Innie or Outie...

Recently in Church we have been looking at missional communities and looking at a visual representation of them as triangles. Looking at how they might operate and using the term: "UP, IN and OUT."

The UP is obviously that groups are focused on and lead by Jesus and God's will. 

The OUT is about looking outside the christian community, 

The IN is about ministering into the community. 

I was talking this week with someone who went to a church where a similar triangle was used except there was something missing. There was UP and there was OUT but no mention of IN. Not that there was any suggestion that the church wasn't looking after its own but I guess looking at evangelism perhaps  it wasn't seen as significant to mention. 

I can sympathise with that. Trying to motivate a church to look OUT can be hard when people often attend because of the ministry IN. People can readily become consumers of Church - they want and come to expect an experience of worship, or preaching and teaching or friendship and fellowship that meets their needs, or maybe their wants, so that they enjoy the experience and feel fulfilled. We like to feel nurtured, loved and supported.

But maybe this misunderstands the purpose of IN. Just as in an earlier blog we looked at Matthew 28 and evangelism as making disciples rather than converts, once a person moves from OUT to IN that process of making a disciple doesn't stop. 

So in encouraging each other towards discipleship when we move towards missional communities what will the IN look like? Most of us don't like change, especially if it disrupts our somewhat cosy routines, but what positive moves can we take to make disciples of each other?

Evangelism- "Man of peace"

One of my favourite passages is Luke 10 which gives us a helpful hints on how to evangelise and it really takes the pressure off. Find some who;

- receives you in to their house

- feeds you

- listens to you

- you connect with (my paraphrase for your peace resting on you)

You don't even have to go door knocking, check out verse 7. Phew!

Mind you there is always the moment when you want to share the reason you follow Jesus and all that his death and resurrection mean to you but wonder what doing this is going to do to your relationship.

That moment of risk when they might not only reject Jesus but you as well. So we end up putting it off, "waiting for the right moment" and that "right moment" never seems to come.

Maybe there is never the right moment and we just have do what the sower did and scatter the seed praying that the time we have spent building friendship and relationship has ploughed the ground enough to make it good soil.

What Jesus does make real clear in Luke 10 is that we do not have to worry about people's response just "shake the dust off our feet" if they do not respond to Him.

How do I share? What do I share in that "moment" ? Jesus helps us in Luke 8:39 " Return to your own house, and tell what great things God has done for you!" We all have a story and yours is enough!