One urban pastor used the following procedure with new members. He asked, "How did you come to Christ?" It was not the church to which he wanted to connect them, as much as to Christ Himself. He wanted to hear their 'Jesus' story!
He asked a second questions, "What were the circumstances that led to your faith in Christ?" He wanted them to think through the events that brought them to Christ--to see His guiding and pervasive hand in their lives.
Third, he asked about their most enjoyable faith experiences through the years. The second and third questions were both calibrated toward mission. In the second, they often recalled personal pain and confusion before their decision to follow Christ. The pastor made the connection that such circumstances are common and often the gateway to faith. He made notes. He looked for opportunities to connect them to others with their own story. The third rehearsed meaningful faith and community experiences. Many recalled some outreach effort or community service involvement (social action, a mission trip, food drive, care of the homeless, etc.).
Last, he would ask, "If you could wave a wand and create a future for this church, what would it look like?" With that, they solidified their commitment to the congregation's future, and unlocked possibilities for the church in which they could be emotionally and spiritually invested. This pastor kept encouraging them to act on their experiences, their abilities and dreams. "The greatest tragedy to befall a person is to have sight but lack vision" (Helen Keller).
Becoming missional means we move beyond from prayer for our narrow slice of pain to prayer for the harvest. We move beyond seeing the church as a place of nurture for us and our families and see it as a place of nurture and healing for the city--for all people in the city, Christians and non-Christians. We cease to see the church as a kind of religious social club that is exclusive to its members and their guests, and we see it as a missionary enterprise engaging the neighbors and the city, at every angle possible. We release the pastor to be a holy man of God, a missionary trainer and mobilizer. We give him as a gift to the city.
We move from being members, to missionaries--in whatever sector of the culture God has planted us. We cease to be a 'come to' church, and we again embrace a 'go ye' Gospel. We shift our focus from the church, to the city. We become inclusive without compromise. We re-calibrate our resources until our budget becomes a theological statement about our mission. Everything we do is bathed in prayer. Everything we do is with the lost and the mission in view. Everything we do at the church must be designed to touch the city and the world.
Worldwide, Christian churches spend more than 85 percent of their resources on themselves. Less than 15 percent goes to outreach, evangelism or mission causes. In U.S., 95 percent goes to home-based ministry, 4.5 percent to cross-cultural efforts in already-reached people groups, and only 0.5 percent to reach the unreached. American evangelicals could provide all of the funds needed to plant a church in each of the 6,400 people groups by specifically earmarking only 0.2 percent of their income. Praying and giving are to be partners in missions. Christians collectively have an annual income of $12.3 trillion. But only $213 billion is given to Christian causes, 1.73 percent of total income. Of that, only $11.4 billion goes to foreign missionary causes. Of that money, 87 percent goes to sustain work among those who have already become Christians. Only 1 percent goes for work among an unreached people group, the utterly unevangelized.
The church has all the resources necessary to reach the unreached peoples of the earth, in fact, it has over 100 times those resources necessary to plant native churches among these people groups. It simply does not have the resolve. Leonard Ravenhill claimed that Christians spend more money on dog food than missions. Ravenhill declared:
Today the church in the city must proclaim and live the whole Gospel. It cannot consign concern for everyday human needs to government and expect to be relevant to people. It must provide for the care and nurture of its members, help feed the poor, heal the sick, counsel the distraught, care for the widows and orphans, and preach the Word with boldness. It must avoid the dichotomy that separates evangelism from social ministries and see both as ways to bear witness to the transforming power of the Gospel.
He asked a second questions, "What were the circumstances that led to your faith in Christ?" He wanted them to think through the events that brought them to Christ--to see His guiding and pervasive hand in their lives.
Third, he asked about their most enjoyable faith experiences through the years. The second and third questions were both calibrated toward mission. In the second, they often recalled personal pain and confusion before their decision to follow Christ. The pastor made the connection that such circumstances are common and often the gateway to faith. He made notes. He looked for opportunities to connect them to others with their own story. The third rehearsed meaningful faith and community experiences. Many recalled some outreach effort or community service involvement (social action, a mission trip, food drive, care of the homeless, etc.).
Last, he would ask, "If you could wave a wand and create a future for this church, what would it look like?" With that, they solidified their commitment to the congregation's future, and unlocked possibilities for the church in which they could be emotionally and spiritually invested. This pastor kept encouraging them to act on their experiences, their abilities and dreams. "The greatest tragedy to befall a person is to have sight but lack vision" (Helen Keller).
Becoming missional means we move beyond from prayer for our narrow slice of pain to prayer for the harvest. We move beyond seeing the church as a place of nurture for us and our families and see it as a place of nurture and healing for the city--for all people in the city, Christians and non-Christians. We cease to see the church as a kind of religious social club that is exclusive to its members and their guests, and we see it as a missionary enterprise engaging the neighbors and the city, at every angle possible. We release the pastor to be a holy man of God, a missionary trainer and mobilizer. We give him as a gift to the city.
We move from being members, to missionaries--in whatever sector of the culture God has planted us. We cease to be a 'come to' church, and we again embrace a 'go ye' Gospel. We shift our focus from the church, to the city. We become inclusive without compromise. We re-calibrate our resources until our budget becomes a theological statement about our mission. Everything we do is bathed in prayer. Everything we do is with the lost and the mission in view. Everything we do at the church must be designed to touch the city and the world.
Worldwide, Christian churches spend more than 85 percent of their resources on themselves. Less than 15 percent goes to outreach, evangelism or mission causes. In U.S., 95 percent goes to home-based ministry, 4.5 percent to cross-cultural efforts in already-reached people groups, and only 0.5 percent to reach the unreached. American evangelicals could provide all of the funds needed to plant a church in each of the 6,400 people groups by specifically earmarking only 0.2 percent of their income. Praying and giving are to be partners in missions. Christians collectively have an annual income of $12.3 trillion. But only $213 billion is given to Christian causes, 1.73 percent of total income. Of that, only $11.4 billion goes to foreign missionary causes. Of that money, 87 percent goes to sustain work among those who have already become Christians. Only 1 percent goes for work among an unreached people group, the utterly unevangelized.
The church has all the resources necessary to reach the unreached peoples of the earth, in fact, it has over 100 times those resources necessary to plant native churches among these people groups. It simply does not have the resolve. Leonard Ravenhill claimed that Christians spend more money on dog food than missions. Ravenhill declared:
Today the church in the city must proclaim and live the whole Gospel. It cannot consign concern for everyday human needs to government and expect to be relevant to people. It must provide for the care and nurture of its members, help feed the poor, heal the sick, counsel the distraught, care for the widows and orphans, and preach the Word with boldness. It must avoid the dichotomy that separates evangelism from social ministries and see both as ways to bear witness to the transforming power of the Gospel.
- This blog is an excerpt for the newly released The Praying Church Handbook - Volume IV - Intercessory Prayer and Mission. Purchase today>
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