Lead More Like Jesus—Introduction: Three services for the Pentecost season in response to the Great Commission

By Allen Likkel, Lynn Likkel

This is part of the worship series
"Lead More Like Jesus: Three Services for the Pentecost Season"

Series Introduction
Week 1 | Week 2 | Week 3

Introduction

It may seem strange for someone whose ministry career has focused on new-church development and seeker-sensitive worship to be following the lectionary. But I have found the discipline of following the series of lessons from the Old and New Testaments an ongoing discovery of the rich relevance of the Bible for contemporary hearers.

Following the Christian year and celebrating the great festival events of Christ's birth, life, death, and resurrection serve as an opportunity to tell God's good news—the gospel—in story, song, and art. Following the lectionary also connects people who are new to the church to the essential traditions of their new family in Christ. The ongoing challenge is to tell that story in creative and contemporary ways.

This three-part series follows the gospel of Matthew for the third, fourth, and fifth Sundays after Pentecost, as scheduled in the Revised Common Lectionary Year A. On Pentecost, the church received the Great Commission, to "go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you." In these earlier passages from Matthew, we see how Jesus prepared his disciples to be harvesters. In the words of Leighton Ford, we need to learn how to be "leading more like Jesus, to lead more to Jesus."

Visuals

The bulletin covers for this series were designed by Scott Holladay. They are available for download below and can be used with the following attribution: Scott Holladay © 1996 ReformedWorship.org CC BY-NC-SA 4.0.

Service Outline

Week 1	The Look of Love	Matthew 9:35–10:8
Week 2	Facing and Conquering Fears	Matthew 10:24–33
Week 3	An Authentic Difference	Matthew 10:34–42