Lesson4-Day 5 A Winsome Dynamic

I looked up the word winsome at dictionary.com and found this word history that gives some insight.

Word History: Winsome people easily win friends, so it is not surprising that winsome and win have a common root. Their shared element win- comes from the Indo-European root *wen-, meaning “to desire, strive for,” and has a number of descendants in the Germanic languages. One was the prehistoric Germanic noun *wini- meaning “friend” (literally, “one who desires or loves” someone else), which became wine in Old English and is preserved in such names as Winfred, “friend of peace,” and Edwin, “friend of (family) possessions.” A different form of the root with a different suffix became Old English wynn, “pleasure, joy,” preserved in winsome. Finally, the verb win itself is from this root; its meaning is an extension of the sense “to strive for,” namely, “to strive for with success, be victorious.” Outside of the Germanic branch of Indo-European, we see the root, for example, in Latin venus or Venus “love, the goddess of love,” and the verb venerre, “to worship,” the source of English venerate.

Spirit filled churches do not exist for themselves. They exist to advance Christ's reign. The four devotions of the Acts church created a winsome dynamic. We are told they "enjoyed the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved." (Acts 2:47)

The Acts church's devotion, showing of genuine love to one another and the joy that they had were reasons the church was attactive and contagious to unbelievers.

If a church is going to be "winsome" here are some characteristics they must show:

• A sense of awe.
• Powerful answer to prayer.
• A united and loving fellowship.
• Unselfish generosity.
• Intimate worship.
• Glad and sincere hearts.
• A spirit of God-directed praise.
• A favorable reputation in the community.

How do you think we at Faith Community measures up to these characteristics?