Sometimes I run into “roadblocks” to mobilizing for frontier mission in churches. It’s been interesting to me to see some trends in what those obstacles look like.
It isn’t odd to hear, “We’ve got too much to do locally!”
Or, “We are only a small church and could never make much impact!”
Or, especially from pastors, “I’m just too busy.” Sometimes it simply comes out as a sigh.
Pastors are busy and stressed and pulled into a hundred different directions. It’s a hard job! It’s a job that doesn’t get as much appreciation as you might expect—in the four years I pastored a U.S. congregation I can’t remember a single time when someone made an appointment with me to simply be encouraging and thankful. People certainly were encouraging at times. And people also made appointments. But appointments were only for suggestions or outright complaints.
Loving the Local Church
Being a pastor is a hard job. You wear a myriad of hats and those roles are so diverse that a different day of the week can feel like a different job entirely. And surprising as this may be, it is often a job that gets little thanks.
We often hear from our Executive Director at Frontier Fellowship, “We want to love the local church!” and, “The heart of mission is the local church!”
If you are reading this and you are a pastor–THANK YOU! If you are reading this and you are an active member of a local church–THANK YOU! (You can also join me in thanking your pastor!)
More Than Just One More Thing to Do!
I’m convinced that mission is not just something the Church does. Mission is what the Church is. Mission isn’t something a believer gets to once they’ve been discipled enough. Mission is the engine of discipleship. Mission and discipleship need to be reunited in our churches.
All of this sounds great, but how can we get there? How can this not become just one more thing to add stress to church leaders?
This is really what Frontier Fellowship mobilizers do-serve as resources for congregations. We all want to come alongside a congregation and enhance the ministry. Sometimes that involves working with mission committees or church staff. Sometimes it means preaching or teaching. Sometimes it means inviting church members to come on a trip with us and see firsthand what God is doing in the world.
Resources
Recently, I’ve felt convicted about a growing need I sense to be common in churches and among pastors especially. There is so much to do and so little time and just not that many quickly available resources.
A while back I connected with a ministry called The Pastor’s Workshop (TPW). They provide short preaching guides and lectionary resources. Their database includes thousands of quotes, sermon illustrations and liturgy suggestions. The preaching commentaries are intended to help pastors think deeply about a passage and provide a few possible directions for where a sermon might go.
In cooperation with TPW, I just completed an 8-week Sermon Series guide that works through the entire book of Ephesians. It looks at Paul’s letter as a mission document, written by a missionary and sent to a community whose primary purpose is mission! You can check it out here—the first few weeks of the guide are accessible for free!
I hope and pray that pastors continue feeling loved by God and their churches! It’s truly amazing that we follow a Lord who loves us enough to invite us into lives that include being on mission with God!