Sharing the message of Christ really isn't the rocket
science that many make it out to be. On
my personal blog I wrote about 3 easy steps a missionary uses to penetrate the community, but in all fairness a church can use those same three simple
steps. ① Go to the community. ② Connect
with the community. ③ Share the
Gospel. Let’s take them one at a
time and suggest some strategies to make that happen.
Go to the community.
For a church this idea is simple.
Its’ address is sitting right in the middle of some sort of a community,
and in fact the vast majority of the membership of a healthy church lives
within a 5 mile radius. Therefore a
church getting into its’ particular community is not so much a chore.
Connect with the community. Again a simple idea for a
church. You see the church is a static
address in the community. Unless the
church is new then it is an established part of the community, and has been for
some time. It has been a fixture in
people’s minds a long time, and often the locals may even use the church as a
landmark when giving directions. So the
local church is a part of the community, but honestly this is a little
trickier. You see there is a catch. Being in the community and connecting with
the community are entirely different things.
Think about these questions: Does the local community believe that the
church is a viable part of the community?
Are the local merchants
appreciative of having your church as their neighbor? Does
the church make some sort of impact in its community for good? What comes to the minds of the locals first
when the name of the church is mentioned?
Do the local schools see the church as some sort of resource that they
can count upon? Or is the church just
largely ignored by most local residents?
Do the locals know that the
church even exists?
God placed your church in your community for a reason. Now what do you think that purpose is? The success or failure of your church depends
upon what it decides is that purpose.
The most basic question the real leadership must decide is this: Does this local church exist to reach its
community with the Gospel of Christ or for the comfort and security of its
members?
If the church has decided that its purpose is to reach the
locals one of the easiest first strategies to connect with its community is to
remove all the “No” signs. Ask
yourself, “What do the locals think when they see a ‘No trespassing’ sign on
the playground when they bring their little ones to use swing sets?” What
about the signs saying no skateboarding in the parking lot? Often churches are worried and rightfully so
about lawsuits, therefore someone suggests the placement of the “No Trespassing”
signs, but they never think about what that communicates to the local
population. The locals who once saw the
church as a safe place to play, suddenly feel unwanted. Yes,
it is possible that when someone falls and hurts themselves then the church
might be sued, but having well placed signs won’t stop a lawsuit. If the church is going to get sued then the
church is going to get sued. Your best
protection is to maintain the insurance policies that any public building needs
to have, and make sure to the best of your ability that the buildings and
grounds are in good condition and comply with all the local security
codes. If your church’s play ground is frequented by
local preschoolers then consider ministries tailored to families of
preschoolers. If your church has a “problem”
with skaters, consider a skater ministry.
Think outside the box. Look for
ways to connect to the locals. Make
your church central to their lives. Almost
always this can be done simply and cheaply, and provide your church members of
any age with an easy way to share the Gospel.
Can you imagine what a skater would think when some caring member of
your church shares a soft drink with him and learns his name? It won’t take long at all before a
relationship has been established, and the Gospel can be shared. And maybe lives can be changed.
Share the Gospel.
In order to penetrate the community with the saving message
of Jesus then everything that a church does should be to share the Gospel. If a playground is built, then ask how this
can be used to share the Gospel. If a
strategy cannot be developed then don’t build the playground – it is simply not
needed. If a church repaves a parking
lot then how can the parking lot be used to share the Gospel? Everything – everything – everything is for
this one purpose. There are literally
hundreds of good strategies that a church can use to share the Gospel, but the
best and least used method is to make doubly sure that its members know how to
share their testimony in an easy simple method and are actively doing so in the
community.
For more suggestions of strategies to penetrate your
community or for an evaluation of what your church is presently doing feel free
to contact strategiChurch ministries at (470) 328-1838 or at sduvall@strategichurch.net. Also, please visit our website at www.strategiChurch.net.
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