Live apostolically. Remember that you and all believers in your church called by God to share His good news in the world. Identify population segments in your local area with which your church currently has little or no relationship. Then create a strategy for connecting with those groups. Encourage your members to think of themselves as missionaries. Have them routinely introduce new believers to faith in Jesus, interpret contemporary culture through biblical guidance, and participate in secular social groups to build authentic relationships with those outside your church. Seek to have your church transform the community in which you live, and help transform the global community as well.
Expect to change the world. Understand that mission begins with relationships and is expressed in a “glocal” community (one in which few barriers remain to communicating with people internationally). Ask your members to think and pray about their primary mission fields (the spheres in which they have the largest number of ongoing relationships with unchurched people). After they identify the people in their primary mission fields, encourage members to develop strategies for drawing those people closer to Jesus. Seek to make a major difference in the world. Have a vital prayer ministry to focus on updated mission concerns. Intentionally cultivate global relationships. During worship services, regularly emphasize members’ missionary involvement. Encourage your members to participate in short-term mission projects.
Order actions according to purpose. Know your church’s purpose, and write a clear statement of it. Check that members’ and staff’s actions are based on that purpose. Let go of whatever doesn’t serve your church’s purpose. Schedule only events that help you accomplish your church’s purpose. Keep your programs flexible, leaving room for God to direct changes. Celebrate the start and close of ministries. Make sure that items in your budget reflect your missional priorities, and that your programs and ministries give evidence of your commitment to excellence. Decide that you would rather lose a prospective church member than violate your church’s purpose.
