What does your schedule for the week look like? What does your schedule for the month look like? How much of it is full of sports practices? How much of it is full of work activities? Household repairs? Family reunions? Doctor appointments? Free time? What about all of your church activities? Church Sunday morning? Small groups? Leadership meetings?
…Oh wait! Don’t forget! Have you set aside time to actually reach out to your neighbour and make disciples? The last thing Jesus tells us before He leaves? Feeling stressed out yet?… I know I am just by writing this.
Here’s some good news. You can combine the disciple making with all the stuff that is already on your calendar. You can still do the very thing Jesus commands us all to do without it being another “tacked on” activity. Truthfully, it was never meant to be a tacked on activity. Oftentimes we see outreach, evangelism, and disciple making as separate events. When really, Jesus models these things within everyday life moments. The best example where we see this is when Jesus meets the woman at the well in John 4. In that time the well was a common place in which many people would go and draw water from. It was the hub of the community. Jesus in a very common moment of life for this Samaritan woman shares the plan God has for the world. This wasn’t a time Jesus set aside just for outreach. Jesus models for us that every Christ follower has a responsibility to find the mission in the mundane.
Many times church goers define their time of sharing the gospel or ‘outreach’ in the context of a scheduled event. We need to get away from this paradigm and begin to shift to a new one. The new paradigm must be one that calls every Christ follower (not just pastors) to see every opportunity in every rhythm of life as a way to live on mission. Whether your are at work or at play Jesus calls us all to find moments ‘at the well’ to proclaim the good and life changing news of Jesus Christ.
If you are looking for some practical ways to do this in your ministries and in your own life check out this resource below. Summer is the best time to start practicing some of these!
http://www.vergenetwork.org/practical-ways-to-be-missional/
Have some examples of your own? Have some great stories of how you have found ways to find mission in the mundane? Share your thoughts and stories below!