Missions in suburbia
Missions work and evangelism in suburbia is very hard to do well as you might know. It is something that my church has been struggling with quite sometime, and if I might say, since we were conceived. Being in the quiet north-east corner of Scarborough, Sheppard and Meadowvale where there are few asians and many black and brown, the goal to reach out to the neighborhood surrounding our church is a major task that is an engima to effectively figure out.
I found a few articles at Backyard Missionary that outlined 5 factors in effective suburban missionary work:
- Proximity - being near people
- Regularity - spending significant time together
- Depth - going beyond the fluff in relationships
- Conflict - being prepared to disagree and realise that’s ok and necessary
- Message - effectively articulating the Gospel
I’ve found these points to be very helpful too in building a successful small groups ministry, which is something else my church struggles with. It is hard to meet up with people and build those intimate relationships and an authentic community since we live so far away from each other, don’t meet that regular, and don’t go much beyond the fluff stuff.
Anyways, check out the posts here: part 1, part 2, part 3.
(HT: MereMission)
