We all have a network of people that God sovereignly gave us where we live, work, learn and/or play. Jesus gave us these relationships – to reach out to them with a Prayer-Care-Share lifestyle.
Every week each participant in your groups will be encouraged to think and pray about people in their OIKOS.
An oikos is one’s circle of influence (network) composed of family, friends, acquaintances, colleagues & neighbors. Oikos is the Greek word meaning “family, home or extended household.” In relation to our mission, our oikos are a group of people with whom we share life. This is the most natural & common environment for evangelism to occur. This network is where God places us. God wants to use us among them.
11 From Troas we put out to sea and sailed straight for Samothrace, and the next day we went on to Neapolis.12 From there we traveled to Philippi, a Roman colony and the leading city of that district of Macedonia. And we stayed there several days.
13 On the Sabbath we went outside the city gate to the river, where we expected to find a place of prayer. We sat down and began to speak to the women who had gathered there.14 One of those listening was a woman from the city of Thyatira named Lydia, a dealer in purple cloth. She was a worshiper of God. The Lord opened her heart to respond to Paul’s message.15 When she and the members of her household were baptized, she invited us to her home. “If you consider me a believer in the Lord,” she said, “come and stay at my house.” And she persuaded us.
25 About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them.26 Suddenly there was such a violent earthquake that the foundations of the prison were shaken. At once all the prison doors flew open, and everyone’s chains came loose.27 The jailer woke up, and when he saw the prison doors open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself because he thought the prisoners had escaped.28 But Paul shouted, “Don’t harm yourself! We are all here!”
29 The jailer called for lights, rushed in and fell trembling before Paul and Silas.30 He then brought them out and asked, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”
31 They replied, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved—you and your household.”32 Then they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all the others in his house.33 At that hour of the night the jailer took them and washed their wounds; then immediately he and all his household were baptized.34 The jailer brought them into his house and set a meal before them; he was filled with joy because he had come to believe in God—he and his whole household.
In verses 11-15, Paul shares the gospel and Lydia comes to Christ. In v.15 we see that Paul is baptizing Lydia’s entire household. This same thing happened with the jailer in Acts 16:25-34.
25 About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them.26 Suddenly there was such a violent earthquake that the foundations of the prison were shaken. At once all the prison doors flew open, and everyone’s chains came loose.27 The jailer woke up, and when he saw the prison doors open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself because he thought the prisoners had escaped.28 But Paul shouted, “Don’t harm yourself! We are all here!”
29 The jailer called for lights, rushed in and fell trembling before Paul and Silas.30 He then brought them out and asked, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”
31 They replied, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved—you and your household.”32 Then they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all the others in his house.33 At that hour of the night the jailer took them and washed their wounds; then immediately he and all his household were baptized.34 The jailer brought them into his house and set a meal before them; he was filled with joy because he had come to believe in God—he and his whole household.
We move from the scene of Paul talking with the jailer in v.31 to him sharing with the entire household in v.32, and then in v.33 he is baptizing all of them.
Oikos evangelism is God’s natural bridge for sharing His supernatural message. We refer to this as “the natural mode of evangelism.” It focuses on relationships as the means of sharing the good news. In the basic model, non-believers see lives transformed which, in turn, is supported by their testimony, and be used to convince others to follow Christ.
Watch a video about OIKOS. (4:00 min.)
By the end of Session 4, our hope is that each of us will write down on our Oikos Network List the names of 5-10 people who, in our opinion, are far from God (non-churched/non-Christian). These people are friends, neighbors, workmates, relatives, clerks in stores, etc. If you don’t know their name, write a description of them like “the lady who I buy vegetables from.”
Obedience reflects faith, hope and love...obedience to Christ manifests our faith, our hope & our love. Obedience makes us aware of the presence of faith, hope & love - shows the beauty of - the strength and character of our faith, our hope and our love.
4 and who through the Spirit of holiness was appointed the Son of God in power by his resurrection from the dead: Jesus Christ our Lord.5 Through him we received grace and apostleship to call all the Gentiles to the obedience that comes from faith for his name’s sake.6 And you also are among those Gentiles who are called to belong to Jesus Christ.
26 but now revealed and made known through the prophetic writings by the command of the eternal God, so that all the Gentiles might come to the obedience that comes from faith—27 to the only wise God be glory forever through Jesus Christ! Amen.
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