Missional Sunday

School

The Return of Paganism and

the Mission of the Church

Launching Into

Cyberspace

Recruiting

Violations

---

Yesterday my daughter left the

country on a mission trip. She will

be incommunicado for the next

two weeks. In the time before she

left, she spent a great deal of effort

learning about the people group to

whom she would minister. What

is their lifestyle? What do they

eat? How do they live? What

kind of work do they do? What do

they believe about a god or gods?

Her missionary heart became very

evident. She had to learn about

them so she could share the Gospel

in a way they could understand.

She felt it was necessary to learn

about the people because they live

around the world from us.

The flight to her destination was

18 hours. We recognize that if

we have to fly a long way to reach

others, their lifestyle will probably

be very different from ours.

Southern Baptists have learned how

to be successful in foreign missions

because we approach the challenge

with a ‘missional’ mindset. We

want to understand the mission

field so we can successfully reach

other people with the Gospel of

Christ.

Why aren’t we as successful

reaching people here at home?

Perhaps it is because we assume we

already know them. We assume

we understand their beliefs, their

lifestyles, etc. The fact is, we

probably don’t know them as well

as we think.

This issue of Equipping Magazine

focuses on having a ‘missional’

attitude toward reaching our home

communities for Christ. We must

do the hard work of understanding

and relationship-building rather

than presuming we know the folks

across the street.

Perhaps the key to missional

ministry at home is ‘taking a flight

across the street.’ Let’s invest the

same effort to understanding and

reaching our neighbors across the

street as we invest in those who are

across the world.

---

Interested in reading? Check out some of

our favorites!

Check out our newest staff members!

What is your Sunday School doing to be more

missional?

See common recruiting violations in local

church ministry.

Mission work, a vocation or a lifestyle?

What you can do to help families in your

church and community.

44.8% of unchurched adults in Oklahoma

are 55 or older.

Free downloadable resources available to

bi-voacational music staff.

Make a difference in your Preschool and

Children’s Sunday School.

The Anatomy of Missional Youth Ministry

A method to fight a paganistic worldview

2

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Brett Selby

On Track Leadership: Mastering

John Kramp

 

What Leaders Actually Do

 

What We Can’t Not Know

J. Budziszewski

 

Leadership Next: Changing

Eddie Gibbs

 

Leaders in a Changing Culture

Andy Harrison

Working the Angles

 

Eugene Patterson

 

Total Truth

 

Nancy Pearcey

Bob Mayfield

Spiritual Leadership in a Secular Age

 

Edward H. Hammett

 

One to Eight

 

J. N. Barnette

 

360 Degree Leader

 

John Maxwell

 

The Church of Irresistable Influence

 

Robert Lewis

Scott Phillips

Breaking the Missional Code

 

Ed Stetzer

 

The World is Flat

 

Thomas Friedman

Sheri Babb

The Dream Giver

 

Bruce Wilkinson

 

Right from the Start

 

Shirley K. Morgenthaler

Katie Null serves as

the Student Education

Ministry Assistant. Katie

is a recent graduate of

Oklahoma State University,

with a human development

and family sciences degree

and a minor in religious

studies. She attends Quail

Springs Baptist Church.

Brett Selby serves as our specialist

for Leadership Development. Brett

is a graduate of Oklahoma Baptist

University and Southwestern

Seminary. He also earned a doctor

of ministry degree from Midwestern

Seminary. Previously Brett served as

a church consultant with LifeWay

Church Resources. Prior to that, he

pastored churches in the OKC area.

Brett and his wife Brenda have been

married 23 wonderful years and are

blessed with two sons, Riley (19) and

Parker (17). The Selbys are members

at Northwest Baptist Church and

serve at the north campus.

---

---

Is your Sunday School class

impacting your culture, or is it full

of people who have been sitting for

20 years? Here’s some good news!

Your Sunday School is meant to

be a culture changing dynamo!

Are you interested? A new style of

Sunday School is emerging that

is still appreciative of the classic

Sunday School disciplines of the

past, but sensitive to the needs of

engaging the 21st century with the

gospel. We’re calling it Missional

Sunday School and here’s what it

looks like:

• They do not have lessons! They

invite people to engage the Bible

and search and discover the

eternal truth of God’s Word,

rather than having information

given to them;

• This class functions like a

“community of evangelism”

that invites their lost friends

and neighbors in for a view of

authentic Christianity;

• Missional Sunday Schools build

bridges to the culture and engage

in ministry in the community,

often by partnering with

community services;

• Because these new classes are

reaching beyond the walls of their

class, churches with missional

Sunday Schools have more people

enrolled in Sunday School than

they have church members

(Oklahoma, by the way, has 31%

fewer people enrolled in Sunday

School than members);

• These missional classes are

actively praying for their lost

friends and neighbors to come to

Christ;

• Missional classes use “team

evangelism”. They recognize

that for most people, becoming

a Christian is a journey and a

number of people can help bring

someone to Christ;

• Because these classes are

relationally driven, they tend to

be smaller classes.

For more information on

developing a Missional Sunday

School, www.bgco.org/ssnews

or email Bob Mayfield,

bmayfield@bgco.org.

---

6

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---

Athletic departments at colleges

and universities must abide

by NCAA regulations for the

recruitment of student athletes.

Recruiting violations often result in

losing scholarships and players. A

similar thing happens in churches.

When we don’t recruit potential

leaders wisely, our ministry is

limited.

Here are common recruiting

violations in local church ministry

settings:

1. Recruiting people to a task

instead of a cause. Merely defining

the responsibilities of the leadership

task is not enough. Communicate

clearly and with passion the

contribution a potential leader can

make to the overall ministry.

2. Recruiting a list of people for

a position, instead of one person.

After praying through a list of

possible leaders, decide on one

person to approach. Recruitment

should not be approached like a

contest. Let the person in question

know that you feel they are the

right person for that ministry.

3. Recruiting people without

answering key questions. Be sure

that you can tell the potential

leader why you have targeted them,

what contribution they will be

making, and how you will support

them in their leadership role.

4. Recruiting through need

instead of vision. Most church

publications contain appeals based

on need. Examples might be “We

need a new outreach director,”

or “We are looking for child care

volunteers.” Most people don’t

respond to need, as well as to a

positive statement about how their

involvement can make a difference.

Perhaps appeals like “Make A

Difference in Someone’s Eternity,”

or “Help Families Worship

Together,” would be more effective.

Let God lead you to the right

person. Define the contribution

they will be making. Cast a

compelling vision for them. Clarify

how you will support them. This

recruitment strategy will meet with

greater success and keep you from

crucial recruitment violations.

---

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---

The apostle Paul commented in his first letter

to the Corinthians of the advantage single adults

have over those who are not single. “One who

is unmarried,” he said, “is concerned about the

things of the Lord...but one who is married is

concerned about the things of the world” ( 1

Corinthians 7:32, 33). Of course, anyone who

has ever been single-which is very nearly everyone-

can attest that singles get wrapped up in the issues

of the world as well. Even with one less thing to

divide our attention from God, it is very hard to

stay focused on His mission. Why? Part of the

problem could be a failure to understand exactly

what that mission is and who is to carry it out.

There is a misconception that mission work

is something like the military (The Few, The

Proud, The Missionaries) and that only an elite

group actually get to live a life of missions. The

rest of us can visit them on special occasions and

play missionary for 10 days, then go back home

to our normal lives. This idea is God’s “Great

Commission” in a box. In this box go all the

service projects, overseas trips, and random acts

of kindness that we can cram into a year. If we

manage to be part of at least one of those ministry

activities, we believe we have completed our work.

The truth is that we have not come close.

While it’s true that vocational missionaries are

a very special people, they are not the only ones

whose lives should be consumed by mission work.

Every Christian is called and commanded by God

to be a missionary, and although mission work

is a vocation for some, it should be a lifestyle for

us all. The trips are great and serve wonderful

ministries to the people they touch, but we must

realize that they are the tip of the iceberg for the

missionary lives we should lead. Acts 1:8 tells us

to be witnesses for God beginning at home. That

means we are to live our lives every day building

relationships with the people around us and

showing them Christ in us until they yearn to

know Him themselves.

---

12

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---

One of the things I’m asked most

often is, “What kinds of programs

can we do to help our families?”

The better question is: “What can

we do to help our families practice

faith at home?”

We, as Baptists, are notorious

for slapping a program on a

problem and believing that it will

be the answer to the symptomatic

problems expressed. However,

it is a myth. In fact, families are

struggling to practice their faith in

their homes.

So, how are your families doing?

Has your church said, “Ya’all come

and we’ll train them up in the way

they should go?” Or, are you asking

them what the church can do to

help them? Better yet, how about

the families in your community?

How do you know their needs and

how to meet them?

The challenge is for leaders

to remember that families have

life needs as well as spiritual

needs. Giving them the skills to

communicate and solve conflicts

in their family can be just as

important as getting them to

participate in a Wednesday night

meeting. Giving them the skills to

handle personal finances can be as

important as their participation in

a discipleship course. And, helping

parents to have skills and support as

they raise their children can be as

important as their attendance at a

prayer breakfast.

Perhaps one of the greatest things

we can do is to help the leaders of

families be on mission for Christ

in their home. Will you help future

generations know Christ by helping

this generation lead their families?

---

14

Recent research reveals the

challenge faced by Oklahoma