Shifting Our Thinking - Part 2

Last time I introduced the subject covered in the book Missional Renaissance by Reggie McNeal. I highlighted the 3 shifts that he says people and churches are going to make if they are going to join the missional movement that is spreading across the world. This time I want to introduce the first shift: from an internal to an external ministry focus.

For a few years now I have seen a trend developing among our local churches. Many churches seem to be almost completely focused on themselves, their ministries, their programs, their members, their budget, their calendar, etc. This seems natural if all you have known is a church life that has in inward focus, but seems rather awkward once your eyes are opened to those outside of the church. Sure, we schedule a few programs and activities to try to reach our communities (usually programs on our church campus), and we have weekly visitation or some other type of evangelism ministry, and some churches even go so far as to plan short-term mission projects or to collect food or shoes or toys for needy families. All of that is good, but sort of misses the point. According to Reggie, "Moving to an external focus pushes the church from doing missions as some second-mile project into being on mission as a way of life."

Another way of putting it is this, "People don't go to church; they are the church. They don't bring people to church; they bring the church to people....Jesus followers live the truth; they don't just study it." That is the first shift in a nutshell. We have to realize that the church is the people of God acting together as His body, bringing His message to the rest of the world. Somehow we have gotten confused and think of church as a destination, and some even think of it as the final destination. Reggie says that when people think of church as the destination it is "as weird as believing airports are more interesting than the destinations they serve."

So instead of telling people about our church and all the great activities that it provides, we can be free to tell people about our Jesus and the abundant life that He provides. Instead of giving huge chunks of our time to gathering all the salt and light together in one place, we can be free to spread salt and light all around our communities. Instead of relying on one person to plan a mission project, or an evangelism project, or a relief project so that others can participate, every person is released and encouraged to look for ways to be on mission everywhere they are already going.

Reggie does a great job of laying out specific ways that people and churches can shift from an internal to an external focus in their prayers, leadership, calendar, finances, facilities, and technology. I want to offer a few of my observations as well. Sunday mornings are one of the best opportunities for Jesus followers to interact with their neighborhood. I have done numerous prayer walks on Sunday mornings and I am always impressed by how many people are out mowing their lawns, tinkering on their cars, sprucing up their yards, kids playing, etc. Some of my best conversations with people who don't follow Jesus happen on Sunday mornings, when most Jesus followers leave their neighborhoods and are gathered together in buildings. Wouldn't it be great to have the freedom and encouragement to engage our neighbors some Sunday mornings? I've heard of some churches that designate one Sunday a month to community engagement (prayer walking and community service). They usually gather together later in the day to share stories of what God did earlier that day. Awesome!

Another observation is that many churches spend so much time, energy, and resources on a few programs designed for outreach, but they aren't willing to spend even half the time, energy, or resources on programs in their community. Why not adopt a school, or community center and plan activities in cooperation with community leaders at that school or community center? The churches that I know that are shifting to these types of practices are making huge strides in being Christ's ambassadors to their communities.

Is your church more like a country club or a mobile clinic? Is it more focused on making the gathered comfortable and entertained, or on equipping and sending people out to help the hurting? We need to gather together in order to send and be sent, not gathering just for the sake of gathering. That is the first shift.

May God guide your hearts and minds toward the people He loves, and may you be free to focus your gaze on the things that grab His attention.

Blessings,

Shiloh