christian life has been successfully lived. Concrete and practical in explaining the follow-up program. Progression: Working for Christ begins with a meditation on the parable of the sums of money in order to present the seriousness of taking advantage of what the Antioch Weekend has presented. The first section sets the tone of earnest practical thinking about what is to be done. The talk then considers what is needed to work for Christ. It points out that each student needs God and other Christians in order to succeed. This section sets the stage for stressing the necessity of concrete commitments in the fourth section of the Means to Growth card. It matches the commitments on the first three. The third section of the talk describes the follow-up program and urges them to take part in it. And the final section of the talk involves stressing once again the commitment and the help which God is prepared to give. The main sections of the talk are sections II and III, and they should receive the most time. Section III should be the longest, taking perhaps 20 to 25 minutes. Section I and IV are important to present the right attitude and approach to the follow-up program.
THE OUTLINE I. Introduction (Mt. 25:14-30) A. Through the Antioch Weekend, God has given us a new vision and a new life. B. We must be faithful, so our lives will bear fruit for God. C. We know that the old environment and our weaknesses are still there. D. What we need is a way to work at Christianity as students. II. What we need to work for Christ God is offering us the strength, guidance, and encouragement which the Holy Spirit gives, and we have to take advantage of his offer. A. It comes through friendship with Christ. 1. In our friendship with Christ, the Holy Spirit is communicated to us. 2. For this we need a regular program of prayer, study, and apostolic action (cf. "Growth" and the first three spokes of the wheel). B. it also comes through friendship with other Christians 1. We need Christian friends with whom we can share and work at Christian life (through other Christians the Holy Spirit is communicated). 2. We need to task about Christian life with Christian friends. a. It is a human need to talk about things b. The most important things in our life are often not talked about. c. We need to share Christianity with others in a personal way. 3. We need to work at Christianity with others (receiving stimulation and help). 4. Therefore, we need to meet together regularly with other Christians to work at living with Christ (the fourth spoke on the wheel). III. The follow-up program Present the program for your campus. Spend most of the time on the small group meeting. IV. How it will be done A. Our part 1. Christianity is joy, singing, fun (like this Weekend), but it is also a call to commitment and to serious work. 2. We have seen how to do this successfully in our student life. 3. There are three steps in accomplishing it: a. Understanding what it is - this the Antioch Weekend has helped you with. b. Deciding to do it - this is your part of the Antioch Weekend. c. Working at it - what you do tomorrow and this week tells whether the Antioch Weekend was a waste of time or not. B. God's part 1. It was God who called us to this, and He has offered us all we need to accomplish it. 2. He will work in us through His Spirit to accomplish it. 3. He has overcome all obstacles already (Jn. 16:33). 4. Romans 8:28-39.
THE COMMENTARY Working for Christ is the talk in the Antioch. Weekend which can have the most variation. It is the bridge between the weekend and the follow-up program, and therefore it should present a picture of the program on the campus which the students will return to. What is said in the talk, in other words, will depend on what is happening on the campus. The Antioch Weekend can be used as the introduction to a number of different programs. The different possibilities fall into roughly two groups. The first group is made up of programs which are designed primarily to foster individual growth in Christianity. The main goal for such program is forming strong Christian communities in which students can grow in their Christian lives. The main type of meetings which will be used for the follow-up will be growth groups (group reunions, scripture discussion-sharing groups, etc...). Apostolic action will be an important part of the lives of the student who take part in the follow-up program, but the program itself will not organize them for action. It will support them and deepen them in their Christian lives, but they will find their action in other program or working in their own situation independently of any action programs. The second group is made up of programs which are mainly action oriented. Built into the follow-up is method of action and action possibilities. The main type of meetings which will be used for follow-up will be action groups, groups which actually work together on apostolic action, cells of Christian action. The follow-up program must, of course, include elements of growth in Christian living and Christian community, but the emphasis will be on action. What is said in Working for Christ will depend on the approach taken to teh follow-up. On most campuses, the Antioch Weekend will probably be used as an introduction to programs of growth. Therefore, the outline has been written with this in mind. The emphasis is on friendship and help in individual growth. The weekend will be used sometimes, however, as an introduction to an action programs, and there is a appendix on how to modify the talk for this purpose. The emphasis for action group is on teamwork. I. INTRODUCTION (Mt. 25:14-30) "It is just like a man going abroad who called his household servants together before he went and handed his properly over to them to manage. He gave one five thousand dollars, another two thousand and another one thousand - according to their respective abilities. Then he went away. "The man who had received five thousand dollars went out at once and by doing business with this sum he made another five thousand. Similarly the man with two thousand dollars made another two thousand. But the man who had received one thousand dollars went off and dug a hole in the ground and did his master’s money. "Some years later the master of these servants arrived and went into the accounts with them. The one who had the five thousand dollars came and brought him an additional five thousand with the words, ‘You gave me five thousand dollars, sir; look, I’ve increased it by another five thousand. ‘Well done!’ said his master, ‘you’re a sound, reliable servant. You’ve been trustworthy over a few things, now I’m going to put you in charge of much more. Come in and share your master’s rejoicing.’ Then the servant who had received two thousand dollars came in and said, ‘You gave me two thousand dollars, sir; look, here’s two thousand more that I’ve managed to make by it.’ Well done!’ said his master. ‘you’re a sound, reliable servant. You’ve been trusworthy over a few things, now I’m going to put you in charge of many. Come in and share master’s pleasure.’ "Then the man who had received the one thousand dollars came in and said, ‘Sir, I always knew you were a hard man, reaping where yuo never sowed and collecting where you never laid out - so I was scared and I went off and hid your thousand dollars in the ground. Here is your money, intact.’ "‘You’re a wicked, lazy servant!’ his master told him. ‘You say you knew that I reap where I never sowed and collect where I never laid out? Then you ought to have put my money in the bank, and when I came I should at any rate have received what belongs to me with interest. Take his thousand dollars away from him and give it to the man who now has ten thousand! (For the man who has something will have more given to him and will have plenty. But as for the man who has nothing, even his nothing will be taken away.) And throw this useless servant into the darkness outside, where he can weep and wail over his stupidity." The opening section of the talk is a commentary on the above passage. The passage is sometimes called the parable of the talents, but that is a misleading name. A talent in the world of Christ was a sum of money. The parable, in other words, is not about making use of the gifts (graces) which God gives us. He gives us gifts so that we can make use of them, increase themm bring in fruit for God with them. And He is serious about expecting it. We cannot neglect what He has done for us and expect Him not to care about it. The parable is sobering, and the introduction is meant to be sobering. The talk is a talk on the hard facts of life. In it, the students will be told that they are going to have to do some thing if they expect to grow as Christians. Using the parable is a way of emphasizing the seriousness of what they are about. I. A. Through the Antioch Weekend God has given us a new wisdom and a new life. In the Antioch Weekend, God has given each students a gift, a sum of money. He has given him a new vision of Christianity and of his purpose in life. And He has given him a new life in Christ. Each person has been given something different, but all have been given something. With the gift goes a responsibility. It is something we will have to answer to God for. He has not just it to us for our own personal enjoyment. He has given it so that we can serve Him, so that we can help our brothers, so that we can built up the body of Christ in the world. Each person has been given gift. But everyone is expected to do something. I. B. We must be faithful (trustworthy, reliable) so our will bear fruit for God. Our lives as Christians should have results. This depends for our part on our trustworthiness, (our faithfulness, our reliability) to what God has called us to and what He has given us. "He who is trustworthy over a few things will be put in charge of many." As God finds us reliable He will begin to do more through us and give us more significant work to do in the building of His kingdom. God is just looking for people who will be reliable instruments. I. C. We know that the old environment and our weaknesses are still there. A question will be in the minds of most students: can this last? During the weekend I’ve felt really close to God and really dedicated to Him. But once I get out, what will happen? I’m still the same-with all my faults. The old rut is still there. My friends are not going to be welcoming me back with open arms, celebrating my new dedication to Christ. There will, however, be other students on the weekend who will just be assuming that everything will be different. Everything feels different now. They are riding high and expect to ride high forever. Both groups of students should realize that they can persevere and grow, but that they need to do something to insure their growth. I. D. What we need is a way to work at Christianity as students (on the picket fence.) The vision is great and the obstacle are formidable. But there is no need to be discouraged. All that is needed is an approach which will enable students to tackle the job a step at a time. As they keep at it, they will attain the vision and overcome the obstacles. The emphasis in this section should on the need for a way and on the fact that it must be a way fitted for their lives as students. The picket fence story: a little boy is told by his father that he has to paint the fence. When he goes out and looks at it, it stretches away as far as he can see. He goes back to his father in discouragement and says, "Dad, how can I ever paint that fence?" His father replies, "Well you paint the first picket. Then you paint the third picket. Then you paint the fourth picket...And when you get done painting all the pickets, you’ve painted the whole fence." (The story is best told with a Kentucky accent, naturally). II. WHAT WE NEED TO WORK FOR CHRIST. God is offering us the strength, guidance, and encouragement which the Holy Spirit gives, and we have to take advantage of His offer. This section is meant to start the students thinking about what they will need i order to succeed in what has been laid out before them. It should be clear to them that they need help. By the end of this section, it should also be clear that helps is available to them. The emphasis in this section should be on the Holy Spirit who strengthens, guides and encourages the Christian, and on friendship (which Christ and with other Christians) as the means of putting us in contact with the Holy Spirit. The approach in the section is to say: God is offering us the help we need. We have to take advantage of the offer by doing certain things which will enable us to receive what He is giving. Section III will describe the concrete things that can be done to achieve what Section II has explained. II. A. It is through friendship with Christ This section is mainly meants as a summary of the Growth talk so that the students can see the place of the first three sections of the Means of Growth card in the follow-up. This section should reemphasize that the relation with Christ is the most important thing in the life of the Christian. "I have loved you just as the Father has loved me. You must go on living in my love. If you keep my commandments you will live in my love just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and live in His love. I have told you this so that you can share my joy, and that your happiness may be complete...There is no greater love than this - that a man should lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I tell you to do. I shall not call you servants any longer, for a servant does not share his master’s confidence. No, I call you friends, now, because I have told you everything that I have heard from the Father." (Jn. 15:9-15). II. A. 1. In our friendship with Christ, the Holy Spirit is communicated to us. The Holy Spirit is given to us through Christ, through our belief in Him and our acceptance of Him as Lord. The closer, therefore, that we are to Christ, the more we can be filled with the Spirit. II. A. 2. For this we need a regular program of prayer, study and apostolic action. The speaker here should refer back to the wheel and to the Growth talk. He should reemphasize the need for a commitment to these things in order to make good use of the gift God has given. II. B. It also comes through friendship with other Christians. This is the main part of the second section of the talk, because it is introducing new materil. It is explaining the importance of friendship in Christ. It should emphasize to the students on the weekend that they need regular personal contact with other Christians to grow in their Christian lives. "Now I am giving you a new command - love one another. Just as I have loved you, you must love one another. This is how all men will know that you are my disciples, because you have such love for one another." (Jn. 13:34-35) II. B. 1. We need Christian friends with whom we can share and work at Christian life. The Holy Spirit comes to us through contact with other Christians just as He comes to us through direct contact with Christ, because Christians make up the body of Christ, and we receive the Holy Spirit in and through the full Christ, the body of Christ. "Where two or tree are gathered together in my name, there I am in the midst of them." (Mt. 18:15). The greatest danger to our Christian life today is being alone, feeling isolated as a Christian. An isolated Christian is a paralyzed Christian. For too many Christians today, Christianity is basically a private affair. They do not live it with their families and friends, and it is no wonder that they find it hard to live it alone. An isolated Christian is a paralyzed Christian. Christ Himself recognized this need. He emphasized the contact between His followers. He always sent His apostles out together, and in the Acts, the apostles always travelled and worked with others. A Christian friendship is not just a friendship with Christians. It is a friendship as Christians. It is a friendship with Christ as a bond, that grows around a love and concern for Christ and His work. II. B. 2. We need to talk about Christian life with Christian friends. A central part of friendship is communication together. Friendship grows by talking with others abouth the things which concern us. Christian friendship grows by talking with others about the things of Christ. This section should overcome the prejudice which many students will have against actuallly sharing in a personal way their Christian lives. II. B. 2. a. It is a human need to talk about things. What is not talked about is not real to us, not fully a part of our lives. What we cannot talk about does not ordinarily grow in our lives. It is hard to deal with. Therefore, we need to talk about our Christian life. II. B. 2. b. The most important things in our life are often not talked about. One of the scandals of our society is that the most important things in our lives are not talked about. Often what we need to talk about the most is the most hidden, and consequently, our lives are often wapred. In our society, we do not talk about religion openly, even though it should be natural to talk about it. It is, after all, the basis of life, and something that we have in common with other Christians. There are aspects The speaker should point out the students that the barrier they feel is just a cultural barrier. In many socities, religion is talked about freely and openly all the time. He could make the point out to them how, because we do not talk about Christianity in a personal way, it is harder for us to take it seriously, because we never know what it means to others and how they live it. He could use examples to show how to take them seriously (perhaps examples from the changes in him because of his new contact with the academic world) and how we get so few glimpses into what Christianity means to people in a personal way. We only hear it mentioned on formal occasion and in formal words, or sometimes in an academic, clinical way. II. B. 2. c. We need to share Christianity with others in a personal way. This is the conclusion of the whole section. We must share Christianity, not just discuss it in a detached way. II. B. 3. We need to work at Christianity with others (receiving stimulation and help.) Friendship also involves helping one another. Christian friends help one another to grow in their lives as Christians. The speaker could give an example or two here to make the point. "Help one another to stand firm in the faith every day, while it is still called ‘today’, and beware that one of you becomes deaf and blind to God through the delusive glamor of sin." (Heb. 3:13) II. B. 4. Therefore, we need to meet together regularly with other Christian to work at living with Christ. This is a transition point to the next section. It points out one practical implication of the previous section. The speaker should call the students’ attention to the fourth section of the Means card and to the fourth spoke on the wheel. "Let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near." III. THE FOLLOW-UP PROGRAM In this section the speaker should describe the follow-up program on his campus. He should describe it clearly enough so that the students making the weekend have a concrete idea of what is going on how they can get into it. He should describe it in an appealing way, showing its sucess and benifit and giving personal testimony of its value to himself. Most of the time here should be put into describing the small group meeting. The speaker should make clear what is involved in it, and how important a regular commitment to it is. At the end of the description, the students should realize that if they decide to come, it will mean deciding to be faithful to coming each week. The speaker can point out that the growth of each member of the group depends on the others and that those who do not come weaken the group. The speaker should be sure to include practical details (size of the group, length of time, place) and tell them how they can get into the groups. The speaker should also explain the rest of the follow-up program, showing how important the different things are. IV. HOW IT WILL BE DONE The final section is meant to emphasize the need for a commitment to the follow-up program and the fact that God will give us all the help we need to succeed. It is meant to strees that success is possible. IV. A. Our part. God will do everything in us, but that does not mean that we can be simply passive. He is moving us to make the decision which are necessary. IV. A. 1. Christianity is joy, singing, fun (like this weekend) but it is also a call to commitment to serious work. We can’t expect Christianity just to happen. It takes something from us. The meaning and direction of our lives are at stake, and we must take steps to see that it goes the right way, God’s way. IV. A. 2. We have seen how to do this successfully in our student life The method which has been presented is something which has been found effective. If the students follow it, it will guarantee that they will give Christ a return on what He has given. The speaker should emphasize that what he has described actually works and can work for those he is speaking to if they make a real commitment to it. IV. A. 3. There are three steps in accomplishing it. The purpose of this section is to clarify what is involved in commitment. IV. A. 3. a. Understanding what it is - this the Antioch Weekend has helped you with. The main purpose of the Antioch Weekend has been to make clear what is involved for a student in living a genuine Christian life in the world today. This is what the weekend can provide that would be hard for the student to get some other way. IV. A. 3. b. Deciding to do it - this is your part of the Antioch Weekend. Deciding is more than approving of what has been said, or wishing for it to happen. It is actually making the resolution to do it. Each student must make his own decisions for himself. No one can or will make it for him. This is his part of the Antioch Weekend. During the weekend he can actually decide to do what he sees Christ is calling him to. IV. A. 3. c. Working at it - what you do tommorow and this week tells whether the Antioch Weekend was a waste of time or not. The test of the whole Antioch Weekend is not whether the students feel better, or are more enthusiastic for Christianity, or smile more, but whether they actually do work for Christ in a new way. IV. B. God’s part. This section sehould assure the students that they do not have to do it alone. They are disposing of all the power in heaven and earth. There is no reason for not succeeding. IV. B. 1. It was God who called us to this, and He has offered us all we need to accomplish it. Living as a Christian was not something that we thought up and proposed to God. It is something that He wanted and called us to. It is His idea and He wants it done. Therefore, He is going to make it possible for us, if we are willing. We can count on Christ’s promise: "All power in heaven and on earth has been given to me. You, then , are to go and make disciples of all the nations and baptize them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Teach them to observe all that I have commanded you and, remember, I am with your always, even to the end of the world" (Mt. 28:18-20). He who has all power in heaven and on earth has promised to be with us as we work for Him. We dispose of unlimited resources. IV. B. 2. He will work in us through His Spirit to accomplish it God has given us His Spirit, and through the power provided by His Spirit, what we are called to can be done. God does not need us to be great or talented. If we are available to Him, He will work through us with His power. The speaker can make the point by retelling (in his own words) the story of Gideon. (Judges 6-7) He should make the following points: 1.) That when agreed to save Israel from the Midianites, He looked around for the most insignificant person He could find in all Israel, good ole Gideon (Jg. 6:15); That Gideon’s part was to do as the Lord told him (Jg. 6:27); 3) That God equipped Gideon wiht His Spirit to succeed (Jg. 6:34); 4) That ther be no mistake about who was doing the saving, God not only cut down the size of the army twice, but He also only let them defeat the Midianites by a trick, not by their own strength (Jg. 7). "For look at your own calling as Christians, my brothers. You don’t see among you many of the wise (according to this world’sjudgement) nor many of the ruling class, nor many from the noblest families. But God has chosen what the world calls follish to shame the wise; He has chosen what the world calls weak to shame the strong. He has chosen things of little strength and small repute, yes and even things which have no real existence to explode the pretension of the things that are that no man may boast in the presence of God. Yet, from this same God you have received your standing in Jesus Christ, and He has become for us the true wisdom, a matter in practice, of being made righteous and holy, in fact, of being redeemed. And this makes us see the truth of the scripture: ‘He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord." (I Cor. 1:26-31). "For it is God who is at work within you, giving you the will and the power to achieve His purpose." (Phil. 2:13). IV. B. 3. He has overcome all obstacles already (Jn. 16:33). Christ’s victory on the cross means something. It means that when we come across an obstcle, we know that Christ is in control. "I have told you all this so that you may find your peace in me. You will find throuble in the world - but never lose heart, I have conquered the world." IV. B. 4. Romans 8:28-39. The Philips translation is excellent for this passage. Omit verse 36. We know that to those who love God, who are called according to His plan, everything that happens fits into a pattern for good. God, in His foreknowledge, chosen them to bear the family likeness of His Son, that he might be the eldest of a family of many brothers. He chose them long ago; when the time came He called them, He made them righteous in His sight and then lifted them to the splendor of life as His own sons. In face of all this, what is there left to say? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not grudge His own Son but gave Him up for us all - can we not trust such a God to give us, with Him, everything else that we can need? Who would dare to accuse us, whom God has chosen? The judge Him self has declared us free from sin. Who is in a position to condemn? Only Christ, and Christ died for us, Christ rose for us, Christ reigns in power for us, Christ prays for us! Who can separate us from the love of Christ? Can trouble, pain or persecution? Can lack of clothes and food, danger to life and limb, the threat of force of arms?...No, in all these things we win an over whelming victory through Him who has proved His love for us. I have become absolutely convinced that neither death nor life, neither messenger of heaven not monarch of earth, neither what happens today nor what may happen tomorrow, neither a power from on high nor a power from below, nor anything else in God’s whole world has any power to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. APPENDIX (to be used when the main follow-up is action groups): When the Antioch Weekend is being used to feed into an action program, the Working for Christ talk should have a different focus. It still has to talk about friendship, sharing and commitment, but from the angle of working together in an apostolic team. What follows is suggestions for a way to alter the outline to make it more effective in describing an apostolic program centered around a small action cell. II. What we need to work for Christ A. We have to form a Christian team. 1. A team is a community with a mission, an apostolic community. 2. Christ worked with His apostles in a team and sent them out in teams. 3. The Church is meant to be a team and is becoming more of a worldwide apostolic team. 4. A Christian team works differently from other teams. a. It works by the power and guidance of the Holy Spirit. b. The Holy Spirit is present among Christian apostles when they are united in friendship with Christ and friendship with one another. B. Friendship with Christ. 1. In our friendship with Christ, the Holy Spirit is communicated to us. 2. For this, we need a regular program of prayer, study, and action (cf. "Growth" and the first three spokes of the wheel). C. Friendship with other Christians. 1. We need Christian friends with whom we can share and work at Christian life (through other Christians, the Holy Spirit is communicated). 2. We need to talk about Christian life with Christian friends. a. It is a human need to talk about things. b. The most important things in our life are often not talked about. c. We need to share Christianity with others in a personal way. 3. We need to work at Christianity and the apostolate together with others (receiving their encouragement and support). 4. Therefore, we need to meet regularly with other Christians to form a team to work for Christ (the fourth spoke on the wheel). The above revision of the outline presents besically the same material but it centers on the idea of the team. It emphasizes the need to form a truly Christian team in order to be effective apostolically. The model for the Christian team is Christ and His apostles. He formed them into a team, working together with them. They helped Him and also performed mission on their own. But even Christ’s resurrection, followed this principle by working in team (cf. the missionary journeys of St. Paul). The whole Church is fact, is meant to be a team. All Christians are meant to be working together to bring the world to Christ ("That whether I do come and see you, or merely here about you from a distance, I may know that you are standing fast in a united spirit, battling with a single mind for the faith of the gospel and not caring two straws for your enemies...You are given, in this battle, the privilege not merely of believing in Christ, but also of suffering for His sake. It is now your turn to take part in that battle you once saw me engaged in, and which, in point of fact, I am still figthing.") Phil. 1:27-30 A team is a group of co-workers, united in a single effort. But a Christian team is something different. Christians who work together must be friends in Christ. Therefore they too must share their Christian lives and work together to grow in union with Christ. This must be a part of any follow-up group. |
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