Listen to your community
We noticed at Niddrie that there are many housing organizations and various other social agencies, with teams made up primarily of people from outside the community, who impose their ideas and ideals on the community without much dialogue. Is it common to accept that these “professionals”? they know what we need. Likewise, many new churches, established churches, and evangelical ministries can be accused of the same attitudes. For example, a team may move out of town with a well-designed plan, yet their strategy has very little impact on the site, due to a lack of research and understanding of the culture. For established churches and parachurch organizations, this may seem like a lot. Ministry? it is achieved, for all intents and purposes, when there is very little fruit in the long run. Those who investigate get their information from websites or government agencies. Or, unbelievably, do you get your information from one? Do you hear say? and opinions based on? Reputation? or assumptions. A major danger of looking for facts and information about an area only on government pages is that our understanding is distorted about what a community needs to change.
- A good church planter.
- On the other hand.
- Should not only search and observe.
- You must listen.
- There are questions to ask.
- For example.
- Who are the top community leaders?Which community groups exist in the area?Which ones contain local populations and which ones do they contain?What do local people think are the biggest needs of the community?Like I said.
- Is it easy to think about that.
- Periphery.
- Then propose a set of hypotheses that can often have little to do with life here.
- What do people dream of?What does the community need to improve?Here’s one of the most important.
- Robert Lupton notes:.
“This is commonly referred to as the concept of perceived needs. Listening is the most important thing, because community members are the hidden treasures of the future. It is important not to focus on the weaknesses or needs of the community.
Neither the Community Church of Niddria nor the 20 patterns exist to meet the needs felt on the periphery. If so, then we wouldn’t be planting churches, since it wouldn’t even be among the?Top thousand needs felt by anyone! However, this last sentence is interesting. Why do you insist on this? Well, he advocates a community development approach that helps us try to focus on the wishes of community residents, what skills they have, and then think of those people as “community assets. “where we can focus our energies. Obviously, its context refers to community development, but I think we can use that principle in church planting.
As a planter, the question is how we can strengthen some of the talents of local Christians in harmony with the Great Commission. Again, it’s easy to look at a periphery like Niddrie and point out 10 things that need to be corrected. I think correction needs from the outside may not be best for someone in the region. What do you think? It is true that the church can help alleviate some of the great needs of the community, but we harm ourselves if we take full responsibility (and that is not even our primary responsibility). In fact, we can be accused of weakening the community if it tries to solve all the problems for them.
In recent decades, in my pastoral ministry, I have often dealt with people who are disappointed with the “institutional church. “People who want to go and move somewhere else?Best?. My response to these people has always been the same.
“You can’t change anything by walking away. You can only make effective and lasting changes when you’re inside. Now, what do you think should happen and how are you going to help me get there?”
I know this is not the most powerful argument, but if we want to stay and listen to a community, we must be prepared to listen to the defeatist conversations about “nothing ever changes. “We must help local Christians see that they are under the lordship of Christ, responding to the problems of their community, not just external agencies or even the church.
Of course, spiritual regeneration is the ultimate goal, but we must develop our listening skills to strengthen our evangelization, as well as our method of discipleship, so that we give people not only the means to take responsibility for themselves and their communities, but also give them the means to get involved. We must constantly evaluate what we do and ask ourselves whether we unsote people or whether we depend on anything other than Jesus Christ.
If we want lasting change on the periphery, everything we do must be sustainable, so as we listen, we need to develop departments that strengthen people in their abilities and motivate them to stay in the community for benefit This is extremely difficult in an individualistic society. Therefore, it must begin in the body of Christ, if we enter the community, using our gifts, serve each other for the benefit of all as we listen, then it is a great model of life for the people of the community.
Listen to people. It’s not as easy as it sounds, is it?
By: Mez McConnel. © 2013 20Seemas. Original: Keys to progress in the housing project (1)
Translation: Fabio Luciano Review: Yago Martins © 2016 Faithful Ministério All rights reserved. Website: MinistryFiel. com. br. Original: Gospel on the periphery?Principle 5: Listen to the Community
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