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The Neighborhood Approach
Two years into our marriage, my wife and I purchased our first house. It was during the height of the Seattle housing boom, when the average time a house stayed on the market was four days. That’s not a typo. We are talking pan-seared tuna. These things hit the market and were snatched up. So when a “For Sale” sign sprang up in one of the neighborhoods we were watching, we jumped on it. To show how quickly we jumped, the lock box hadn’t been installed yet but we found a key in the mailbox and checked it out. Before the house was actually shown we had an offer in. This wasn’t a great house but it had potential—which is a nice way of saying that it needed a ton of work. Once purchased, it was time to see how rough the old diamond was. It turned out to be Clint Eastwood rough. This thing was going to be a testament to physical redemption.
Three weeks later, the glow of our purchase was wearing down. As I contemplated everything required to fix the house and make it livable, I was overwhelmed. I would have to remove the basement slab, dig it out, drain it, and pour a new one. I would need to redo the plumbing, electrical, and exterior of the house, not to mention new framing, windows, chimney, furnace, hot water heater, and much more. Adding to my dismay was the reality that I had never done any remodel work before. I was overwhelmed to the point of paralysis. The vision was so big that I had no idea where to begin. As I sat in the damp basement, crowbar in hand, I could not see how I was going to redeem this house.
Big Vision, Small Steps
So it is with the mission of the church. It takes vision to lead the church and our God is a big vision kind of God. Think about Abraham becoming a nation, the exodus, building the temple, and building the church to the ends of the earth. God is into big visions. So the answer is not to suppress the vision of the church.
Leaders should dream big, but we need to make the mission of the church accessible to the church itself.
When I broke down the vision for my house into manageable tasks, I was able to move again. I could focus on the smaller task of rewiring without worrying about the plumbing. That would come later. This gave me little victories to look forward to as I completed the latest step toward the greater goal, which inspired me on to the next.
Big Church, Small Missions
This is the goal of the neighborhood approach. We want to make the mission of the church accessible to the members of the church so that they are not paralyzed by the vision but instead are inspired toward ownership and participation. By taking the greater mission of the church and breaking it down into smaller missions for each neighborhood, we make the mission accessible to anyone. This is bite-sized mission.
As a member of the church, it can be difficult to understand how I could meaningfully serve my city and make a difference. It is much easier to see how I could serve my neighbors and make an immediate impact on their lives. That is something I can get my hands around. After all, average members don’t have a website or a blog or a microphone. However, if you were to ask them to permeate their blocks with the gospel by loving and serving their neighbors, they could get a hold of that and be excited. When all members of the body of Christ use their gifts to contribute to the mission, they are able to accomplish the big picture mission. The strategy of reaching our cities by focusing groups on neighborhoods makes this mission accessible to individual members of a community group and helps them see how they are participating in advancing the kingdom of God.
Tweets:
- The whole vision is too big for any one of us. That’s why we work on bite-sized, local missions. #community
- How can you serve your neighbors? #community
This post is adapted from Community: Taking Your Small Groups Off Life Support.