Your Mission Field is Here
http://becomingmissional.blogspot.com/
In 1965, if anyone would have told me that by the time the Century turned unborn babies would have been slaughtered by the millions, I would have denied the possibility. If I was warned that men and women would openly cohabit without marriage and would do so in a serial manner, I would have doubted the prophet's sanity. If I heard that the idea of being an unwed mother would appeal to millions of teen girls and adult women, I would have shaken my head in doubt. If a news magazine predicted that divorce would become so common that those who stayed married to the same person for many years were considered the "oddballs" or the "heroes" depending on the outlook of the observer I would have laughed and cancelled my subscription. And if I had been told that women would proudly dance around in television commercials in nothing but their underwear, I would have laughed at the possibility. I would have been wrong.
All these things and more have become not only common but expected and that sends a message to all of us who work for, live for, or volunteer for God's service. We have fallen down on the job.
In the 1950s and before, it might be that a denomination would decide to build a church in a city, town, village or suburb and would place a pastor there. That pastor might make a few calls or knock on a few doors and soon he would have a congregation of local folks because that's what people did .. they went to church.
In the 1960s, that began to change. People began to see church more as a diversion than as an obligation or sacred trust. If Sunday morning came and there was "nothing better" to do, people went to church and soon there were a lot of things "better" to do on Sunday morning. As parents began to find other things to do, their children followed in their footsteps ... AWAY from the church doors. And those of us who continued to go to church slept through the whole departure of hundreds of thousands of people.
Then, one day we woke up and realized that the pseudo-growth we were experiencing was actually the transferring in-and-out of the various churches in the area and not true growth.
Now we find ourselves puzzling out what happened and what must be done if we are to continue to be God's heart calling his creation to repentance. The answer, once we begin to think about it, is clear. We must view America as what it is, the second largest mission field in the world. And we must teach ourselves and our congregations to be missionaries to this field.
That starts by discipling our congregations, from the youngest to the oldest, in Bible first and then in doctrine and soul-winning so they can be confident in their ability to lead others to Christ. At the same time, we need to emphasize that on a mission field, souls are convinced by the lives they see the missionaries leading on a day-to-day basis, not by an evangelical message preached from a pulpit once a week.
The link I've posted above can provide information and programs to help with your Missional Living Discipleship programs.
In 1965, if anyone would have told me that by the time the Century turned unborn babies would have been slaughtered by the millions, I would have denied the possibility. If I was warned that men and women would openly cohabit without marriage and would do so in a serial manner, I would have doubted the prophet's sanity. If I heard that the idea of being an unwed mother would appeal to millions of teen girls and adult women, I would have shaken my head in doubt. If a news magazine predicted that divorce would become so common that those who stayed married to the same person for many years were considered the "oddballs" or the "heroes" depending on the outlook of the observer I would have laughed and cancelled my subscription. And if I had been told that women would proudly dance around in television commercials in nothing but their underwear, I would have laughed at the possibility. I would have been wrong.
All these things and more have become not only common but expected and that sends a message to all of us who work for, live for, or volunteer for God's service. We have fallen down on the job.
In the 1950s and before, it might be that a denomination would decide to build a church in a city, town, village or suburb and would place a pastor there. That pastor might make a few calls or knock on a few doors and soon he would have a congregation of local folks because that's what people did .. they went to church.
In the 1960s, that began to change. People began to see church more as a diversion than as an obligation or sacred trust. If Sunday morning came and there was "nothing better" to do, people went to church and soon there were a lot of things "better" to do on Sunday morning. As parents began to find other things to do, their children followed in their footsteps ... AWAY from the church doors. And those of us who continued to go to church slept through the whole departure of hundreds of thousands of people.
Then, one day we woke up and realized that the pseudo-growth we were experiencing was actually the transferring in-and-out of the various churches in the area and not true growth.
Now we find ourselves puzzling out what happened and what must be done if we are to continue to be God's heart calling his creation to repentance. The answer, once we begin to think about it, is clear. We must view America as what it is, the second largest mission field in the world. And we must teach ourselves and our congregations to be missionaries to this field.
That starts by discipling our congregations, from the youngest to the oldest, in Bible first and then in doctrine and soul-winning so they can be confident in their ability to lead others to Christ. At the same time, we need to emphasize that on a mission field, souls are convinced by the lives they see the missionaries leading on a day-to-day basis, not by an evangelical message preached from a pulpit once a week.
The link I've posted above can provide information and programs to help with your Missional Living Discipleship programs.