the rhythms of the edge network 

1.Bless

the challenge

Each week we bless others in our Christian community and local neighbourhood in word, action or gift at least three times.

 

links to our identities and values

Identities a We are the family of God … united as brothers and sisters. a We are the light of God … we witness to Jesus’ liberating truth through our words and actions. a We are the servants of God. We follow Christ’s example of sacrificial love, finding freedom and joy in serving God and others.

Values a 1. The priority of the gospel: We are committed to filling ordinary life with gospel intentionality, pastoring one another with the gospel and sharing the gospel with unbelievers. We challenge one another to be sacrificial, servant-hearted … a 4. Sharing our lives as extended family: We are committed to sharing our lives in Christian community, caring for one another … a 6. Working for city renewal: We are committed to working for neighbourhood and city renewal – redressing injustice, pursuing reconciliation and welcoming the marginalized … We encourage one another to glorify God and serve others through the workplace, business, community projects, government and artistic endeavour.

biblical foundations

Blessing
a person means doing them good or bringing them joy. Blessing God
means praising him. Genesis 12:1-3. God promises to bless the
offspring of Abraham. God blesses us through the story of salvation,
making us his people and promising a new creation (Ephesians 1:3).
God also promises to bless all nations through the offspring of
Abraham. We who have received blessing from God are to bless other
people. We have been saved to do good works (Ephesians 2:8-10; 1
Peter 2:9-12). Jesus says to those who are blessed by God: ‘Let
your good deeds shine out for all to see, so that everyone will
praise your heavenly Father.’ (Matthew 5:1-16) We even bless
those who make life difficult for us (Luke 6:28; Romans 12:14; 1
Corinthians 4:12; 1 Peter 3:9).

Bible stories

Genesis
12 – God promises to bless the nations through Abram (=
Abraham), but Abram brings a curse on Egypt. a
Genesis 39-41 – Joseph blesses his owner, his jailor, Pharaoh
and all Egypt. a Ruth 1-4 – a
foreign widow blesses her mother-in-law and finds blessing among
God’s people. a 2 Kings 5 –
an Israelite slave girl blesses an enemy army commander. a
Jeremiah 29 – Jeremiah writes a letter to Jewish exiles in
Babylon, telling them to bless the city. a
Mark 1:29-45; 6:30-44 – Jesus has compassion on
those in need. a Acts 9:36-41 –
Peter raises a woman from the dead who was much loved for the kind
things she did for others.

putting  it into practice

a Ask people to think
of some of the ways in which they have been blessed by God. a
Ask them to think of ways in which they have been blessed by other
people.

a Ask people to think
of some of the ways in which they could bless one another. a
Their family and friends. a Their
neighbourhood.

a Ask people to think
of ways they as individuals could bless other people. a
Ask people to think of ways we as a community could bless
other people.

a Ask people to think
of ways we can bless in word? a In
action? a In gift?

a Give everyone £1
which they must use to bless someone else. (See Matthew 25:14-30.)

a Show the movie Pay
It Forward or an extract from it. Set a ‘pay it forward’
challenge.

a Get people to draw
from a hat a need in the community or the name of a person which they
must try to do something about in the coming week. (E.g. help on old
person, improve the environment, bless another ethnic group.)