Image

Engaging Your Community

// SUBMITTED BY PASTOR RANDY NELSON

Several years ago, I accepted to call to a small congregation that had three other AFLC churches in the same zip code. It was a rural community on the collar of the Chicagoland area. We had cornfields surrounding us but we were only 20 minutes away from Joliet, IL, a city of over 100,000, and less than an hour from downtown Chicago. The village we lived in, though, was only about 250 people. The predicament was, “How do we reach unchurched people in this small community where so many were connected to our sister AFLC churches?” 

Henry Blackaby’s Principles of Experiencing God were invaluable to me as we prayed about what to do. The first principle is God is always at work in the world around you. The key is to recognize what that looks like. Luther’s explanation to the Third Article of The Apostle’s Creed says, “I cannot by my own reason or strength believe in Jesus Christ my Lord or come to Him; but the Holy Spirit has called me through the Gospel, and enlightened me with His gifts, and sanctified and preserved me in the true faith…”

Blackaby’s third principle is that God invites you to become involved with Him in His Work. He then describes how to recognize that invitation. He says that only God can draw people to Himself, cause people to seek after Him, reveal spiritual truth, convict the world of guilt regarding sin, righteousness and judgement, as found in John 14 and confirmed by Luther’s explanation. The key is to prayerfully look where we see people are drawn to God, are seeking after God, are wrestling with spiritual truths, or are convicted of sin, righteousness, and judgement. So how might I see those things in my community among the lost?

Over the next 10 years, God opened up opportunities for me to engage with people by becoming a volunteer police chaplain, firefighter, and EMT in our community. In each of those roles, I had many, many opportunities to engage with unchurched people who were often facing a personal crisis. I was able to help them in real, tangible ways, which led to relationships that in time, opened the door to minister to them as God was working in their lives, as only He could. Some of those individuals were patients or people we helped, but surprisingly, even more were firefighters, EMTs, police officers, and their families. This led to the congregation growing, not only numerically, but also in its concern for the needs of others in our community. 

These types of ministry experiences have led me to believe that it is vitally important for congregations to be looking for opportunities to engage their local community in physical and tangible ways as a means to opening the door to sharing the good news of the Gospel with those outside our churches.

C:\Users\liz.mccarlson.AFLC\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\INetCache\Content.Outlook\G4YIP7IB\Jeremiah 29.6.jpg

Loading posts....
Image

Rekindle the Fire 2024

Join us at Hope Lutheran, Minneapolis, for this FREE event!
Image

Rekindle the Fire 2023

Watch the videos from Rekindle the Fire 2023!
Image

Rekindle The Fire 2022

Hear the audio recordings of the Rekindle the Fire conference 2022
Image

The Lutheran Ambassador

The Lutheran Ambassador is a free magazine, published monthly by the AFLC. It exists to educate its readers about the AFLC, to encourage the local congregation, to equip Christians...
Image

The Berean Test

Whether you are a Worship Leader, Church member, or just listening to songs on the radio; do you ever wonder if what you are listening to is theologically accurate? Is it Christ-Centered or Me-Centered? Do the lyrics come from scripture?...
Image

The Mirror

If you are looking for a high quality tract to share your faith, "The Mirror" is an excellent means to do that...
Image

Unexpected Harvest

Jesus told a parable to his disciples about a sower who scattered seed. Some of the seed fell on good soil and produced a great harvest. However, much of the seed fell on rocky, shallow, thorny, and bird infested soil. These areas did not produce anything. Unexpected Harvest addresses the question, “What if the soil could be changed?”...
Image

Home Builders: Joining God Where He is at Work

By talking with people in our church and community, we found that there were a number of younger, unchurched families looking for family-friendly activities. There was also interest in gaining parenting skills and improving marriages...
Image

Food Pantry: Meeting the Physical and Spiritual Need of Our Communities

We are a church in the middle of cornfields in northern Illinois. We originally thought to empty some dishes out of the church kitchen cabinets and have some staple foods on hand to help people. We quickly found out that the need was bigger than we thought...
Image

GriefShare: The Journey from Mourning to Joy

GriefShare is a 13-week video series that is packed with Biblical information to support grieving people as they walk their journey of grief...
Image

The Master's Plan

This book can help pastors and laity discover how to grow themselves and help others grow in their outreach. It is based on biblical principles of growth through natural networks of friends, relatives, co-workers, etc. This resource is a...

Page