{"id":4736,"date":"2019-05-21T08:52:52","date_gmt":"2019-05-21T13:52:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/iphc.org\/discipleship\/?p=4736"},"modified":"2019-05-13T10:57:41","modified_gmt":"2019-05-13T15:57:41","slug":"strong-in-fellowship-reflections-from-a-military-chaplain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/iphc.org\/discipleship\/2019\/05\/21\/strong-in-fellowship-reflections-from-a-military-chaplain\/","title":{"rendered":"Strong in Fellowship: Reflections from a Military Chaplain"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cGuard This Man\u201d (1 Kings 20:39) is the Men\u2019s Ministries theme for 2019.\u00a0 The \u201cman\u201d we are to guard, for the sake of application, is one\u2019s self. Philippians 4:7 states, \u201cAbove all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.\u201d1 <\/sup>\u00a0\u00a0This verse echoes that whatever is in the heart comes out.\u00a0 It is essential that we pour \u201clife\u201d into our hearts.<\/p>\n

As an Army Chaplain, I have been trained to guard not only myself but to guard others.\u00a0 One must be able to have a \u201cstrong fellowship\u201d with the people you are with in order to trust and guard one another.\u00a0 One might ask the question, \u201cHow do you do that?\u201d\u00a0 There are 3 things one can do to build strong fellowship:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. \u00a0By breaking bread with one another.\u00a0 In many countries, breaking bread is a sign of coming into a covenant with someone.\u00a0 When you come into a covenant, you become joined with one another\u2013 you would lay down your life for that person. This is echoed in John 15:13, \u201cGreater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.\u201d1<\/li>\n
  2. Go where people are.\u00a0 We have to step out of our comfort zones and go where people are.\u00a0 I remember as a chaplain, I couldn\u2019t just sit in my office and expect people to come to me.\u00a0 I would be waiting and waiting if I did that.\u00a0 As I began to go to their work sites, I was able to talk and fellowship with them.\u00a0 I always brought something with me, for example, water or a snack.\u00a0 This always broke the ice, and they would start sharing with me almost anything about their life.\u00a0 This opened the door to ministry.<\/li>\n
  3. Be available.\u00a0 So many times I have heard stories of people saying they can\u2019t connect with their pastor.\u00a0 I always made it a priority to give out my cell phone number and email and told the soldiers they could call or email anytime.\u00a0 I meant what I said, and I emphasized that over and over.\u00a0 Several soldiers have called me late at night because of the problems they were facing.\u00a0 This created \u201cstrong fellowship.\u201d\u00a0 If you are not available, people will feel like you do not care.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    The emphasis of these 3 points is to fellowship.\u00a0 We should, as Christ followers, get outside the walls of the church and connect with the lost.\u00a0\u00a0 The only way to do this is to \u201cJust Do It.\u201d\u00a0 I believe Nike had it right with that slogan.\u00a0 So, let\u2019s get out there and make an impact for The Kingdom.<\/p>\n

    1<\/sup>Holy Bible, <\/em>American Standard Version, Lockman Foundation, 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995.<\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n

    Matthew S. Brown serves as the Senior Pastor of River Church, an IPHC member church in New Horizons Ministries.\u00a0 Matthew serves as the 316 Quarter Master Italian Chaplain for the Army Reserves.\u00a0 He is the newest member of the General Men\u2019s Ministries Board.\u00a0 Matthew, his wife Bonnie, and their six children make their home in Ada, Oklahoma.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"excerpt","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":4737,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","episode_type":"","audio_file":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","filesize_raw":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,15],"tags":[1031,1034,1051,1080,19,18,1078,1079,1045],"class_list":{"0":"post-4736","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-general","8":"category-mens-ministries","9":"tag-discipleship-ministries","10":"tag-iphc-discipleship","11":"tag-iphc-discipleship-ministries","12":"tag-iphc-men","13":"tag-men","14":"tag-mens-ministries-2","15":"tag-military","16":"tag-militarychaplain","17":"tag-strong-in-fellowship","18":"entry"},"title_es":"Fuerte en la comuni\u00f3n: reflexiones de un capell\u00e1n militar","content_es":""Guarda a este hombre" (1 Reyes 20:39) es el tema de los Ministerios de Hombres para 2019. El "hombre" que debemos proteger, por el bien de la aplicaci\u00f3n, es uno mismo. Filipenses 4: 7 dice: "Por encima de todo, cuida tu coraz\u00f3n, porque todo lo que haces fluye de \u00e9l". 1<\/sup> Este vers\u00edculo hace eco de que todo lo que est\u00e1 en el coraz\u00f3n sale. Es esencial que vertamos \u201cvida\u201d en nuestros corazones. Como capell\u00e1n del ej\u00e9rcito, he sido entrenado para protegerme no solo a m\u00ed mismo, sino a otros. Uno debe poder tener una \u201ccomuni\u00f3n fuerte\u201d con las personas con las que est\u00e1 para poder confiar y protegerse mutuamente. Uno podr\u00eda hacer la pregunta, "\u00bfC\u00f3mo se hace eso?" Hay 3 cosas que uno puede hacer para construir una comuni\u00f3n s\u00f3lida:

    1. Rompiendo el pan el uno con el otro. En muchos pa\u00edses, romper el pan es una se\u00f1al de entrar en un pacto con alguien. Cuando entras en un pacto, te unes entre s\u00ed, dar\u00edas tu vida por esa persona. Esto se refleja en Juan 15:13: "Nadie tiene mayor amor que este, que uno ponga su vida por sus amigos" 1. <\/li>
    2. Ve donde est\u00e1 la gente. Tenemos que salir de nuestras zonas de confort e ir donde las personas est\u00e1n. Recuerdo que, como capell\u00e1n, no pod\u00eda simplemente sentarme en mi oficina y esperar que la gente viniera a m\u00ed. Estar\u00eda esperando y esperando si hiciera eso. Cuando comenc\u00e9 a ir a sus sitios de trabajo, pude hablar y tener comuni\u00f3n con ellos. Siempre he tra\u00eddo algo conmigo, por ejemplo, agua o un bocadillo. Esto siempre romp\u00eda el hielo y comenzaban a compartir conmigo casi cualquier cosa sobre su vida. Esto abri\u00f3 la puerta al ministerio. <\/li>
    3. Estar disponible. Muchas veces he escuchado historias de personas que dicen que no pueden conectarse con su pastor. Siempre tuve la prioridad de dar mi n\u00famero de tel\u00e9fono celular y correo electr\u00f3nico y les dije a los soldados que pod\u00edan llamar o enviar correos electr\u00f3nicos en cualquier momento. Quise decir lo que dije, y lo enfatic\u00e9 una y otra vez. Varios soldados me han llamado tarde por la noche debido a los problemas que enfrentaban. Esto cre\u00f3 una "comunidad fuerte". Si no est\u00e1 disponible, la gente sentir\u00e1 que no le importa. <\/li><\/ol> El \u00e9nfasis de estos 3 puntos es la comuni\u00f3n. Debemos, como seguidores de Cristo, salir de los muros de la iglesia y conectarnos con los perdidos. La \u00fanica manera de hacer esto es "Solo hazlo". Creo que Nike lo hizo bien con ese eslogan. Entonces, salgamos y hagamos un impacto para El Reino. 1<\/sup> Santa Biblia,<\/em> Versi\u00f3n Est\u00e1ndar Americana, Fundaci\u00f3n Lockman, 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995. Matthew S. Brown es el pastor principal de la Iglesia River, una iglesia miembro de la IPHC en Nueva York. Ministerios Horizontes. Matthew se desempe\u00f1a como capell\u00e1n italiano de 316 trimestres para las reservas del ej\u00e9rcito. Es el miembro m\u00e1s nuevo de la Junta General de Ministerios de Hombres. Matthew, su esposa Bonnie y sus seis hijos viven en Ada, Oklahoma.<\/em>","author_name":"Matthew S. Brown","jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/iphc.org\/discipleship\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2019\/05\/Article-Graphic.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4T9u2-1eo","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/iphc.org\/discipleship\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4736","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/iphc.org\/discipleship\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/iphc.org\/discipleship\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iphc.org\/discipleship\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/19"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iphc.org\/discipleship\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4736"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/iphc.org\/discipleship\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4736\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iphc.org\/discipleship\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4737"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/iphc.org\/discipleship\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4736"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iphc.org\/discipleship\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4736"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iphc.org\/discipleship\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4736"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}