Originally posted 10-08-2009. Reposted 10-20-2010
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A reader named Rolland once left the following comment on my blog:
“Recently there have been a couple of occasions that no one has shown up for a meeting, with no phone call – and we have 7 families represented. Now that we’re trying to move to be more of a missions-minded group, it seems we hear from everyone even less. I guess my point is that I’ve come to expect this type of response to extra-curricular activities. But, we seem to have no problem meeting for topical group discussions. I think I’ve gotten a little discombobulated with the new direction and now I’m thinking of moving to meeting every other week, instead of once a week. We’ve done Christmas Shoe Boxes for Haiti as a group, which did go pretty well, and are planning to volunteer at the Infant Crisis Centers, but we’ve only heard from less than half of our group. I’ve tried to get our guys to come with me to volunteer for a Habitat for Humanity build, but no one has responded. Any suggestions, my friend?”
This is a great question, Rolland, and a great problem. To start, let me encourage you to review your own actions as a leader over the last couple of months. How have you presented the mission idea to your group?
- Duty: “This is something we’re supposed to do now guys.”
- Need: “We need to get out and help.”
- Vision: “Imagine what would happen if we…”
Vision is the best way to make a request. Always ask out of vision!
Also, ask yourself, on a scale of 1 – 10, how collaborative was your missions pitch to the group?
- 1 – Didn’t really ask for input, just told the group we should be missional.
- 10 – We dreamt together about what could happen and everyone had a chance to provide input.
In most cases mission is not embraced by a group because the leader is simply too far ahead of everyone. Remember the old saying, “He who thinks he leads while no one follows merely takes a walk.” Be patient too, Rolland. Just because you are passionate about missions does not automatically mean everyone else in your group is too. Give it time to soak in and permeate the rest of your group.
Not only should you review your own leadership but you should review Scripture. Make your personal devotional life revolve around the missional example Jesus set in the gospels. Ask yourself how you can be more like Christ by touching the lives around you. Ask God to make missional living a core part of who you are. Then get out a live in your world the way Jesus lived in his.
After reviewing your leadership and soaking up Christ’s example start pitching the mission idea to your group I’d suggest the following:
- Share your own personal missional stories with the group. People love stories!
- Pick up a curriculum that encourages people to embrace mission. SHAMELESS PLUG – my curriculum from BlueFishTV.com does this.
- Ask your small group pastor to visit your group and help encourage missional living.
- Play a game called “How can we make the biggest impact?” Brainstorm ways to make a big difference in someone’s life outside the church. Make sure everyone understands that there are no boundaries…money is not an obstacle…you’re dreaming here! Then let the group vote on which idea they think will make the biggest difference. Next, talk together about how this idea might, on some level, really be done by the group. Then make plans to do this mission project together. Lastly, give a prize to the person who came up with the big idea that led to the actual mission project.
Okay, those are just some of my ideas. Everyone else, please feel free to chime in and give Rolland some help.
Alan,
This short writing was just forwarded to me by one of our Elders. I’m a Worship Pastor. I appreciated what you had to say. I only wanted to let you know there seemed to be a typo in it, and thought you might want to correct it. I’m afraid it will distract others from your message, like it did me. I have this idea that ‘someone who writes or prints stuff for money would want to know if there seemed to be a mistake in it’.
In the “Effectively Pitching the Missions Idea”, you have a sentence opening a paragraph a little past halfway that reads “Not only should you reviewing your own leadership…”. It would seem that the word “reviewing” should just be “review”.
That’s all. Thanks for your efforts to build and support the Church.
Scott
You’re a saint, Scott! Thanks for letting me know! I’ve fixed it!