Our Missions Strategy: 2

This is part 2 in a working discussion I am having with myself about our church's mission philosohpy. Feel free to interject your thoughts into my stream of consciousness. In part 2 I want to discuss a unity between 3 things which are often separated in a church.)

The second peg of our missions strategy is this: We see a unity in community ministry, church planting, and international missions. Here's why:

• In order to really transform an area for the Gospel, you need to minister to both body and soul. The preached message of the Gospel is paramount, but to make the Gospel message intelligible to our audience we must demonstrate God's love in action. Plus, if we love our neighbors we won't sit by when there is a need we can meet. Therefore, we try to teach members that their "secular jobs" are vehicles for blessing the community. We also try to lead every small group to be meaningful involved in blessing the community in some way.
• The most effective way to transform an area is to plant a church, because a church is the best at doing both of the above. Plant a church and teach the new community to preach the word and care for the physical needs of the city.This was consistently Paul's strategy in Acts: go to the most strategic cities in the world and plant churches there.
• When you plant a church, the church should establish itself, immediately, as a transforming, caring force in the community. They can do that by caring for the city's poor and teaching its members they should seek to bless the city. Rather than simply meeting as a core group for a year in a Starbucks or a school cafeteria, they should go in serving the community.
• What we do in strategic overseas cities is really an extension of what we do here in our own cities. We will seek to meet the needs of the unchurched city in say, Indonesia, in the same way we have met our own city's needs. (This means, btw, that some of the most needed overseas church planters are not 'professional ministers,' but people with a genuine, marketable skill that they can use to bless the community.
  

Comments

[W]

I agree. We should change our slogan to Love God/Love Each Other/Change Our World

[Yo]

The world has enough professional ministers. What the world needs is more followers of Christ that are willing to practice their professions in dark places and share their faith with someone that wants to hear it -- as any believer anywhere would. That dark place may be in the next area code or it may be several time zones away.

Without exception, the lost need Christ. However, the lost often need a cup of cold water, a roof over their head, trauma counseling, or even a seminar on business and leadership skills. By providing those, we reflect His love, provide an powerful example that contradicts centuries of false teaching about what followers of Christ are all about, and earn the forum with which to show and share what He's done in our lives (and be heard).

As someone who has no formal ministry training but decades of experience in the corporate world, I can attest to the truth of your words, JD. Years of training in the business world equipped me to organize, manage, lead, and create. With those skills, I can bless my community with marketable skills. Years of experiencing Christ's love in my life has equipped me to love my neighbor and bear witness to His life-changing love. With that, I can bear witness to the gospel...wherever He leads me to live and work.

[emily]

what about areas around the world that do not have structures like churches, they don't meet together, ever. What then, are churches always the answer?