SIGNS OF FITNESS #3 - COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT
"Community engagement forces the church to interact with a world unlike itself. The first-century church was in a very unwelcoming culture. Yet the church thrived. What the church today must not do is allow the culture to dumb down its message. And the church must still move into society. The church must infiltrate culture as yeast does dough. This is the kingdom of God. . . . (Lue 13:20-21). Through community engagement the church becomes like yeast. When the church embeds itself into the community in which it is located, transformation begins. When the church inserts itself in culture as Christ's representatives, things begin to change.
Churches must move into the culture in which they reside. The culture is exemplified by the community in which a church body finds itself. In the four spheres of evangelism mentioned earlier, this would be Judea. Judea is the geographical area stretching from a one-fourth to a five-mile radius around a church's meeting location. A fit church will engage the community in this geographic area.
Community engagement involves three basic approaches: attractional, missional, or connectional. These three approaches can be summed up in the following phrases: come and see (attractional); go and be (missional); go and bring (connectional). " (McIntosh and Stevenson, "Building the Body", Baker Books, 2018, p53-54)
Tips: A church that engages community would have:
- Defined where our Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the ends of the world are;
- Regular meetings with community leaders to find out how we can be of help to them;
- Encourage church members to be involved in community activities like coaching youth sports, joining service clubs, being active in forums, etc;
- Studied the needs of the community;
- Their pastors serving a day a week outside the church;
- Engaged in service evangelism;
- Community recognizing our church for our contributions.
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