The Zone Gathering

This is Part 7 of our Thursday Leadership Lesson Series on Service. Today, we will talk about how to mobilize our groups to serve the world.

Jesus left his disciples with one final command:

Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.

The establishment of God’s kingdom is dependent on the church carrying out this mission. That’s it. There is no backup plan. We are God’s plan.

God calls us to take his message to the neighborhoods and nations. Last week, we talked about how to reach our neighborhoods through serving our communities. Today, I want to encourage us to stretch our groups to the next level by getting them involved in taking the Gospel to the nations by serving our world.

Here are a few very practical ways you can be involved in serving the world.

Adopt an NCC Missionary
Why should a small group be concerned about missions? As Jeffrey Arnold says, “The base camp for missions is the church.” In his book Small Group Outreach, Arnold continues, “When groups support missionaries, they are expanding the boundaries of their community to embrace ministry opportunities they may never have considered. They are also building relational foundations from which missionaries are strengthened, nurtured, and encouraged.”

It’s a win-win for the group and the missionary. By adopting an NCC missionary, your group can expand their influence, and the missionary can feel the support from a praying community back at the base camp. Some practical ways you can support a missionary include the following:

• Pray for them. Ask them to send you a weekly or monthly list of prayer requests.
• Send them letters. You will need to be sensitive about contents of letters depending on the location and type of work the missionary is doing. But an encouraging email or letter from back home could make a big difference in their life.
• Send them periodic care packages. Some candy and other small luxuries from back home may be hard to find in the jungles or marketplaces of our missionaries. Send birthday presents and Christmas presents.
• Get involved in their minisitry. Talk with Pastor Joel about how your group can get involved financially in supporting the work of a missionary.

Pray for a Country or an Unreached People Group
Get out a world map and pray for countries or people groups around the world. Purchase the book Operation World: A Handbook for World Intercession by Patrick Johnstone to guide you. Or check out their website here.

Operation Christmas Child
Samaritan’s Purse is a Christian international relief organization run by Franklin Graham. Each Christmas, they deliver shoeboxes full of Christmas presents to children around the world. This would be a great service project for your small group. I would encourage each small group to participate in Angel Tree to bless the neighborhoods and participate in Operation Christmas Child to bless the nations.

Go on Mission Trip
Finally, go on a mission trip together. There is no better way to build community and to grow together than going on mission as a team. Consider the 4 NCC-sponsored missions trips next year: Richmond, Kenya, Uganda, and Bolivia. Decide as a team to go together. Or plan your own trip. Find creative ways to mobilize your group for world mission.

These are just a few ways that your group can serve the world. Take a night to talk with your group about the importance of serving the neighborhoods and nations, and unleash the passion and creativity within your group to serve in dynamic and life-changing ways.

If anyone would like to share other ideas, please use the comment thread below.

This entry was posted on Thursday, October 19th, 2006 at 6:31 pm and is filed under Leadership Lessons, Service. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.