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I was talking with a pastor friend the other day, and he was very pleased with the progress his small church had made in 2018. Attendance had doubled, and he attributed that to the “missionary family” that he had prayed for. “God, please send us a ‘missionary family,’ someone who will commit themselves to reach out to people at our local military base and invite them to church.” And God did! 

After sharing his joy, I asked a simple question: “What are you doing to make ALL of your families missionary families?” 

The job of the leaders of the local church is laid out clearly in Ephesians 4.11 – 13. I like the way The Passion Translation captures part of it: 

And their [the leaders’] calling is to nurture and prepare ALL the holy believers to do their own works of ministry, and as they do this they will enlarge and build up the body of Christ. These grace ministries will function until we ALL attain oneness in the faith, until we ALL experience the fullness of what it means to know the Son of God,… [emphasis mine]

The key word is ALL serving, ALL enlarging and building up the body, not just a select few. Another pastor wrote recently, bemoaning the fact that bad weather was keeping people from Sunday morning attendance:  “Nothing can replace being here in person. The purpose of the church is to gather in worship and glorify the Lord together.” 

This sounds to me as if he believes the church leaders’ job is put together a Sunday morning worship service and the parishioners’ job is to be there. 

There’s way more to following Jesus than that! Join the Adventure! If you’re a pastor, help people join the adventure of being “missionary families.” And when God sends you a “missionary family,” see them as part of the leadership team training others. (When you click the link above, you’ll go to the Adventure tab on this blog’s website. There are links to my books and other resources that proclaim this message. One of the best is Imagine Church by Neil Hudson.)

I’ve written on this before and will continue to do so from time to time: it’s part of my ministry emphasis of “Equipping ordinary believers to make a difference where they are…helping willing pastors do the same!”