| SHINE brightly 2010-2011 Theme |
Each season SHINE brightly dedicates its pages to the exploration of an Annual Theme. The next theme is Feed the Fire! Below you will find a summary of the theme as well as needs for each issue.
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Summary of God is passionate about His people. His Word repeatedly describes His sincere desire to have an authentic, wholehearted relationship with us. His love is lavish (1 John 3:1), His faithfulness reaches to the skies (Psalm 36:5), His promises are sure (Psalm 145:13), His salvation through Jesus Christ is complete (1 Peter 3:18), and through His divine power He has given us all that is needed for life and godliness (2 Peter 1:3)! How should we respond to the One who gave His all for us? We must feed the fire by passionately pursuing God (Revelation 3:15-16), zealously serving Him (Romans 12:11), and boldly taking back territory for the King of kings (Revelation 17:14)! |
Theme Verses I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm – neither hot nor cold – I am about to spit you out of my mouth (Revelation 3:15-16). Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord (Romans 12:11). |
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Concept Our culture has embraced casual Christianity and lukewarm lifestyles as the acceptable norm. According to a 2009 Barna Group report, casual Christians are compromised of minimally active born again Christians who are ambivalent about their faith. Check out the Barna Group’s website to read more about this growing trend across North America. Now is the time to refute our culture’s messages of apathy and complacency! As followers of Jesus Christ we must move from apathy to action, passionately pursing God, passionately serving Him, and living a life that is defined by radical, wholehearted love and obedience to God alone. |
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Aims In Revelation 3:15-16, John is addressing the church at Laodicea. The church had been diagnosed as stagnant, complacent, and self-satisfied – rich in physical wealth, but impoverished by apathy and spiritual pride. Laodicea was located near two notable cities – Hierapolis, a site of hot, spa-like waters famous for their healing, medicinal purposes, and Colosse, known for its cold and pure drinking water. But the waters of Laodicea were stagnant. It had to be piped in and was always lukewarm, nauseous, and smelly. The waters were distasteful in every sense. Hot water was used for healing, cold water was refreshing and revitalizing, but lukewarm water wasn’t good for anything. John uses the imagery of these three types of water as a warning to the church. The word lukewarm went beyond describing a disgusting drink—it described a body of believers that had become nauseating to God. Self-sufficient, halfhearted, apathetic, and Christians by-name-only are repulsive to God and are ineffective in accomplishing His purposes. How would you describe your relationship with God? Lukewarm – sickening to God? Smoldering embers – the glowing remains of a dying fire? Or a spark or fire that is burning fiercely for God and His Kingdom work? To burn brightly for God’s glory and fame, we must let Christ fire up our faith and move us from apathy to responsibility and zealous action that takes back territory for the King of kings. |
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Take the SHINE brightly Challenge!
We will be devoting each issue to a specific topic. We are looking for fiction, non-fiction, and inspiring biographies that weave the theme into the narrowed topics. We look forward to your creativity!
| Issue: September 2010 Deadline: March 17, 2010 Topic: Feed the Fire This issue will be an introduction to the theme, Feed the Fire! Our main goals are for:
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Issue: October 2010 Deadline: May 6, 2010 Theme: Prayer is Activism In this issue we will take a look at prayer as activism. It is easy to forget this aspect of activism as it is involves stillness and quiet. However, prayer is a powerful way to bring about change. Lukewarm prayers happen when we know that prayer is important, but never get around to spending a large amount of time talking and listening to God. The opposite is true of those who feed the fire! People who are passionate about talking and listening to God work to give prayer first place in their lives! |
| Issue: November 2010 Deadline: June 15, 2010 Topic: Study God’s Word The November issue will highlight the importance of studying God’s Word. Lukewarm people know that Bible study is important, but rarely spend significant time personally reading and applying it to their lives. Passionate people spend time reading God’s Word every day. Sometimes they do it because they just can’t wait to see what God has to say to them that day. But other times, they really don’t feel like reading their Bibles, or feel like they don’t have time. When that happens, they read it anyway! They know that reading the Bible every day – whether they feel like it or not – is necessary for their walk with God. We hope to help girls understand that to walk with God and feed the fire you must know God’s Word. |
December 2010 Deadline: July 16, 2010 Topic: Serve Others During this month of presents and festivities, we want to first and foremost honor Christ’s birth. We will celebrate and explore how deeply Christ served us through his birth. We will also explore how girls can reach out of themselves and look like Christ by serving others during the Christmas season. We will highlight that we love and serve God by loving and serving people. We will consider that the pathway to joy is not in being served, but in serving. Finally we hope to facilitate a passionate attitude toward service. Lukewarm people serve others as long as it doesn’t take too much time, energy, or effort. They’ll do a service project because it makes them look good, but they don’t see service as a daily necessity. However, girls who Feed the Fire serve as if they are serving God. Girls who Feed the Fire serve with passion, zeal, and enthusiasm. |
| Issue: January 2011 Deadline: August 17, 2010 Topic: Interact with God’s People Girls will learn that interacting with God’s people feeds the fire in our hearts because we’re able to encourage one another to act justly, love mercy, and to walk humbly with God (Micah 6:8). Girls will learn the importance building friendships with other Jesus followers and gathering with God’s people at GEMS, at home, and at church. Girls will be motivated to be intentional about encouraging one another in the faith whenever they have opportunity to meet together. Lukewarm people attend church regularly and maybe even a Bible study or two. But, they go because it’s expected, not because of a desire to know God more. People who are passionate about God regularly meet with other Christians. Passionate people know how important it is to spend time with people who love Jesus. They know that other Christians can encourage them and help them to love Jesus even more. Passionate people also look forward to encouraging and helping other believers. |
Issue: February 2011 Deadline: September 7, 2010 Topic: Open up and Talk about God In this issue we strive to help girls understand that the more they grow in love with God, the more He gives them a heart for others. We hope to explore that our faith story is a bridge-builder. It provides a connecting point to open up and talk about God. We hope to motivate girls to feed the fire by opening up and talking about God, recognizing that loving God is contagious – they’ll want everyone else to know about Him and His love, too! Lukewarm people are tight-lipped when it comes to talking about God. They speak freely about Him in church, but have a lengthy list of excuses for not opening up about Him anywhere else. People who are passionate about God don’t want to talk about God in ways that are mean or that put others down. Instead, passionate people want to talk about how much they love God and talk about all the wonderful things He has done. |
| Issue: March 2011 Deadline: October 12, 2010 Topic: Notice God in the Ordinary The March issue will celebrate God in the ordinary. We want girls to learn that God is everywhere. Evidence of His presence and work can be seen in their lives, in creation, and throughout the world. We hope to help girls understand that to see God we must seek Him, intentionally being on watch for His works and wonders. We hope to motivate girls to feed the fire by daily noticing God in their everyday world. Lukewarm people focus on their life much more than they focus on God. They see everything from their own perspective instead of seeing God. People who are passionate about God look for Him everywhere they go—even in the most ordinary day. |
Issue: April 2011 Deadline: November 2, 2010 Topic: Off with the Old on with the New This issue will be devoted to exploring the deep internal changes that result out of passionate life. We hope to help girls identify things from the old self and understand the importance of permanently putting those things behind them. Likewise we hope to help girls identify things from the new self in Christ and learn to passionately put on His new way of life! We hope to motivate girls to feed the fire by completely taking off their old life and desiring God alone. Lukewarm people don’t care about their spiritual clothes. They wear some new self-clothes, but refuse to give up their comfy favorites from their old self. Passionate people allow nothing of their old life to remain, but instead only want God Himself. When things like greed or grudges pop back in their mind, they know they’re not helpless in the situation. They depend on Jesus’ power to help them keep off that old self and grow the new self of sharing and forgiveness. |
| Issue: Summer 2011 Deadline: December 14, 2010 Topic: Girls of Passion Our summer issue will be a celebration of living a life of Passion. Pray Constantly And Study God’s Word Serve others Interact with God’s people Open up and talk about God Notice God in the ordinary. We hope to help girls understand that when they choose to live lives of passion there will be a radical and distinct difference in their day-to-day choices. We hope to help girls learn that their love for God and service for others is a light shining in the darkness. Finally we hope to motivate girls to feed the fire today and always, making lifelong commitments to live out PASSION. |
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We read manuscripts each week. You can expect to hear from us in eight weeks.
