Monday Morning Insights

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    Is Your Church “Externally Focused”?

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    In their recent book ”The Externally Focused Church” Rick Rusaw and Eric Swanson discuss four different characteristics of what they call the “Externally Focused Church”.  See if what they have to say could apply to your church.

    1.  Externally Focused churches are convinced that good deeds and good news can’t and shouldn’t be separated. Just as it takes two wings to lift an airplane off the ground, so externally focused churches couple good news with good deeds to make an impact on their communities.  The good deeds, expressed in service and ministry to others, validate the good news.  The good news explains the purpose of the good deeds. 

    Engaging the community with good news and good deeds is not just a tactic or even a foundational strategy of externally focused churches, it is at their very core; it is who they are.  These churches have concluded that it’s really not ‘church’ if it’s not engaged in the life of the community through ministry and service to others.  Ministry and service are not programs reserved for a few extraordinarily dedicated individuals but are woven into every aspect of life.  This is certainly not the only thing these churches do, but to stop ministering and serving in the community would be to end their very existence.  An external focus is embedded in their DNA.

    2.  They see themselves as vital to the health and well-being of their communities.  They believe that their communities, with all of their aspirations and challenges, cannot be truly healthy without the church’s involvement.  They have moved beyond thinking about the church’s health apart from the community… to what the community would be like apart from the church.  They recognize that God has placed them in their communities (whether they feel wanted or not) to be salt, light, and leaven.  They are not social workers but kingdom builders!

    3.  They believe that ministering and serving are the normal expressions of Christian living. Even more, they believe that Christians grow best when they are serving and giving themselves away to others.  Because service and ministry are part of their growth model for the church and the spiritual formation of its people, it is not unusual for huge percentages of their congregations to serve and minister outside the walls of the church.  They are convinced that Christians can learn through good instruction, but they really cannot grow if they remain uninvolved in ministry and service.

    4.  Externally Focused churches are evangelistically effective. It’s not a secret that the church in North America is not hitting the ball out of the park evangelistically.  Church attendance has dropped from a high of 49 percent in 1991 to 43 percent in 2002.  While the U. S. population grew by 9 percent between 1992 and 1999, the median adult attendance per church service has dropped 12 percent during the same time frame.

    The good news for externally focused churches, according to a Faith Communities Today (FACT) study, is “congregations with a strong commitment to social justice and with direct participation in community outreach ministries are more likely to be growing than other congregations.”

    In our evangelistic zeal, we often think that people just need more or better information to believe.  But what they really long for is authenticity.  Fewer are asking, “What must I do to be saved?” Instead their question is “What can I do to make my life work?” When people who talk about love God demonstrate love, the gap between doubt and faith is narrowed and the people around them often find themselves wanting to believe.

    FOR DISCUSSION:  So… how is your church doing in the area of evangelism?  What kind of approaches are working in your area?  Are you seeing a significant number of lives changed? If so, how?  If not, what steps do you think you can take to help turn things around?

    (For more help in this area, you can order a copy of Rick and Eric’s book on the “Externally Focused Church” here.)

    How is your church doing in reaching your community for Christ? So many times, churches become inwardly focused. This happens for many reasons... financial pressures; human desires to build a growing church; internal conflict and more. Let's face it, the vast majority of American churches are failing when it comes to reach our individual areas for Christ. So where do we start?

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    1. Steve Knight on Mon, June 26, 2006

      I read the article on the church being externally focused.  I have been working on some tools to help our people introduce others to Christ.   A card or something that they can easily handout without having to say a lot or memorize much.  Some to start conversation about their personal story of coming to Christ.   I would be interested in what others have tried in this particular area of turning the church people into actual witnesses for Christ.

    2. Nancy Robertson on Mon, June 26, 2006

      I think it is all about demonstrating God’s love. I have been in too many churches where the emphasis is on programming and numbers and not about sharing the love of God. We have to be living, walking, breathing withesses every day everywhere we go.  People are watching us all the time. What do they see?

    3. Brian on Mon, June 26, 2006

      Good article…however, why is it that we are discounting ministry “within” the walls of the church. Why is it that ministry done in the church doesn’t seem to matter to today “up and coming leaders”? And it seems ironic to me that the very measuring stick for growth (numbers) is also the measuring stick that is being critisized.


      Is it possible that one of the reason we aren’t seeing more conversions, and more growth, is that we have forgotten what caused the explosion of churches in the past century. The growth in the past century was caused not by community involvement, but by evangelism through Sunday School, Vacation Bible School, “outreach” Sunday’s (where people were invited from outside the church to inside the church). The irony to me is that the churches that have stopped growing, the mainline churches, became liberal and stopped seeing growth because they became social agencies instead of equipping stations, exaltation centers and spiritual health centers. Doctors don’t make house calls very much anymore, why do we think that the community wants us to take religion “back to the streets”? How about we teach the word, worship God, preach the Gospel, and equip the saints for ministry? Funny how the New Testament clearly teaches that the 1st century church was VERY inwardly focused, and how that inward focus of taking care of each other was a STRONG testimony to the community.

      Again, this is a fine article to a point, but it is unfortunate that in encouraging churches to be socially conscious, that we have to criticize the primary Biblical call of pastors, teachers and the organization of the church. It is the collective power of the centralized, local organization of believers that has taken the Gospel to the whole world.


      I believe the struggles of the American church have more to do with the lack of the prophetic voice, i.e. calling sin, sin…including materialism, etc… and the lack of providing the “average” believer with more opportunities to invite his/her friends to a church that is consistently preaching the Gospel, and calling sinners to repentence - just like they did in the 1st century. Pastors today are afraid to preach the truth. But in doing so, we are leaving out the power of the spoken Gospel.


      Sorry to be so negative. But I am worn out from listening to everyone bash the church for things God never called it to. Jesus clearly taught, “the poor will always be with you”. I know I sound heartless for using that scripture, yes I know there is a broader context, but there is overwhelming evidence that God has called the church not to meet every social need in the community, but to be a powerful center for preaching and teaching the TRUTH. We are commanded to take care of the widows, the fatherless, ie. the needy among us, but I challenge anyone to show me a passage of scripture that indicates God has called the church to be another social organization. Caring for the sick and needy in our church is a primary responsibility of the church, meeting social needs in the community is a secondary one - it is a fine program to pursue, and it can be a method for the individual believer to show love to his neighbor, whom he has a relationship with, but it should never become the primary focus of the organized church. That is the path the mainline church took, and it leads down the path to liberalism because ultimately, to be effective in this area, you must partner with governmental organizations and other churches who do not hold to the same priorities, standards and convictions. It also requires enormous amounts of money and time….


      I guess that’s enough for now. I’m not saying we shouldn’t be socially consicious…let’s just not confused the need for a balanced church, with a supposed “solution” to church growth through social need meeting.

       

      Thanks for providing this forum…


      -brian-

       

    4. James Bertolini on Mon, June 26, 2006

      First off all Jesus’ ministry was never inside the “four walls” that Brian is speaking about. For a reference lets use this one, “go into the highways and hedges and compell them to come in”.

      The last time I checked the church is the body not a building so I would hope you are equipping the saints and then sending them into the mission field. Your point is taken but the bittnerness is presents is not good. The church needs to be out and about bringing the good news to those that will not come in to a church building. That in my opinion is the most important duty of a Christian.  “Make deciples of all men and baptise them”. Unless someone was raised in church they first must see the Love of Jesus outside of church and then they may come in.


      I pray more churches will throw away thier old mindsets and seek His face and act.


      In Christ


      Pastor Jamie

       

    5. sgillesp on Mon, June 26, 2006

      Brian, I have wondered for a long time about just what you are saying - where in the Bible does it talk about the church meeting the needs of the community as a social agency? 


      And yet:  why is it that the people in a church that is NOT “externally focused” as this article describes, don’t feel the freedom to invite their neighbors into their church which is preaching “the truth”?  It is because their neighbors aren’t interested if the church which is so sure it is right (the way they perceive our preaching the truth) doesn’t care about the community.  In fact, their neighbors might well be hostile to such a church.  And so the church’s members might enjoy its fellowship, but that church will not effectively reach anyone new for Christ.

      We have to remember that the church of the New Testament was a powerless minority, from the world’s perspective, in its time.  We evangelicals in the U.S. are regarded, by the world, as powerful - perhaps too powerful - and only when we show the world our love and humility will we win a hearing for the gospel.  The New Testament does not spell out for us explicity, but rather implicitly, how we must behave in the times we find ourselves in. 


      The article describes the problem - few are asking “what must I do to be saved?”  How do we behave in our context to raise the question?  Staying in our churches saying we have the truth doesn’t do much.  If those who attend our church take the truth and then act lovingly and with humility toward their neighbors, then that makes a difference - -but isn’t that what the book is talking about?

    6. Brian on Mon, June 26, 2006

      Fun to get some replies to my reply http://www.mondaymorninginsight.com/images/smileys/grin.gif


      Question…where was Jesus compelling them to “come in” to? I believe the Word teaches, into realtionship with Christ…and where do we worship Christ as the local body? Within the four walls!


      Where do children get taught the Word of God? Within the four walls!


      Where do we practice communion? Within the four walls!


      Do we do discipleship outside of the walls, and teach our children outside of the walls and worship Christ outside of the walls? Of course we do…but why do we have to criticize so harshly the former, when trying to promote the latter?

      As for needing a platform so the world will listen to our message? I don’t think there is any more powerful message that the relationship built across the cubical, or in the factory line, or across the fence. So where do I take my neighbor if I have shown him Christ’s love? To the four walls to see the Body of Christ in action…worshipping God, loving each other…


      Does this make sense? What am I missing?

       

    7. Cody on Mon, June 26, 2006

      Brian - your candor and apparent frustration with the “up and comming leaders” in the church is an interesting point. Do you mean those at willow Creek and Saddleback and the like? (Niether or which am I affiliated). Strong, faithful Christian churches that have reached thousands in their own community and more importantly touched the lives of hundreds of thousands more globally by simply following the words of Christ, and his apostles? The principles used by these churches and thousands of others are not some generational new coat of paint. Christ was relevant, He met people’s needs. He did not stay in one temple and put out a sign or have people hand out scrolls saying Jesus preaching again this week - come this Sunday or go to hell. He was always out creating a crowd. Everywhere - even his death created one.  Creating a crowd means gettiing outside of serving your members and having them be servants. “Invite a friend”  or “outreach” Sunday is not a form of service - it is something people should be doing everyday because they are excited about where they attend - because the church they attend is real, significant, and is changing lives for Christ.

      It is somewhat disturbing to hear that there remains a perspective in the body of Christ that “Well, some of your are going to be miserable…some of you are going to hell. Oh well.” When you explain your interpretation of the “poor are always with you” it seems to have no context in terms of the sermon on the mount and how Christ compells us to live and be.  Or in terms of how the 1st century church opetated - sharing everything in common so that everyone would have something. The first century church was the most outwardly focused body of churches in recorded history. How were people added to their number daily? They moved from house to house, they fellowshiped, (and not just at a potluck hidden in the temple so “members only”  could enjoy sister Marylou’s coleslaw), they broke bread together…they were involved in each other’s lives and the lives of those around them.

       

      Lastly - to sgillesp - the early church was NOT a powerless minority. In Paul’s lifetime the gospel had been preach to what was known of the world. The ruling authorities were beyond concerned that the “world was being turned upside down.” This was the fastest growing body of its time. And it was powerful because those committed to Christ were not afraid to lay down their lives for what they beleived. Pastor’s how many in your own churches are committed to even sharing their faith in an honest way with a new person, or committed to living their faith in such a way that someone would ask them about it? Sunday morning Churchianity is one of the cancers that we have to be honest enough to admit exists. And if you are a doctor, that is, a pastor,  and you are encouraging the tumor to spread rather than removing it…how long will you remain real and relevant to your community?

       

    8. John on Mon, June 26, 2006

      I think you all are correct in one way or another. It’s obvious that we all have to go back to the basics and rebuild our foundations in the relationship with Christ instead of the religion in Christ.


        It was the most powerful step in my walk to have the relationship in Christ that Jesus wants us to have with him and that takes place in and out of the walls of the church 24/7.


        The study of Revalations which most churchs miss the point of indicates the 2 most important commands of the Bible; 1 to Love God with all your heart etc. and to Love one another the same.

      We are not the judge of man and therefore it shouldn’t hinder in anyway any evangelical effort outside or inside the walls of the church. The only limitaion we have at the moment is the end of the earth itself.


        If we simply practice actively this relationship with each other and in Christ the problems dissappear only those who are not in Christ cause problems in the Church that exist today because they are about themselves and not about there fellow man, woman and child.


      Forgiveness, being one of the most powerful forces to do good or cripple an entire congregation even if only 1 person lacks it.


        If the the internal foundation is not solid then the external building blocks will crumble. Peter talked alot about this in his letters to the churches. Infact most all of the letters basically say clean up your house before you walk into anothers or invite them in.

       

    9. Brian on Mon, June 26, 2006

      I’m not refering to anyone in particular…just those who are so focused on relationships and social needs meeting as the answer to “church growth”. The answer is changed lives through the power of the Gospel. Relationships and Social Needs meeting is a means to an end, just as miracles were for Christ and the early church.

      BTW… Jesus “drew a crowd” wherever he went because he was performing miracles, not because of his love for people. Not many saw his love, they mearly saw him as a resource.


      I believe that if doing social work is going to be effective (and believe it or not, I think it can be) I believe it has to be done within the context of the Gospel - i.e. hand in hand. However, serving/loving your neighbor, is something that is done to build a relationship that we hope would lead to an opportunity to share the verbal Gospel, but is not dependent upon that happenning in order for it to be an act of obedience to Christ command to love our neighbor.


      I think many of the “new leaders”, seem to think the the organization of XYZ church can somehow building a relationship with the organized XYZ community. The problem is, you can’t program that kind of stuff because while the organized local church exists, the only representation of the organized community is other small organization like the local government, local school, etc… When you try to program in that type of actitivy you soon realize that the community might appreciation it, but it does nothing tangible to spread the Gospel - why? Because I don’t believe Christ told his bride to go build relationships with organizations in the community. However, how about targeting leaders of those organizations? For instance, when our town got a new newspaper editor, I sent him a personal letter welcoming him to the community. I then asked him to lunch and to play golf, which we did. We are now good friends. I’m outta time for today, but this has been an interesting dialogue… I know my comments have lots of “holes” feel free to punch right through them.

       

      BTW..I’m not bitter, just concerned that we are focusing on “what’s not right” with the church, when there is so much to celebrate. There are lots of very effective churches, led by Godly leadership, and “doing” church in as many different ways as there are leaders. One size, definitely does not fit all…i think we can all agree on that. http://www.mondaymorninginsight.com/images/smileys/grin.gif

       

    10. James Bertolini on Mon, June 26, 2006

      Question…where was Jesus compelling them to “come in” to? I believe the Word teaches, into realtionship with Christ…and where do we worship Christ as the local body? Within the four walls!


      I agree with part of this, the first part. To say we worship only at church disturbs me. As Christians all we do should be worship. Everything we do should bring honor and glory to Jesus and Jesus alone. Some of the best “church” I have been a part of is bringing the word to the homeless and addicted community and seeing one like this weekend step on her crack pipe and allow us to get her in rehab! Now that is worship. Praise His Holy Name!

      We all need to keep from putting a cap on what God can and will do. The fact is that assembling with oneanother is required but do is hitting the pavement.


      I hope you didn’t take it as an attack but rather an opposing view.


      My Love to you!


      jamie


      http://rwcf.thischurch.org

       

    11. Pete King on Mon, June 26, 2006

      Brian,

      I haven’t read everyone’s coments to your comment. However, I completely feel what you’re saying. I too am seeing a redirection of external focused ministry superceding internal church development. My experiences have led me to start thinking in a different direction. In my humblest opinion and without sounding like a broken record, simply put we are not(as a whole) seeing the masses won because Christians are not being empowered for ministry. We’ve spent so much energy on the “social” needs and seeker sensitive individuals that we have missed out on the why. Many of us are doing good for merely the sake of being good to our neighbors. In actuality, we fail to remember the sole purpose is to share the Gospel with the lost. If I could step out here a second and ask, “What’s missing?” Now I’m Pentecostal and I have seen some pretty sad things with churches on my end. No longer am I seeing the raw passionate faith we once carried. We’re so busy with being dignified and appealing to our own selfishness desires that to be “Pentecostal” now is inappropriate. I said all of that to say this, our churches are changing and I’m not so sure it is for the better. What made us who we are seems to be swept under the social/selfish needs of our communities. Let me say this, if we don’t start focusing on strengthening the “church” and develop those individuals within our four walls then how can we really think evangelistically. I believe, just as Brian has blatantly put it; the two must go hand in hand. You cannot have one without the other. I agree we need to meet the needs of others. In fact, I strongly support that idea, but in my experience I have seen too many Christians absolutely lost when it comes to sharing their faith and telling the sinner they need to be saved. Can anyone tell me the amount of time a person has to get saved? That should always be on our minds when we vision the lost.

    12. Ed Mooneyhan on Mon, June 26, 2006

      Hey Brian.  I’m not sure why people are so hostile toward you.  It’s often difficult to express accurately what you mean via the Internet.  I believe that the church, (gathering of the saints), is to be done inside the “four walls” if you will.  This truly is where we are nurtured, taught, disciple, loved, cared for, etc… I believe Acts makes this clear.  The other part is going into the world to preach the gospel.  When the gospel is preached to every nation…the end will come.

      As always, we need a balance.  Some churches feel that we are to be evangelistic on Sunday morning just in case there are pre-Christians in the crowd.  I don’t see this as a biblical mandate, but don’t see it as wrong either.  I do believe we need to take care of each other in the structured church first then take care of the world, all the while preaching the good news and showing the love of Christ along the way.


      Life’s a journey and it seems to me that Christians have gotten all uptight and aren’t very much fun to be around or have discussions with anymore.  My advice to the church is to find a balance and know your purpose. 

       

      I guess I understand your point Brian.


      Later.


      Ed.

       

    13. Wendi on Mon, June 26, 2006

      This issue for me has been a “holy discontent” for some time.  To help me with my personal wrestling I’ve read this book and other resources, and recently had many conversations w/ local church and para-church folks locally.  Couple of things have come from those conversations which align w/ this article.

      [These churches have concluded that it’s really not ‘church’ if it’s not ENGAGED (emphasis mine) in the life of the community through ministry and service to others.  Ministry and service are not programs reserved for a few extraordinarily dedicated individuals but are woven into every aspect of life.]


      What I’ve learned from my own conversations on this subject is that what we often call “engagement” is not the kind of engagement Rusaw and Swanson are describing.  Over coffee with two NPO leaders these comments were made; (from a director of a homeless shelter) “We have to let our weeds grow so that there is work for all the church youth groups that want to come and ‘engage’ with us during Easter week – then we don’t hear from them again.”  (from the director of a secular nursing home) “During Christmas we have to turn away churches because there are so many who want to come visit and sing to our patients, but that’s the only time we hear from the church.  It’s like they are using our patients to help them feel better about themselves.”  Ouch!!! 


      What I learned from these leaders is that we (the Christians / the church) tend to look for activities which enable us to “punch our community service time card,” with activities that have no real potential for sustainable engagement.  Activity does not equal engagement.  What I decided (for myself) that day over coffee was that I would not be part of anything that doesn’t have intentionally built in mechanisms for people to engage in sustainable ways.  For example, if we’re gonna take a group to a rest home @ Christmas, we’ll find out from the staff how we develop ongoing relationships with residents.  Same with the homeless shelter.  We’ll avoid “one-shot” activities.  Most of all, we’ll look for activities that will help us build the kind of relationships that enable us to engage is such a way that we can earn the right to invite people to engage with us our faith community.

       

      Some have talked here about outreach happening as people invite their friends to church to hear the gospel.  Of course.  But if that was really happening (all the Christians were inviting their non-Christian friends) the church in North America would be growing (the only continent where it is not).  Plus, I believe that there are millions of people who don’t know any Christians through significant relationships.  It is the church corporate that has a responsibility to this segment of our population.  This is where community engagement and social action comes in.  Our churches send people all over the world to do the same thing (engage with unreached people groups), yet we tend to be somewhere between apathetic and adverse to doing it in our back yard.  I don’t get that.

       

      Wendi

       

    14. Raymond Bodie on Mon, June 26, 2006

      Fresh out of seminary, I was appointed to a “vacant lot”.  No church building.  No hymn books. No members.  No equipment or supplies, etc., you get the point.  There were no four walls to which I could point.  There was no physical sanctuary in which to worship.  So what do you to Spread the Word of God?  How do you “tell the old, olld story of Jesus and His Love?”

      As it turned out, this was the most fruitful time of my ministry.  We began at the front door, standing on the stoop, with a smile and a prayer.  One by one, we engaged people.  We established relationship and friendships.  We met in homes. We used someone’s garage as an office. We did not have a church . RATHER WE WERE THE CHURCH.


      Frequently, some individuals at the front steps would tell me that they were only interested in a church building with a sanctuary.  I heard this often.  Yet this new congregation, this new fellowship, this new Christian Community, grew and grew and grew, and we did so without the “four walls.”  Necessity taught us that we were the church,ie., we were the BODY OF CHRIST.  And, individually, we were the parts of that Body of Chirist. 

       

      We grew into a strong , healthly and exciting congregation.  WHAT A WAY FOR ANY NEW PASTOR TO BEGIN HIS MINISTRY!

       

    15. Mark on Mon, June 26, 2006

      I understood that this new book by Rick Rusaw and Eric Swanson was about improving a church’s external focus.  I didn’t think it was excluding the other internal ministries of Christ’s Church.  I didn’t see that it was one or the other. 


      For the last several years, I have been trying to guard against “bi-polar internal/external syndrome.”  I want to guard against being either too external or internal in my focus and ministry.  That is why I embrace the balance of Willow Creek, Saddleback, and the Church Growth movement.  I am uncomfortable with criticisms of these sincere Christian people who have been trying to bring this balance.

      The mission statement of Willow Creek is to turn “irreligious people into fully devoted followers of Christ.”  This is both internal and external.


      Saddleback’s baseball diamond is about moving people into faith and membership in the body of Christ, build them up to maturity, train them for ministry, and send them out on their mission for Christ.  This is both internal and external too.


      Dr. Donald McGavran, the father of the Church Growth movement defined church growth this way:  proclaiming the Gospel until people believe in Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord, so that they become baptized, responsible, reproducing members of Christ’s Church.  This is both internal and external as well.

       

      Jesus said:  “I did not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance.”  Perhaps churches that are external as a part of their multiple foci are just doing what our Lord did Himself? 


      I remember the story of the five blind persons who tried to explain what an elephant is like. Each of them touched a part of the elephant and reached different conclusions. One felt the elephant’s ears and believed an elephant was like large hand fan.  Another touched its trunk and described it long pipe.  The third man touched the elephant’s legs and said it was like a pillar.  The fourth touched its tusk and thought of a huge nail. The last person concluded that an elephant is just like a broom…he had touched his tail!


      In a sense these five people were accurate but far from the truth too.  They had drawn conclusions based on their limited experience of reality.  Yet they were nowhere near understanding what an elephant is actually like.

       

      I think that is what happens to Christians and churches.  Some say is feeding the poor and social action is our calling.  Some say the mission of the church is preaching about sin and salvation.  Some think our mission is internal.  Others think the church is only about winning the lost. Others think it is only within the four walls.  Perhaps it is all of this and even more?  Does it have to be one or the other?

       

      I think we need to develop a philosophy of church that is taken from the New Testament in its totality.   And when one reads the Gospels, the Acts, and the Epistles together, we might find that the church is supposed to be both internal and external.


      Thanks for listening.

       

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