All throughout scripture God works within a community. People that relate to him through trust and each other through love. In Young Life, we realized very early on that “It takes a community to reach a community - because when you do that, everyone is changed!” By its very nature, Young Life is a call to live ‘on mission’ in your town. So what does that look like?
A missional community (MC) is a group of people who are committed to living out the vision and values of the local YL area by taking ACTION. When the values and vision are shared, a vibrant ministry presence is born. When the local ministry is not owned by the MC it can make the local ministry staff-centric. Simply stated, a group of people committed to a common vision and serving in their gifting will outperform a lone staff person every time! Who are the red-hot vision holders in your context? If it’s just you –then it is time to start sharing the vision with others. Over the past few months, I have been involved as a YL +1 volunteer pilot. The goal of the pilot is to double the # of volunteers in a local area. It is a painfully simple exercise of discipline, ownership, and invitation. To be honest, fostering community ownership has been one of YL’s area’s of brilliance for decades.
Here is what we did:
Created a Matthew 9:38 List of potential volunteers.
Faithfully prayed for that list of people daily!
Broadened the ownership of the list to the larger Mission community. (team leaders, stakeholders, Committee, leaders, etc.)
Personally invited others into volunteer service and living out their calling.
Guess what? It worked! When Jesus asked the disciples to ‘Follow Me’ he not only required their presence, he implied a deeper and more compelling cost. As a global mission we are inviting people into the high calling of leadership. Where is your bar when it comes to volunteer leaders? Are you inviting people to a ‘come die with us’ type of community? Or are you setting the bar to the lowest common denominators? A transformative community requires a deep investment from the volunteers as well as those tasked with training, supporting and caring for the group. In Matthew 9:38 (MSG) Jesus says, “What a huge harvest!” Jesus said to the disciples. “How few workers! On your knees and pray for harvest hands!” Matthew 9:38 msg. Each missional community begins with this realization – the NEED is huge & the workers are FEW. Jesus tells his disciples the key is PRAYER. May we begin with making a list of potential harvest hands and commit to praying for them?! We are called to have workers, not just one worker!
QUESTIONS TO ASK YOURSELF AND YOUR TEAM-
Q. Are we staff-centric as a YL Area? Who owns the vision? Who does the work? Who carries the message? Your answer to these questions will give you a clear sense of the broad ownership of the local ministry.
Q. What is our vision? Is it Clear? Compelling? God-sized? Comprehensive? Broadly owned? If not, what changes need to occur?
Q. What are some ‘today’ changes we could make to foster ownership? Who could we engage for input? How can we empower? What skills do we lack? Who do we need to invite into the room?
Q. Who is on your Matthew 9:38 List? Have one list that is kept by everyone. Pivotal moments occur in response to vision. Add to the list, pray, reference it constantly, and give God’s spirit room to move in your community.
Lastly, we know that a missional community isn’t born overnight but you were never meant to do it alone. It can take years to build a team, catch a vision or shift a culture. Give yourself grace in the process. Write down the wins along the way so that you see God’s hand in the midst. When done well, you will have a mission that is Staff/Committee led, Community owned and Christ-o-centric.
Written by:
Jayme Eichler jayme.eichler@gmail.com
Ken Tankersley Kenbtank@gmail.com