Where churches should focus their ministry efforts

When it comes to doing ministry in church life, folks don't usually disagree that we should be reaching the lost and being 'Jesus' to our culture. No, the disagreement typically happens when we talk about the 'where.'

Some well-intentioned folks think we should focus on our own communities. They say we aren't doing enough in our own neighborhoods. So, they want to focus on the home-front and let the folks 'out there' wait ... indefinitely.

Some well-intentioned folks think we should focus on people outside our communities. Their mantra might be: "Why should anyone hear the Gospel twice before everyone has heard it once?" In doing so, they may fail to adequately love and serve the communities in which they live.

The beauty of approaching ministry the way Jesus instructed us is that it's not an "either/or" scenario. It's a "both/and."

It is my conviction that Acts 1:8 gives us the four concentric circles of ministry that each church should engage. There are four areas where we should focus ... ministering in each area simultaneously.

Acts 1:8 (ESV)

"But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth."

So, for Westside Baptist Church, if Jesus spoke these words to us in our culture today, He might say:

"But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you (He already has! Read Acts 2.), and you will be my witnesses in Murray/Calloway County and in all Kentucky and in the other 49 states, and in countries outside the U.S."

So, we are working on a strategy that helps us minister in those four areas at the same time:

- Loving, serving and reaching Murray/Calloway County

- Loving, serving and reaching other parts of Kentucky

- Loving, serving and reaching other states

- Loving, serving and reaching other countries

What is the answer to the 'where' question at Westside? Simply put, our aim is that at any given point in the life of Westside Baptist, we will be doing ministry in everyone of the four areas mentioned.

Is this a large, overwhelming undertaking? Yes. But so was taking the Promised Land! It was ambitious. It required God's involvement. And it was an exciting adventure as the Israelites came to realize just how awesome their God was.

It is my conviction that too often, churches are under-challenged. When a church is willing to embrace a God-sized vision and prayerfully takes that 'Promised Land,' things get very, very exciting and God gets incredible glory (folks see Him to be even more wonderful than they imagined).