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Missional Ministry
If you plan to reach the next generation for Christ, don’t ask them to believe what you believe, instead invite them to do what you do.
Beliefs are a dime a dozen. This generation has seen every variety of spiritual beliefs you could imagine (and many you couldn’t imagine).
They’re extremely turned off by people who don’t live what they claim to believe.
This generation doesn’t want to hear about what you believe. They want to see your beliefs in actions. And if you’re daring enough to live like Jesus, you’ll have a shot at reaching the next generation.
- If your version of Christianity is limited to what you’re against, you’ll not likely reach many.
- If, on the other hand, your faith is so alive you must feed the hungry, clothe the naked, heal the sick, and love the outcasts—all in the name of Christ, the King, you will attract interest.
As strange as it might sound, if you truly live a missional and Spirit filled life, the young generation might join you and do what you do, then one day believe what you believe.
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I’m a 26 year old Pastor from the UK and that is spot on, as always, Craig
This makes me so happy!! You’re so right on this one!
Great post Craig! I’m really enjoying this week.
I want to restate 2 sentences as I feel they are VERY IMPORTANT.
“If you plan to reach the next generation for Christ, don’t ask them to believe what you believe, instead invite them to do what you do.” - Craig
“As strange as it might sound, if you truly live a missional and Spirit filled life, the young generation might join you and do what you do, then one day believe what you believe.” - Craig
Do and I will do it with you… thats exactly what we want and need from the older generation. I would go so far as to state that they/we will follow you. This is the very reason I began following yourself (Craig) and many of the other pastors @ LC.tv. You put your faith into practice and in so doing allowed the conversation to flow (which we discussed yesterday).
If you do this, conversation will flow naturally with anyone and everyone no matter their view on spirituality and faith.
In a nutshell, us young guys are sick of hearing about your faith and what you believe. We want to see your faith… We want to see you get your hands dirty.
This is the reason why I believe the 20+ churches in my home town are small. To many churches are focused on getting the people to come rather than focusing on getting the church to go out…
LC.tv in my eyes is not a big church either… rather you guys are a small church in comparison to the world. You (Craig) and all of us have a big job ahead of us…
God help us…
Let’s get our hands dirty whilst starting the conversation… :)
Craig do you think that 5 years from now, people exploring Christianity will enter the church through missional opportunities rather than our weekend experiences? It would seem that right now people are still entering at a weekend but also want to see or be part of our faith in action - kind of a “both and”.
Craig, my boss, who is practically an atheist, told me 3 weeks ago: “What I like of the idea that you have for this H3O Church, is that, even I could be a part of it, even though I don’t believe what you believe… and, in the future, I could get to believe what you believe.”
That shocked me! The fact that an atheist told me that!
I don’t remember where i read that “the next generation will ALWAYS go further than the present generation, for better or for worst”. If we keep on this empty religious attitude, the next generation will only go further with that attitude, but if we live the Life (not christian and secular life, but one Life)… my God! The next generation will go further!
Now… that’s easier to write than to do. But who said that following Jesus and showing Him to this world would be easy? At least, He didn’t.
:)
Peace.
Amen….Amen …Amen! Makes me think… What are we passing on to the next generation…Programs, Activities or Life Change?
If we don’t SHOW them how to reach out and love others then they may never see beyond themselves and experience God’s plan in ACTION…..We ARE passing on a spiritual torch and we need to realize that we ARE being watched and mimicked. What will we pass on?
Great post. For example, I think that this is why Francis Chan is resonating so loud with all generations. People read “Crazy Love” and then see him living it out for real in obedience to what God has called him to do. The response of people, especially young people is amazing. I think it is because he lives it even more extreme than he talks it or writes it. It is amazing to me. May I be like that–in life more than words.
This makes me think about the scripture:
“show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by what I do.”–James 2:18
The next generation needs to both hear AND see. Amen to the fact that we ought to genuinely live out our convictions before the world. Above that, though, faith ultimately comes to people by hearing the word of God.
I like how one preacher put it in perspective, and I paraphrase: “It’s not your life that saves someone. It’s His death”.
Craig, I just want to say thanks for including the Holy Spirit!!! It is not in our own effort but it is an overflow of what HE is doing in our life. Without being Spirit filled we’d be the united way or any other organization. Why is there such a struggle between doing & being? Shouldn’t it ALWAYS be both. Thanks for preaching truth & encouraging others to take the next step!!
Brandon asked, “do you think that 5 years from now, people exploring Christianity will enter the church through missional opportunities rather than our weekend experiences?”
I see this happening now. What is also very interesting to me is that I see many great people who are not Christians who are joining our missional efforts. We have lots of nonbelievers that attend church and serve the community with us. One by one, we are seeing many of them come to Christ.
Missional Ministry - LifeChurch.tv : swerve…
Bookmarked your post over at Blog Bookmarker.com!…
We are revamping our Community Groups (small groups) this year after getting inspired from what National Community Church is doing. We are taking the cue from them that our groups needs to be #1 - relational and #2 - missional. This post is going to appear in our group leader training. Thank you SO much for posting it!
This is so true of my generation (18-34s). I read a section from Tom Davis’ book Red Letters the other day that captures this perfectly: “We do not think ourselves into new ways of living, we live ourselves in new ways of thinking.”
Craig - in response to your post about seeing that happen now. We are seeing people now connect through our community groups (small groups) BEFORE they ever set foot in our church building.
This would be GREAT to explore this thought in a topic all it’s own…connecting people through mission first….maybe give some ideas how we (the church) can accomplish this.
Really we need to jumpstart our thinking about how church should happen (invite to sunday gathering…push to become member…etc. etc.). This model needs to get chucked!
I found out that a guy who has come to our church a few times was a guitar player in a band 15 years ago. I asked him to come to our worship band practice to just hang out with us to see what we do and he agreed. It awakened the passion for guitar again and now, he goes home after every practice to download the songs, because he knew virtually nothing about worship music. We simply invited him into our lives to see what we do at practice. We talk a lot, laugh a lot and just hang out playing music. He sees that we are just normal people that serve an awesome God. I believe these types of things are what ministry is all about.
At the previous church I served, there was a long list of rules to follow in order to play music. The end result was no musicians and people who think you are religious snobs because you insist on certain rules. Now that I am planting a church, I decided we will take peole as they are and lead them to a new life. The end result in this case was an awesome guitar player who loves Connection Church and brings his family every week to service.
The light of the world, you are! That they may see your good works and glorify God because of them. Jesus brought peopleto the table through His works and then He explained what it meant. The great example!
not only is missional ministry deeply desired by the next generation to come to believe what we believe but i believe it’s what the next generation of The Church needs. In this current generation and in previous ones, The Church, by and large, is/was fairly “navel gazing” and cared more about non-essential “beliefs” than the essential ones. If The Church were to really embrace missional ministry, it would get us out of our theories and feelings and into the world that Christ came and died for. For example, what’s the point in something like music theory if you never sing or play an instrument?
[...] Craig on doing rather than just believing and how it impacts others (missional [...]
[...] been doing a series of blogs on how to reach the next generation. Today’s blog was on being a Mission Ministry. He said: “If you plan to reach the next generation for Christ, don’t ask them to believe [...]
I believe this style of ministry goes beyond any generational gap. Christianity is an active lifestyle not a wall to hide behind.
Similarly,I am not interested in what LifeChurch says, I am interested in what LifeChurch does.
Your first sentence should be tattooed on every pastor/minister/followers hands.
11 Craig to Brandon Duff: Brandon asked, “do you think that 5 years from now, people exploring Christianity will enter the church through missional opportunities rather than our weekend experiences?”
“I see this happening now. What is also very interesting to me is that I see many great people who are not Christians who are joining our missional efforts. We have lots of nonbelievers that attend church and serve the community with us. One by one, we are seeing many of them come to Christ.”
Interesting enough. This is being tried here in Murfreesboro, TN. As I’ve been networking with other churches I came upon New Vision Baptist, who in their college ministry have been using LifeChurch resources. One thing Robbie there, is starting, is a program (can’t remember what its called), that will set up missional opportunities to do good in the community, etc, in order to bring believers and nonbelievers together, to do life.
Sorry for kind of pushing back a little here….and please don’t get me wrong I agree that A dead faith that is “navelly” focused is gross!! But I grew up in a home where it was all about serving & doing for others but not out of our love for HIM & so when people would get close it was as if the “fruit” was rotten. I love what Craig said, “on the other hand, your faith is so ALIVE you MUST feed the hungry, clothe the naked, heal the sick, and love the outcasts—all in the name of Christ, the King, you will attract interest.”
I am at a church where it is all about serving but I wonder if Christ is being glorified because there some grossness. They want to be known as servers…serving others towards Jesus, but then when those come in they get a confusing message.
LifeChurch is so refreshing because it seems no matter what they are doing, they are loving & always pointing towards Christ. Never shoving it down anyones throat. But when they do decide to enter the doors, there is no confusion it is all about Jesus! I love that!!!!!
oopps I hit the wrong button but the other thing that Craig said that excites me was, “if you truly live a missional and Spirit filled LIFE, the young generation might join you and do what you do, then one day believe what you believe.” It is a missional LIFE & a spirit filled Life. It is about our LIFE. Not just a program or signing people up to serve it is a way of lIFE I just loved that.
To steal the words of Matt… “Spot on” (I love the accent coming through…lol).
I think right now we are missional AND attractional, but I agree the trend is moving toward missional. We must begin to move ministry toward missional. The attractional tools (weekend worship experiences done in excellence) serve to enhance the mission but should be the mission. To “go into all the world” is the mission of God we are to take on, which means we are called to jump in the stream and pull people out rather than shout from the edges. I’ve heard from many different places, God never told the world to go to church, he told the church to go to the world.
Correction: “…serve to enhance the mission but SHOULDN’T be the mission”
Hey Craig,
I just preached on this very issue, using Matthew 25:31-46.
Only if you have the time, willingness, or desire - maybe during a drive or work out? - you can check it out at http://athenschristian.net/Sermons/2009Sermons/February82009/tabid/1372/Default.aspx.
P.S. - I’m three chapters into your book, “Confessions” - thanks!
An addition to # 22:
The organization I found is called WinJustice.
Check it out at: winjustice.org
[...] Craig Groeschel created an interesting post today on Missional Ministry - LifeChurch.tv : swerveHere’s a short outlineyouversion.com. YouVersion.com. A free bonline Bible/b empowering community and collaboration. Visit YouVersion.com. swerve articles. comments Comments RSS Feed posts Comments RSS Feed. taylor on post One Prayer 2009: Pick Your Look b…/b [...]
IMO the best post I’ve ever read from you Craig. What you believe is never as important as the way you believe it. Believing without living, is simply agreeing.
thanks man.
Got to this late Craig. I heard Mark Batterson at theSticks last November say it and I know I have read it in his book: “the church has become known more for what we are against than what we are for.” He is right and that is in agreement with your first thought. Instead of ranting and raving about what we are against, we ought to be presenting the positive truth of Jesus and how He transforms a life. You are also right in that this current generation wants to “see” our faith. I seem to remember someone named James something like that in his book of the Bible. Good post again!
A huge AMEN to the original post and to all the comments :)
I am 26 barely!! I am happy and excited to see that people are not just noticing the problem of hypocrasy but doing something about it by nicely “shutting up” and letting their actions YELL for them. I believe we can be contagious my only fear is that I dont let my life scream enough. However, God is still working on me and i hope to be a flame setting ablaze this generation and the ones before me and under me.
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Craig, Your post is absolutely correct and judging by the comments here you’ve really struck a chord with a generation of people desperate for more than a sermon. Thanks for leading the way.
[...] know where to begin. I think I’ll take a shotgun approach: (1) WATCH this, (2) READ this, (3) BUY [...]
Craig! Thanks for this, brother! Reminds me of the 7 Days of Servolution thing that the Church is doing: http://www.servolution.org/7days/
which I think is patterned after your ONE PRAYER thing.
You should join them, brother! Please!
If, on the other hand, your faith is so alive you must feed the hungry, clothe the naked, heal the sick, and love the outcasts—all in the name of Christ, the King, you will attract interest.-Craig
This is so true. When people see the love of Christ through His body (though they don’t have this name to put on it) they become 1.overwhelmed, because it is not normal! and 2. curious as to why people would love on them like that.
When we burn with the ache to love as Jesus loves, people notice and want to know more.
oh, and I know of one woman who before Christmas was a self proclaimed atheist and now wants to serve others because of how the church (the people) served her. She is still wrestling with God, but she keeps coming to Life Church because she wants to know more.
[...] was recently reading Craig Groeschel’s Swerve Blog, and he posted something about ‘Missional Living’, I thought worthy of passing on to [...]
Awesome Post! Part of our chruch mission is serving with Other Centered Love. Yesterday, my lifegroup went out to the local Salvation ARmy and served a dinner. It was so awesome to be used by God , yet so humbling, when we feel and realize not only the need, but how our hearts change and truly become more like Christs’, filled with compassion and love for others. God Bless, Robin
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[...] Here are points Craig makes in other related blogs: This generation doesn’t want to hear about what you believe. They want to see your beliefs in actions. And if you’re daring enough to live like Jesus, you’ll have a shot at reaching the next generation. (Read more) [...]
[...] is a re:post from Craig Groeschel’s Swerve blog. I thought this was a great insight on how to live our Christian lives and go about making [...]