Integrating Missionally

Watch this video and consider the religious implications of climate change. How do the people honor their religion if something so vital to their religion dies.

How would we as Christians feel about this?

Now consider the opportunities for caring for the people whose religion would be suffering as a result of the climate issue. How do we love them through these issues?

Note: if you are viewing this in a feed reader, you may need to come to the site to see the actual video.

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I came across this idea inadvertently. As a pastor, a couple of mornings per week I make my way to a local restaurant for breakfast. I would also take a book and read or do some studying there when all was quiet. I got to know all the wait staff and management. I also do this a couple of times a week at a local cafe where I would go have a late lunch, and sit, study, read and chat with the staff and ownership. I never really told the what I did intentionally. However, by the work I was doing and the books I was reading and the conversations we had, they figured out I was a pastor. Soon, I noticed something that just sort of happened. I became the pastor to those businesses. They would sit down and talk and share their problems, ask questions, and seek counsel. At Christmas time, I brought a bucket of gifts to them that included gift cards, homemade treats, and other things.

Your church can do this as well. You can adopt a business or businesses. You may, for example, adopt a large store like Home Depot or Lowes. Have your small groups adopt different departments in that store: one could adopt the paint department, another the electrical department and still another the lighting department. The small groups could get to know the people in those departments. Then they could write notes or even give gifts on holidays or special days. Imagine an employee walking into work with a group of folks from one of your small groups throwing a surprise birthday party for them! There is something about making a person feel special for both you and the person.

Or, another twist of this idea would be to adopt several stores on main street or in a strip mall. Those mom and pop stores that are crucial to most town’s main street could be adopted by your small groups. Shop there, get to know the people there, and bless them. Work with them to set up a special shopping day where your church provides food (snacks, hotdogs, etc) and fun and then stores have special sales. You could even do the advertising for them.

If you have sharp business people in your church, they can volunteer their time to work with the mom and pop stores which are generally owned by entrepreneurs who are learning business practices through trial and error. That ministry would be invaluable.

In doing this, you are blessing the business(es) on multiple levels. You are building foot traffic for sales so you are helping the business. This is IMPORTANT! You are providing them with FREE consulting services and promotions which many small businesses need. You are blessing the employees and owners. You are blessing, either directly or indirectly, the community. And you are building a positive reputation in the community.

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One of the new blogs I enjoy reading is called The Simple Dollar. It’s a personal finance blog. Recently, there was an article about social capital, what it is, how to get it, and why you should engage in it.

This issue became very real to me today as I talked with our new financial guy today. We had a financial guy for thirteen years who retired back in the Spring. He handed us off to someone else in the firm who contacted us both via letter and a phone call. The new guy seemed like a nice guy. About a month later, I set up an appointment with him on the phone as we live in a different state. He was to call me; fifteen minutes after the appointed call time I still had not heard from him. So I called the office and asked for him. When he came on the phone he acted like it was a surprise that we had a scheduled meeting, like he didn’t know where I lived, and he certainly didn’t know anything about our accounts.

After talking with him for a few minutes he told me that he would keep an eye on some investments and give me a call. Three months later, as the market had picked up, I had never heard from him. One of the accounts was a SEP IRA under my name alone, so I began looking for other companies that could offer what I needed. After making a few calls, I was able to sign up for an account online, schedule a transfer from the old firm, and have that money available to invest in less than four business days.

My wife is visiting this week in the state where that financial guy has an office so she scheduled a meeting and they called me on the phone as well. It was the first time he had attempted to talk to my wife about her retirement fund as well, which really did disturb me. I shared with him my experience, that I had moved an account (which got his attention) and noted that he managed my in-laws and parents accounts as well. He lost his social capital. Now, to maintain that relationship with us far into the future, he will have to expend social capital to continue to receive our business.

But I also think that social capital can be a benefit for the church. As individuals build up social capital, it offers opportunities to move in circles relationally that people may not have the opportunity otherwise. It also offers you the opportunity to bless people, to bless organizations, and to bless institutions. I promise you, this will open doors for evangelism, build your reputation, and the reputation of Christ as well.

But this is hard work. It also takes a lot investment of time, energy and relationships. However, it is definitely worth it. I have had multitudes of opportunities to talk about Jesus simply because I did something for folks and businesses without expecting anything in return. “Just Because!”

Let’s get into The Simple Dollar’s post. According to the post, social capital is: Read the rest of this entry »

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Taiwan. My wife and I considered going there in 1997 for a two year stint to help the missionary work there. While I haven’t been able to go, I have some friends who arrived there last Friday and will be there for about 10 days. They are getting the lay of the land and trying to connect churches in the States with mission opportunities in Taiwan.

Why would they do this? Well, there is a belief among many, and I am one of them, that the church is to be the primary missionary and the primary missions sending group. We do not need a missions board sending professionals to be missionaries. They can facilitate missions, but the church needs to be the primary sending agency. We Southern Baptist have gotten that all wrong, unfortunately.

So a group of friends are trying to help churches in the States connect with churches and people groups across the world so that they can take the Gospel to the ends of the earth. And they are doing a great job doing this.

My friends will be blogging about their journey over the coming days and I hope to provide thoughts on their journey.

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My wife, Brenna Phillips, is part of Tony Kummer’s Children’s Ministry think tank. My wife has been doing children’s ministry for the past 15 years in small churches, large churches, traditional churches, non-traditional churches, very Southern Baptist Churches, not-so-Southern Baptist Churches and even did an interim in a Nazarene church. In addition, she will also have two articles published in Children’s Ministry Magazine’s Sept/Oct ‘09 issue about missional children’s ministry ideas.

This month’s Think Tank question was the following:

How should children’s ministry offer an urgent Gospel invitation without emotionally manipulating children? When does child evangelism cross the line and become abuse? What principles guide you in this area?

You can read her response at the site.

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