This is part 3 of a four-part series on local outreach. We’re sharing the ten “plumb lines” that guide our local outreach philosophy, as explained by Matt Mig, our Pastor of Local Outreach. Be sure to also read Part 1, Part 2, and Part 4.
6. Discipleship (and Development) Happens In Relationship.
Yesterday we shared that the value of a local outreach program is directly related to the quality of relationships that result from it. In part that’s because we recognize that people grow as disciples in community with other followers of God. It’s also because social and economic development most effectively happens in the context of a relationship as well. Experts often talk about development as the process of leading an individual down a path that starts with a need for emergency assistance and ends with stability. The path looks something like this:
Emergency Relief » Rehabilitation » Development » Self-Sufficiency
You could think of a similar path of discipleship for someone who’s currently far from God:
Spiritual Apathy » Seeking God » Growing Disciple » Disciple-Making
This illustration is not perfect, but the two paths lead a person to become who God created them to be—a fruitful disciple, both materially and spiritually. The point of a local outreach ministry is to walk with a person down both paths at the same time. Historically, the church has done one or the other, leading us to either powerless social justice or ineffective evangelism. But a gospel-centered local outreach ministry does both, leading down the first path by the demonstration of the gospel and down the second path through the proclamation of it. And walking down either path with someone requires a relationship.
Now, we should never assume that everyone in material need is far from God, but we can expect that God might use their situation to grow them as a disciple. Our posture should be to invite them to join us as we also grow as disciples. That’s why we don’t create special discipleship ministries for “them.” Our goal is not to create special small groups of homeless people, but to see those who were homeless in small groups with us.
7. The Best Ideas Come From The Front Lines.
If loving our neighbor requires actually knowing our neighbors, it follows that the best ideas for new ministry initiatives or resources come from the “front lines,” from those members of our church who have ongoing relationships with folks we hope to serve. Through these deep relationships—developed over months and years of working together—these “champions” are able to balance their new ideas with the wisdom that God gives to accompany his calling on their life.
Listening to our champions also allows our ministries to pursue appropriate contextualization of the gospel to a community, group, or even individual. As we grow to know neighbors who are homeless or incarcerated, we no longer define them by statistical trends; instead we see in each person a mixture of needs, assets, spiritual understanding, and resistance to truth. While that increases the complexity of our ministry, the good news is that, as Tim Keller says, “The gospel has supernatural versatility to address the particular hopes, fears, and idols of every culture and every person.”
Front-line champions at the Summit have immersed themselves in the lives, hopes, and beliefs of the people we hope to serve. They have a unique ability to help us understand what we should or should not do to lead a person down the path to fruitfulness materially and eternally. Undoubtedly, even these folks will get it wrong at times, but they have already built a foundation of trust that covers misunderstandings.
8. Our Resources Follow Our People.
If sending people into overlooked areas of our community is a strategic priority for local outreach ministry, it makes sense that the resources at our church should facilitate that goal. At the Summit, we don’t view ourselves as a grant-making organization: our resources are mobilization resources. We want to position the assets at our disposal—our staff time, our communication channels, our facility space, and our money—to make our members as effective and fruitful in going to our city. This demonstrates the truth about God: he didn’t cut us a check to cover our sin debt, but sent his son to bear our burdens as his own.
In other words, we want to avoid the temptation to fund someone else to do ministry for us. It’s easy to fall into this trap, because there are so many areas of ministry in our city for which we feel unprepared and unqualified. And we are. But our response should be to get trained, not to shrink back or leave the responsibility to “the experts.” If we were to suddenly be given $5 million to hire top experts to eradicate homelessness in RDU over the next two years, and yet no Summit members were involved, our homeless ministry would have failed. Our mission has never been solely to eliminate material need, but to demonstrate the love and character of God. Grant-making organizations play a crucial role in our community, but the church’s unique role is to be the hands and feet of Jesus.
That’s why the first question we’ll ask an organization or ministry is about the involvement of Summit folks in their work. The sequence is important: our resources follow our people, they generally don’t precede them. But it’s also why we try to be generous to our partner organizations who create the opportunities and resources for us to serve our community. With our preferences and schedules, we aren’t always the easiest folks to coordinate, and these local organizations are key partners helping us reach out to our city.
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