Last week we were privileged to have Mez McConnell lead the ministry of our church holiday. Mez has quite a testimony to the power of the Gospel of Christ in his life. Mez came to the church last Christmas I think it was. He spoke at a meal on the Saturday and preached on the Sunday. I didn’t go to the meal so missed his testimony. On the holiday he spoke one evening specifically to the teenagers and so again I was unable to hear it first hand. If anyone does want to listen to his story, 9Marks ministry interviewed him earlier this month (October). It can be found via Niddrie Community Church where Mez is the Pastor. You can find the 9Marks interview here or on their church website here. He does have a marvellous testimony to the Grace of God. His thoughts on evangelism are just as interesting and challenging to us all.
Testimonies
I do struggle a little bit with testimonies but please do not misunderstand me – every testimony of someone moving by the Grace of God from darkness to light, from death to life is amazing. However, it did make me think (again) about why we tend to wheel out the ‘dramatic’ testimony rather than the less ‘entertaining’ type. This tendency can appear to make a persons (a sinner) testimony more important that the work of Christ that made it happen. That’s maybe a bit of an exaggeration but you get the point.
Being religious is a terrible thing and the deception upon the soul is extremely powerful. It’s perhaps because of the prevalence of the testimony meeting that so many self-righteous (most people) fail to see the need to be rescued from the wrath to come. A few more ordinary testimonies might make more people think. They don’t draw a crowd though do they.
Preaching of Christ
I find it very refreshing to hear how Mez believes in the Gospel only to do Gospel work. It’s all we have, all we have! we need nothing else but the preaching of Christ. The Gospel is the power of God.
On the holiday Mez gave three messages from 3 Psalms. I’ll try to type up my notes from the holiday to post..
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