Outreach | Christian Ministry Training Blog

How Inclusive Are We?

Posted on November 29, 2010 by Ministry Tools Resource Center — 4 Comments ↓

Inclusive Church - Join Us

We like to think of our churches as inclusive, warm, loving, friendly places to be but not everyone feels that way. Not everyone feels like they belong in some churches.

Do we really accept and include people who are different from us as we would anyone else?

If a person who is single is in a group of married people, will they feel included?

If a person with a disability or special need of some sort is in a class, will they feel included?

If a person who is homeless walks into your worship service, will they feel included?

If a person with a different skin color or race visits, will they feel included?

It’s fairly easy to be warm, friendly, and accepting of those who are like us, but what about those who aren’t of the same race, marital, physical, mental, or economic status as us?

An Inclusive Church Follows Jesus’ Instruction

In Matthew 5:47 Jesus said, “And if you greet only your brothers, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that?” In the broad sense, we could say that brothers could be people united by some kind of common bond … those who are the “same” as us. In the very next verse, Jesus goes on to say “Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” Just prior to this, in verse 45, Jesus defined the perfect ways of the Father.

… that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.

He was talking about extending grace to those with moral differences. If we can’t extend ourselves to people with marital, physical, mental, economic, or racial differences, how will we be that way with “sinners”? Yet, if we are to emulate the Father, we must be gracious to ALL people.

Struggle to accept and include others in your circle?

Matthew 5:48 tells us how. We are to be perfect as the Father is perfect. The word “perfect” does not mean sinless, although our Father in heaven is indeed sinless. The original Greek word signifies something that is complete or mature, of full age. So, basically Jesus is saying, “Grow up!” The more we live in the fullness of who HE is, the more we will love people no matter how different they are from us. Sure, there might be some awkwardness at first because you don’t understand where they are coming from, but as you fulfill Jesus’ greatest commandments to love Him and to love people, you will extend yourself anyway. You might not always say or do the right things, but at least you will try rather than ignore them. You will take time to get to know and understand them. You will truly WANT TO BE inclusive.

If you struggle extending yourself to any of the people listed above, scroll back up and click on the links for resources that could help you better understand these differences. It’s a starting point.

I Know Some Servants … with the Spiritual Gift of Evangelism

Posted on May 7, 2010 by Ministry Tools Resource Center — 7 Comments ↓

The Spiritual Gift of Evangelism Defined

to be a messenger of the good news of the Gospel

Examples of Being Driven Due to Gifting

Servant #1: He was a Senior Pastor with gift of evangelism. Almost everything done in church was through grid of outreach. Bible classes primarily focused on how to witness. He wanted the worship service and small groups to be geared to seekers. He expected that everyone should have as much passion toward reaching the lost as he did. When they didn’t, he worked even harder at motivating people toward outreach.

Servant #2: She worked with youth, in nursing homes, and in her community all with the hopes of having opportunities to share the good news of Jesus Christ with those who didn’t know Him. She was always sensitive to the fact that there might be unbelievers in her midst.

Wherever they are, people with the gift of evangelism seem to have their spiritual radar up, eager to tell people about Jesus.

Lesson to be learned:

People tend to have more passion and invest more time into areas for which they are gifted. We need to guard against projecting our gifts onto others who are not gifted like we are, expecting them to react the same way we do, to have the same passion and time commitment we do, to make it as much of a priority, or to do so with as much ease.

Yet, those who are not so gifted must guard against using their lack of gifting as an excuse to neglect their responsibilities as believers.

Though not everyone has the spiritual gift of evangelism, all believers are responsible and privileged to share Jesus with others. Timothy did not appear to have the gift of evangelism but the Apostle Paul told him to nonetheless “do the work of an evangelist” (2 Tim. 4:5).

The same could be said for almost all of the gifts. For example … We are all to encourage one another, yet we do not all have the gift of exhortation. We are all to be kind and compassionate toward those in need, yet we do not all have the gift of mercy.

You might not be gifted in these ways but you are still to “do the work of an evangelist” … an encourager, a mercy-giver, etc. You just won’t tend to be as impassioned or spend as much time doing this kind of ministry as people who have those gifts. You might find a greater level of difficulty doing it. Sometimes you will simply need to step outside of your comfort zone through the power of the Lord.

Get this example of the spiritual gift of evangelism in use, along with 20 other gifts, in the Ministry Handbook: Spiritual Gifts in Use. In addition, the handbook suggests spiritual gifts most typically used in 16 broad ministry areas and 27 specific tasks that may need to be accomplished in most of those areas.

Looking for help with outreach? Click below:

Online Outreach Ministry Training on MinTools.com

Outreach Ministry Manual Download

More Outreach Ministry Resources

Outreach Ministry in the Church

Posted on June 11, 2009 by Ministry Tools Resource Center — 3 Comments ↓

Leaf through the pages of the New Testament and you must conclude that we, as a Church, are to be involved in outreach ministry. How are we doing?

Extremes When It Comes to Outreach Ministry in the Church

I have seen extremes when it come to outreach ministry in the church.

At one end are churches who put little or no emphasis on reaching the lost. These churches tend to be ingrown and usually stagnant or dying.

At the other end are churches whose sole focus is geared around reaching the lost. These churches are outward focused and often seem to be growing … at least numerically.

If we obey the Greatest Commandment to love the Lord and people (Matt. 22:37-40), how can we not reach out? On the other hand, isn’t there more to being the Church than outreach? Look at the early New Testament church in Acts 2:42-47 — “They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.” As you continue to read, you will not find that they devoted themselves to an outreach ministry. Perhaps that is because it was a given, as they were who they were supposed to be and did what they were supposed to do, they were that salt and light. After identifying their devotion to teaching, fellowship, prayer, benevolence, and worship, the passage concludes “And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.”

Both extremes can tend to put the spotlight on themselves, though often not intentionally or knowingly. Churches can slide into a spiritual pride.

“Look at us,” says the first church. “We know the Word and hold firm to it, not compromising or becoming like the world.”

“Look at us,” says the second church. “We are relevant and attractive to the world. We have a following.”

The Needed Focus for Outreach

Perhaps if we focused more on simply putting the spotlight on HIM and not on what we do, we could avoid the dangers of such extremes. When we find ourselves talking too much about how we are this way or that way, perhaps we need to stop and gain some perspective. Is it about us, or is it about Him? Are we are trying to generate our own light rather than reflect His light? How do we engage in outreach ministry without compromising and without putting too much of the spotlight on ourselves?

In trying to come up with the cover and emphasis for the Outreach Ministry Manual, it hit me — Outreach Ministry is about turning the Spotlight on Jesus.

As His ambassadors we work in cooperation with God by showcasing Him through our lives and through our words. We can use a variety of means but the objective should always remain the same … to help others see Him better, not us. –“He (Jesus) must increase, but I must decrease” (Jn. 3:30, KJV).