Wednesday, November 20, 2013

Helping Your Church Learn to Value the Unchurched Part 2

In my last blog I discussed some signs that your church may not value the unchurched. I would suggest that you look at those points with your team and discuss where you are at in a 1 to 10 scale. 
After that you can help move your church to a place to where you start valuing the unchurched more. Most Christ followers in our generation believe that the engine of the Church is to primarily help them get a "good feeling" or meet their needs. The engine of the Church is to help people far from God know Christ. 

Here are some things I have done to help myself and our tribe be more cogniscent about the unchurched. 

1. Pray with them about it: Engage your congregation in prayer for them. Make it a point to pray for those far from God in your community. We do this each week at our ACTIVATE service on Wednesdays. 

2. Post about it: Use Social Media to remind the church about the focus of those far from God. Tell personal stories and solicit prayer for those far from God. 

3. Preach on it: Take time to use the platform as a place to talk about being missional in focus. Show the people what shape your country is in and the need of people far from God having their lives changed by Christ. Share series, messages and stories of engaging those far from God in relationship. 

4. Proclaim it (do it): Model it as a leader. Make it your mission to live on mission. As you do it, share about it. Spark the fire in others by active passion in you. 

5. Be Patient with it: Be patient with the church getting it. Be patient with those who you are living on mission for. Church folks have been trained mentally to be self-focused and look out for what is best for them. Be patient as they learn the difference between "outreach" and living on mission. Your church can do outreach and the people are still never taught to live on mission. Be patient as you share this paradigm shift. Be patient as you build relationships with those far from God. It's a long, hard, arduous and tough mission. 

•How do you plan to use each one of these platforms to help your people learn to live on mission? 
•How do you plan to reshape the mindset of your church to value reaching those far from God?