Pastoring the community is a big idea. Very basically, it’s looking at your community as your mission field, and not for the purpose of attracting them to your worship gathering. Pastoring the community fights the small, self-focused gospel. A kingdom is way bigger than one person.
This model involves looking for satan’s grip in your community. How can we bring provision?
Pastoring the community is a geographical approach. This goes back to the covenant with Adam to steward the land, to the covenant with Israel concerning the promised land, and the promise that God will give us the land where our feet tread (Deuteronomy 11:24; Joshua 1:3).
God doesn’t show us everything all at once, but he shows us a little bit and sees if we will walk in it.
Do not have a heart of Jonah – walk humbly and be willing to partner with people not like your self, and don’t do it judgmentally.
Jesus’ disciples are known by love (John 13:35), unity (John 17:17-21), and fruits (Matthew 7:16; Romans 8:23; Galatians 5:22).
Obstacles!
We have been in a process of walking away from programming ministry. You can’t shove Jesus down people’s throats. Behavior modification is not the goal. Our programming became burdensome. God shook us to remove things we misapplied, which was quite the learning experience.
Some people are not aware that they have obstacles, so we help them recognize that.
We utilize the Narrow Gate in two contexts. One is Spiritual Renewal – part of this is caring for people, sometimes in ways as small as giving them snacks. Most people are held back by repetitive patterns. The stronghold of poverty is more about want than it is about life needs. It is about perceived (or actual) limited choices. When your choices are limited, it leads you to unhealthy decisions.
White people are not saviors.
We’ve explored the beliefs of our employees in the past, and it revealed many doctrines of lies about who God is. This is another stronghold of the enemy, leading people to believe God is meaningless. This is directly related to ideas of authority. False beliefs about the Holy Spirit inhibits your intimacy with God – this is the gift Jesus came to give. The alternative to this is a life of pretense.
The other context of the Narrow Gate is the physical side. Most people we are ministering to have chaos on a regular basis which puts them in crisis mode. This inhibits their ability to be in relationship, make progress, show up to work, etc. “I can get Jesus from my grandma, are you going to give me a job?”
Songs
Derek Webb – T-Shirts http://derekwebb.com/track/872124/t-shirts-what-we-should-be-known-for
Matt Jackson – You Love the World http://iammattjackson.com/ http://www.noisetrade.com/iammattjackson Used by permission
Zach Winters – Give me Peace and Rest http://zachwintersmusic.com/
Hear our interview with Zach here:
Libsyn Directory
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/interview-with-zach-winters-and-jason-barrows/id1072587846?i=1000479087969
This episode originally broadcast live on June 5, 2015 on KXEN 1010AM in St. Louis, MO
For more info:
www.sunministries.org
Theme music: “The Resistance” by Josh Garrels (www.joshgarrels.com) licensed by Marmoset Music (www.marmosetmusic.com)