The following is a guest post from my friend Larry Cheek.
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When was the last time your church started something new? Have you ever considered starting something new “outside” the four walls of the church?
Daylight savings time is an excellent time to start something new as an outreach of your church. May I suggest that you call it a Mission Outpost?
An ” outpost” is a military term which means “a position at some distance from the main force.” I added the word mission because we need to get beyond ourselves and often the internal conflict and challenges that keep us focused on ourselves.
Recently, Thom Rainer shared in his book, Who Moved My Pulpit…Leading Change in the Church, that “your church will not likely be ready for change until it experiences some action toward an outward focus.”
What keeps us from having an outward focus? Here are some examples that were listed in the survey Rainer conducted:
1. Fight over whether or not to build a children’s playground or use the land for a cemetery.
2. A church argument and vote to decide if a clock in the worship center should be removed.
3. A big church argument over the discovery that the church budget was off $0.10. Someone finally gave a dime to settle the issue.
4. Arguments over what type of green beans the church would serve.
5. A major conflict when the youth borrowed a Crockpot that had not been used in years from the kitchen.
So, my suggestion is rather than being focused on the inside, get focused on the outside. Look around your community. Is there a need that is going unmet? In a mobile home park? A subdivision nearby? A school? An apartment community?
Then, lead your church to move beyond the church property and start a mission outpost! Do you need help? We have resources and people to assist, just give us a call!
Blessings!
Dr. Larry Cheek
This article first appeared in the Stone Mountain Baptist Association newsletter April 2017.
Dr. Larry Cheek is the Associational Missionary for Stone Mountain Baptist Association of churches.
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