How Big is the Mission Field?

In the church we talk a lot about reaching the city and transforming the community.  But just how large is that mission field, and can we really reach it with our traditional methods?  There's about 120,000 people here in Carrollton, where our offices are.  Add in Farmers Branch, and there are more than 53,000 households in the school district.  Through SALI, we are able to reach about 900 of them.  And we thought that we had an enormous impact on the community!

A quick check of the statistics shows that the average Christian church has 184 members (although half of all churches have 75 members or less).  The largest LCMS church has around 2500 in attendance every Sunday.  At this rate, it would take 652 average American Christian churches to record every person in Carrollton alone as a member.  It would take 48 of the largest LCMS church in America.  Fellowship Church in Grapevine is listed as the third-largest church by attendance in the entire USA, and they have approximately 24,000 attendees every Sunday.  That means it would take 5 Fellowships in Carrollton alone to reach the entire city!

Based on these numbers, is it even possible to reach the entire city with our current strategies?  After seeing these numbers, it's no surprise that you never find a traffic jam on a Sunday morning!  Most churches seek to grow through addition of new members, but these numbers are depressing....a church would have to grow extremely large just to meet a significant number of people in a single small city.  Jesus transformed the entire world, but he didn't seem interested in addition.  In fact, he focused on just twelve men, growing extra-close to just 3 of them.  He believed in the strategy of multiplication.

It's said that Billy Graham, were he to be holding his crusades daily today, would not even be able to keep up with the global rate of population growth.  We need to embrace a strategy of multiplication if we want to have any hope of transforming our communities, cities, and the world!

Lessons at LINC NT

There have a been a lot of lessons I've learned in time I've worked with LINC North Texas, which has been almost a whole year now.  And as this is my last blog entry before I depart for a two month journey to Guatemala to study Spanish (don't worry, I'm coming back),I thought I'd share some with you.    

In the Parent Nights, I've learned patience and kindness.   Having to organize masses of excited kids who don't always like to listen isn't always easy; and having  them work together with their parents as a team can be a challenge.  But in the end, its totally worth it. 

In projects with my peers I've learned the importance of teamwork --  that as much as I believe sometimes that I can do everything on my own, never refuse a helping hand or slap it away.  In this way, I've also learned excellence.

In our ESL program, I've learned compassion and dedication, continually fueled every week by our terrific teachers, Tamara and Sarah; every week I see their passion and interaction with the students as they give them something invaluable: not only the English language, but a piece of their own heart.

But overall, the most important lesson I think I've encountered by far is simply just 'being there' - really living in the moment wherever you find yourself and having a good attitude about things.  This can determine your entire experience.  This goes the same for life - that with an open mind and an open heart, you get the most out of the world, and in turn, the world receives you at your best.   This is an attitude I can carry with me always - throughout my community, across foreign countries, and ultimately back home.

Hope to see you all soon,

Brandon