As you consider your community, what do you think about its composition, your church’s relationship to it, and ways to be more effective for the Kingdom? What does your church think? What beliefs and assumptions guide your ministry and your relationship to the community? To what extent have those beliefs and assumptions been questioned?
Some Limiting Beliefs and False Assumptions – I believe each church needs to examine the beliefs and assumptions guiding its ministry efforts. This allows you to take current wisdom on church effectiveness and contextualize it. Some limiting beliefs and false assumptions include the following:
No one knows what church is or is about anymore. – In some places this is true, and in others less so. To what extent is it true in your community, and how do you know? Does it not depend on the family background of the people, in some cases the ethnic make-up of the people, the immigrant status of the people in that they may or may not have previous knowledge of church from their country of origin? Similarly, you need to investigate your community’s exposure to and background in faiths other than Christianity.
Everyone has a negative view of church and Christians and has been hurt by the church. – That people have a negative view of the church, of Christianity, or of your church may be more likely in some communities than others, but what is true in your context? I believe we need to stop making blanket assumptions about how “everyone” feels about Christianity, church, and Christians. We need to be prepared to interact with those who have little concept of church and our faith, as well as those who have a negative attitude toward church and / or Christianity and Christians.
No one will come to an event at church anymore. – The thinking seems to be that people are intimidated about coming to a church building, thus everything evangelistic must be done off campus. What I have noticed is that, evidently, certain segments of a community may be more likely to attend events than others. So, we need to learn our particular contexts and the segments of our communities before we make assumptions about events.
Events are the only way or best way to reach people. – Some people are not event attenders, though they may be open to relationships or other forms of ministry and connection. Events, when useful, should be part of an overall strategy, not a stand-alone approach.
Everyone has a basic knowledge of what church is and who Jesus is – This simply is not the case, but when people make this assumption, they can lay the blame for not reaching their community on the people in the community.
If we have a nice building and decent programs, people will come. – This assumption goes along with the preceding one. I recall someone asking me why people attend store-front churches that don’t have their own buildings but don’t attend neighborhood churches with buildings. A couple of things could be going on here. One is that, once we have been in a building long enough, we stop seeing that it is not as nice as we thought. Also, churches are about relationships and God’s transforming work, not a building to attend. There are plenty of nice buildings that house decently programmed organizations in our city, but I have no inclination to go to them if I am not interested in their services and don’t know anyone connected with them. The same is true for our communities and churches.
Assumptions About the Composition of Your Community – Whether we are talking about age break-down, racial profile, education levels, household make-up, socio-economic status, or any number of variables, we sometimes make assumptions about our communities that may not be true. And, those assumptions can be very hard to challenge. I have seen a church cling to its assumptions about the racial composition of its neighborhood despite repeated testimony to the contrary by its pastor who had been in the community meeting people.
Assumptions About Important Components of the Community – The residents in our communities are not the only components of the community to consider. What about the agencies, institutions, and services in your community? What about the businesses, schools, etc. in your community? Our assumptions about what parts of our community to consider can limit our creativity or help us think more broadly, depending on what those assumptions are.
Beliefs About Agencies in Your Community – What is the relationship of the city government and its agencies to your community? Do you truly understand this relationship, and are there limiting beliefs about what is available, how the city government relates to your area, etc. that may need to be examined? What if your beliefs and assumptions or those of your church are not correct?
Beliefs and Assumptions About Prayer – What do you and your church believe about the nature, expressions, and use of prayer as it relates to your community? How might you need to expand the understanding of types or approaches to prayer and the role of prayer in advancing the Kingdom in your community?
This list of limiting beliefs and false assumptions is not exhaustive, but it gives you some things to think about when it comes to leading your church to spread the Gospel and advance God’s Kingdom in your setting. Which of these resonates with you? What limiting beliefs and false assumptions would you add to the list? What might happen if you and your church questioned the beliefs and assumptions you have about your community and how to reach it?
PC: Andy Barlow and Barlow Creative of Rockport, TX