“God Making His Appeal Through Us”

Church family,

This past Sunday we sat under 2 Corinthians 5:17–21, where Paul reminds us that God has entrusted His people with the ministry of reconciliation. What a staggering thought: the God who spoke worlds into existence has chosen to speak His saving word through us.

Our calling is not vague. We are not a social club with religious flavour, nor a comfortable shelter from the storms of the world. We are Christ’s ambassadors. The King of kings has placed His terms of peace in our mouths and sent us into Burlington with the urgent plea: “Be reconciled to God.”

This means evangelism is not an optional program for the keen few. It is the lifeblood of a healthy church. A church that ceases to evangelise will soon cease to be a church at all. God has made us new creation people so that our neighbours might see and hear the message of reconciliation. He has reconciled us so that we, in turn, might call others home.

Too often, however, we shrink back. We fear awkwardness, we worship reputation, we make peace with silence. Yet Paul reminds us: the sufficiency for this mission is not in us, but in Christ. He became sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. If our record is hidden in His, then we have nothing to lose by opening our mouths.

Let me encourage you, then, to see Burlington not merely as the place you live, but as the field in which God has placed His ambassadors. Each conversation, each visit, each invitation is a divine appointment. The Appleby Street Festival, our GO Team on Friday nights, the missionaries we support and send, the quiet act of slipping a tract into a neighbour’s mailbox, these are not small. They are moments when heaven’s King is making His appeal through His people.

Families, begin at home. Let your table conversations, your prayers with your children, your repentance and forgiveness model the reconciling power of the gospel. From there, open your doors and your hearts. Invite neighbours. Share your story. Speak of Christ.

Church, this is who we are. Not merely the gathered, but the sent. Not merely receivers, but heralds. Let us not grow weary. The Lord has promised: your labour in Him is never in vain.

So stand firm in your post. Pray for boldness. Love your neighbours. And watch God reconcile sinners to Himself through the ordinary witness of a faithful church.