Highlight: Is your church making a difference?
“How are we to be among the foreigners, as foreigners, in a foreign land?”
As culture is rapidly changing, so is the role of the church in our communities. Pastor Mike McDaniel reflects on how their needs to be a change in how we view the role of the church.
“We have to stop thinking of us as having home field advantage anymore, we’re not that Christian nation that we grew up in.”
God has been systematically eliminated from public life, how do we interact with a culture like this?
“We’re in different times, we can’t just demand our voice. We have to show the value of our voice.”
Churches need to adjust how they are perceived in the community. In order for churches to be difference-makers, they must be known for more than what they need. Pastor Mike points to a church plant in Boston.
“They are making a difference because they’re being known for what they bring to community instead of what they’re asking of the community.”
All of our churches have to realize that if they want to be effective witnesses to their communities they need to offer more than they take.
Pastor Mike says another thing the modern church must realize is that church is not limited to the inside of the four walls of a building.
“Church can happen in a home, pub, or park, it can happen in a lot of different places. It’s realizing that wherever we live, work, learn, or play, wherever we are, we’re the church. We’ve got to be present and be Christ in that very situation.”
It’s not enough for us to just be the church while we are in the building, we must be the church in the community because it’s not just about Sunday.
“I’ve come to learn that Sunday is a good place to land and it’s a great place to launch. We’ve got to do more than measure what we’re doing in the community. How are we impacting there as well as how many people we are landing in our seats on the weekends.”
How we are being the church in the community matters more than being the church on the corner.
Mike McDaniel is the founding pastor of Grace Point Church in Northwest Arkansas. Mike and his family have served as church developers with the International Mission Board in the Republic of Zambia in Southern Africa.
Key Scripture: John 1:14
Featured Songs: The Lord’s Prayer – Selah; The God I Know – Love & the Outcome; Faithful to the End – Bethel Music
