In November we asked for your help on a “Sin Survey.” The survey came about because an organization that provides prefield training noticed a concerning commonly held belief.
In short, “Sin won’t be a problem for me/us on the field because God has called me/us.”
In the anonymous survey Global Trellis gathered your collective wisdom and put it into two resources: one for people new to the field and one for people who have been on the field for a while.
As a brief refresher, the survey involved 4 questions:
1—How long have you been on the field? Or how long were you on the field?
2—In what ways has being on the field had no impact on the ways you sin? (In other words, you are you wherever you are in the world?)
3—In what ways has being on the field “positively” impacted your sinning? (In other words, how has being on the field helped you to sin less?)
4—In what ways has being on the field “negatively” impacted your sinning? (In other words, how has being on the field contributed to you sinning more?)
Reading the responses was both encouraging and heart breaking. One of the clear results is that we are regular people in harder situations. While sexual sins were mentioned, want to know what was mentioned far more often? Pride.
The encouraging part of the survey was the reminder of how very much God loves us. How very much God loves you. Sin is real and the results can be far reaching, but God’s love is even farther reaching. As God reaches into the parts that seem too dark to share, too entrenched to hope for a change, or too common to need to take that seriously, he has life for you!
We’ve recently celebrated Easter. I love the refrain, “Christ has risen” and the response, “He has risen indeed!” The same refrain can be said of us because of the work of Christ and the Holy Spirit alive in us. “That which was stuck in sin has been brought to life!” . . . “It has been brought to life indeed!”
Can I get an amen?!
So, to those of you who took the survey, thank you! You might wondered what happened and if anything was done with your input.
We’ve created two workshops—for the newbies and old hands—for you to use in training, personal development, and member care.
For the newbies:
- Summary of the survey answers,
- A list of practical suggestions for your first year,
- 3 “simple” takeaways from the survey for first term,
- 3 questions to ask yourself during your first term (and download home art)
For the old hands:
- Summary and themes from the survey,
- How to handle the “respectable sins” many of us wrestle with,
- 3 “simple” takeaways from the survey,
- 3 questions to ask yourself when it comes to sin (and downloadable home art! Not what you think of with sin . . . but Jesus came to bring life! We’re so excited about the art!)
Resources for you:
Respectable Sins by Jerry Bridges (book)
Sin and Resiliency for the First Term (workshop)
Sin and Resiliency for the Long Haul (workshop)
Last week I was talking with a friend about these workshops and she said, “I’ll be interested to see how much actual interest people express in these resources because sin doesn’t sell. We know we’re sinners and Christ died for us, but we don’t really want to talk about it.”
I’m hoping that she’s wrong. That we do want to talk about sin because it’s when we don’t talk about it, downplay it, or have the grand plan of “hoping it’s not a problem” that sin’s roots can grow deep.
Spend time reflecting on the questions in the survey. Remember past sins that were a struggle and no longer have the grip they once did. Invest in your own soul with one of these resources.
Friend, hear this good news today: Jesus loves you. Jesus is at work in you. Your sin is serious. Jesus will help you with current sin and better yet, help you avoid future sin.