Okay, so you all probably either have figured out or are figuring out the difference between being missional and mission. Mission is about what you do – on a more practical level, it is tied to the projects we do as a community group. Being missional, is about how we live at an intentional level. The word I like to use is incarnational – Jesus was God incarnate! We live God out-loud in front of the people we know, we are living the incarnate life of Christ. That’s missional!
So the basis of this post is to give you some ideas of living missional lives, specifically for the week that your group has committed to do this.
Step one – PRAY – We all know lots of people, and could easily get overwhelmed with ministering to all the people we know, this is why prayer is important, because though none of us have time to serve every person we have ever met (neither did Jesus by the way, so don’t feel guilty), we do have time to PRAY for them. As you PRAY ask God to begin to put those connections in your lives, and awaken a hunger in you for their souls.
Step two – SEE – begin to SEE those relationships in your life as more than casual acquaintances and people you just happen to know, begin to SEE those relationships as people that God may have put in your life for a reason!
Step three – REALIZE – begin to REALIZE that you may not be the one that sees them come to salvation. The reason I say this first, is simply because it is easy to get burned out when you pour so much into someone’s life and never see them come to know Christ. REALIZE, it is not your job to ‘save’ them, God does that. However, you should REALIZE that you might be the one God chooses to use to lead them to salvation. If you don’t know what to do, put them in contact with someone in your group who does, like the missional liaison, facilitator, or host, or one of the pastors at ANC. If you want some easy-to-read material on this check out, The Coffee House Gospel or Just Walk Across the Room.
Step four – LIVE – begin to LIVE life with people! You don’t have to share the gospel with them the first time you meet them, become their friend, people are much more willing to give you their ear, once you have won their heart. LIVE in such a way people know you care. On a practical level, there are many things you can do: begin to frequent the same 3-4 restaurants in a month and asking for the same server so you can get to know them; go to the same Coffee Shop and get in line with the same barista; start getting to know people at your places of hobby – the point here is simply to LIVE with eyes wide open!
Step five – ENGAGE – This is specifically relevant to your missional week in your community group. When we say ENGAGE we don’t mean be ready with the Roman’s road, the five pillars to eternity, the road map to God, we mean be sensitive to how the spirit is leading you and intentionally ENGAGE those in your neighborhood, place of employment, your place of hobby, your third place, etc to the point they begin to ask you questions about your life and faith. How do you do this:
1) Throw a block party – NOT under the churches name – but rather team up with some people in your neighborhood. Sarah and I have done this one time, and it served as a great entry point into the lives of those people who live where we do. We had no other person from the church attend, it was just us and our neighbors. We are going to throw another one in the fall, and we are going to make it a house-2-house block party. In otherwords, we are going to get four houses involved – house number 1 will be where the main dishes are; house number 2 will be where the wine, cheese, and fruit are; house number 3 will be the desert house; and house 4 will be the beer and snacks house. Another idea is Football, UFC, Movie Night, etc, etc…just a few examples
2) From the block party, you will have met some people that will seem drawn to you. But what if that doesn’t happen, if you are being friendly, it will – trust me. In fact, we didn’t have to pursue anyone, our calendar filled up with people pursuing us. We started going out with people, but limited it to once a week.
3) From those initial outings begin to have those who want to continue the relationship over to your house for dinners, something happens when you move the relationship from the restaurant to the living room…
4) From here Spiritual conversations will have began, invite them to serve with you at your community groups mission project, invite them to church, invite them to a community group pot-luck, etc, etc…lasting results come from lasting relationships.
5) The last point is a rule – BE NORMAL!
Below are some other ideas:
- wash someone’s car, mow their grass when their not home, take a baked treat to a person who just moved into the neighborhood…
- organize neighbors to fix up the home of a local widow/widower or single mom
- baby-sit the children of a single-parent
- cook a meal and drop it off for a single parent
- leave an extra big tip for the server at the restaurants you frequent, then write a note on the back of the receipt stating what a good job he/she did.
- If you see someone dining alone, at one of the restaurants you frequent, tell the server you will pay for their ticket or at least pay for their dessert.
- if your work has a coffee area, buy some flavored creamers and leave them by the coffee pot
- if you own your own business, begin giving a percentage of your proceeds to a special cause served by the church
- tell your boss that you think he/she does a good job. Tell your employees or co-workers how much you appreciate their work
- send someone a cared with a handwritten note of general encouragement
- send a care package of treats and encouraging notes to a college student you know
- baby-sit for parents (especially single-parents) who cannot get babysitters or do not have extended family in the area to help with their children.
