By Mike McDaniel
1. Reread the Bible with a missional hermeneutic.
When we open our Bibles, we should read it as a call from God to live out his mission to see His kingdom come and His will to be done.
When you read Scripture through that lens, it changes how you preach, how you do Bible studies, how you do local ministry, and it allows you to know when you have a win as a church.
Also, if the nations aren’t a part of your spiritual formation, then you need to re-examine the Great Commission.
2. Get out of the office and go learn to be with and to love the lost people in your community.
They are there. Go find them and love them.
3. Compile a community profile.
Research the demographics around your church’s footprint.
What’s the median age? Income? Racial profile? Where do people work? Where do people spend their discretionary income? What are the primary stressors?
Pretend you know nothing and begin discovering the community around your church.
4. Reconsider your church’s strategy.
Don’t let the programs of your church define your strategy.
Don’t be afraid to let some things go in order to start new things in light of your current mission field.
5. Mobilize people to the community.
A resurgent church measures success not by how many it gathers but how many it sends out.
When we start loving our community, warts and all, then start engaging our community, and we move out of the church building and into the community, that’s when things get exciting.
MIKE MCDANIEL is pastor of Grace Point in Northwest Arkansas. Read more about his church and their commitment to missions in a cover story from our Winter 2018 issue: “A Heart for the Nations.”
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