How Do You Know?
How outreach-oriented is your church?
By this, I am not asking how much your church financially gives to missions and outreach efforts. I am asking how effectively and intentionally you and your church family are relationally, emotionally, physically, and spiritually engaging with people in your community.
As I met with our sister church leaders in Ukraine, I could see that the war has jolted this entire church movement out of evangelistic passivity and onto the frontlines of proactive community engagement.
Odessa Oblast Regional Presbyter, Oleksandr Dimov, says, “If we don’t address the felt needs of people in this hard hour, then after this war, our Ukrainian people will decide that they do not need our churches.”
Does your community need your church? How do you know? How does your community know they need you?
The truth is that the war has broken the stronghold of internally focused Ukrainian church traditions: exclusive traditions of how the church thinks about outreach, evangelism, the Great Commission, and community engagement. Because internally focused traditions and the controlling voices that pressed to maintain such traditions have been forced into irrelevancy, the Ukrainian church has come alive in ways she could never have imagined.
Without any theological conflict whatsoever, they are intensely reaching the people of their communities both for the glory of God and the good of man. As a result, conversion growth is off the charts and baptismal waters are constantly stirring. Through hardship and sacrifice, the Ukrainian Church is experiencing exponential growth and aiming to see 1,000 new churches started out of a sheer passion for the lost and a love for their communities. Believe me when I say we certainly want in on this!
I recall inviting a former Sioux Falls Mayor to address our district at a past Cultivate Conference. He laid out a very tangible challenge: “We have churches on every corner, and, if the businesses of Sioux Falls were operated the way most American churches are, they would quickly go out of business!” He further clarified that this is because church buildings largely remain empty and unused for five or six days per week, only to be utilized for a few hours on Sundays. He then spelled out a myriad of opportunities churches have to serve their community throughout the week. Unused church buildings may not be true of every congregation, but this charge certainly holds water. The challenge was very appropriate.
To the contrary, I am currently watching volunteers in Ukrainian churches receive guests 24/7, even if only to come in and charge their cell phones. Many Ukrainians have nowhere to stay as they flee from war zones. However, the Baptist churches now have a national reputation for being a safe place for people to stay as they move from town to town. Based on the Ukrainian Baptist’s robust love for people, I was told that one Ukrainian mayor recently and unbelievably said, “I only know of one church, and that is the Baptist Church.”
In reflection on the Ukrainian church’s robust and evangelistic community engagement here are a few questions:
What conversion growth is your church experiencing?
How is your congregation engaging the felt needs of people and families in your community?
What is your plan for engaging those far from Christ in your community?
If you don’t have satisfactory answers to these questions, then please don’t hesitate to reach out to the district office at info@convergeheartland.org. Let’s talk about this and chart a plan of action that will help your congregation fulfill the Great Commission in your own community.