Seed Sowers: Updating Your Relationship Map

Hello my brother; hello my sister, my name is Dean Davis, and this is a word of encouragement for village church planters.

When I was a child in elementary school, my teacher taught us a song.  I still remember the words of that simple children’s chorus:

“Make new friends, but keep the old. One is silver and the other is gold.”

My teacher was trying to help us kids understand the great value of friendships. In our economy, gold and silver are very valuable.  In the same way, our friends, among all people, are of great worth.

As a Seed Sower, you know that since you have been born again and made new, you have a new identity. You have been given the privilege and the responsibility of serving as an ambassador for Christ.  You are a messenger for the King of kings. And as a Seed Sower you also know how to make a relationship map.

A relationship map is a simple diagram you draw on a piece of paper that has your name in a circle in the middle and lines going out to five other circles.  Each of the other circles has the name of a person you know who is far from God.  Still other lines connect those five people to their friends and family members who are also living lives far from God.

We use the relationship map as a prayer tool.  As we look at the names and connections represented on the relationship map we pray for the people represented in the diagram.  We pray for God to bless them and bring them peace.  We pray that God will give them grace to understand and accept the Good News of Jesus. We pray for the people they are connected too. We ask God to bless them as well and give them grace to respond in faith to the Gospel.

We also use the relationship map as a planning tool.  As we look at the names of people represented on the map who are connected to us by acquaintance or by friendship, we make plans to spend time with them so that at the right time we can share the Good News of Jesus with them.

Maybe you made a relationship map a few months ago.  Let me encourage you to update it.  Maybe some of the people on your map have been born again. Celebrate their new birth by writing “born again” next to their name inside their circle. Maybe you have made new friends that you want to share the Good News with.  Write their name in a circle on your map and draw lines to show who else they are connected to.  Make it your habit to update your relationship map as you pray.  The people you have named on your map are of great worth to God. Jesus shed his precious blood, something far more valuable than silver or gold, to redeem them.  You are a co-laborer with Christ.  Steward well the relationships he has entrusted to you.

This has been a word of encouragement for Village Church Planters.

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