Lessons from Neighboring Ministry: Preparing for the Window of Opportunity
Loriana Sekarski
Loriana Sekarski is the founder and president of BONSAI, a consulting company that transforms leaders (and businesses) into the best version of themselves. Outside of BONSAI, Loriana serves as an adjunct professor at Washington University's graduate student program. Additionally, she's fine-tuning her passion project, TakeFlight, a program that addresses domestic abuse within the Christian community.
I have learned a lot in the past three months since we started a neighboring ministry in response to the initial concern and isolation brought on by COVID-19. Over the next few newsletters, I plan to share these lessons so that others can learn from my experience and apply these lessons to how they lead teams and prepare for outreach.
For some context, we live in a city with 120,000 residents that is also home to Missouri’s land-grant university plus two liberal arts colleges. To date, we have had about 280 people total test positive for COVID in our entire county. But in the beginning of the pandemic, fear was rampant here in mid-Missouri just as it was everywhere. Non-essential businesses closed temporarily, and residents were asked to stay at home except for essential activities. With the low number of cases, shelter-in-place orders were lifted by May though there continue to be some restrictions on local businesses. `
As fear spread and people isolated at home, I felt led to do something to care for my neighbors in our subdivision of 500 homes. Together with a few other volunteers, we quickly launched a neighboring ministry called His Hands and Feet with a focus on encouraging and serving our neighbors. We structured it into three basic areas: prayer team, needs team, and care groups where group leaders would cover a zone of 15 homes each. Our leadership team included six people, and we spread the word through our subdivision’s Facebook page, a special Facebook group for the ministry, banners in the neighborhood, and flyers taken to each home.
Here are lessons I learned during this process and ideas for applying them to your ministry.
Move Quickly on Windows of Opportunity
Timing is everything. When people were paralyzed by fear, there was not only an openness to the gospel and scripture, but also a desire for it. We were surprised by the positive reception to our efforts and stepped into this gap. We were bold in our willingness to post on Facebook and to create scripture walls and prayer boxes in the neighborhood and even at the clubhouse.
But once people adjusted to this new way of life and the perceived danger had decreased, this level of interest dissipated quickly. It felt a little like how quickly the idols were dismantled and then resurrected again. I was shocked by the swift reversal when people had seemed so engaged initially.
Prepare Your People
Because timing is everything, your people need to be prepared for this type of ministry before the window of opportunity arrives. If you wait until that window opens, it might be closed again by the time they feel prepared to reach out.
About six weeks after launching the ministry, we faced what I viewed as minor resistance from six people out of 500 homes. That minor resistance rocked my leadership team. They could handle minor pushback in person, but the pushback on social media shifted their resolve. The resistance didn’t surprise me, but the reaction to the resistance was a significant blow to me. I was perplexed and discouraged. Those who were willing to lead care groups were not sure any more. Some on the leadership team wanted to step back.
As I struggled to understand it all, God clarified it for me – the needs are with the believers, not the non-believers. I never expected that. The formation of this ministry happened so fast, and I welcomed the leaders that stepped forward to meet the crisis at hand. I didn’t take time to ascertain everyone’s preparation for spiritual warfare, comfort level with being bold, and experience with organic outreach. That was a crucial misstep.
Tony Evans says in his Pathways to Purpose study, “You know it’s your time when God connects spiritual preparation with spiritual warfare.” As I reflected on this, I realized that I have been blessed to be prepared for a time like this through pastors like Shoreline Church’s Kevin Harney (our other home church) and Pastor Marty Schmidt at The Bridge Church in Ottumwa (watching his sermons weekly). They have been leading their people in how to be bold and fearless. Interestingly enough, both preached on Nehemiah in January. When I reflected on those experiences combined with my exposure to Organic Outreach and two years of studying from Tony Evans, I realized that I was more ready than most.
Here are three important things to keep in mind as you help people to prepare.
Expect a Spiritual Battle
As our ministry efforts took root, Satan attacked our family and the leaders in many ways. There were physical, emotional, and relational issues that were difficult, but prayer brought us through. There was a week of nightmares dredging up a painful past. It was like wrestling with Satan all night long—while praying through it led to victory, it was exhausting. We saw the attacks for what they were, and we were prepared to fight, but not everyone is prepared for that kind of battle.
Challenge: What are you doing to prepare your people for spiritual warfare? Do they know the signs when the battle has started? Are they expecting it? Have you taught them how to use the armor? Do they have mentors who practice with them?
"This has been teaching me a lot about where we live and the importance of understanding the nuances and unspoken rules of a community and culture."
Encourage People to Be Bold
I had also been prepared to be bold. The Bridge Church’s focus for this year is “fearless and faithful.” I think that strengthened my resolve. Having read through the Old Testament in the past two years (with all supporting notes), I had many examples to draw inspiration from.
But as we looked at our community, we realized boldness was countercultural. Christians don’t make waves typically. Those that do often aren’t supported. This has been teaching me a lot about where we live and the importance of understanding the nuances and unspoken rules of a community and culture.
Social media can also reduce boldness for many people. It’s one thing to be courageous in a small group on a neighborhood street. It’s another to be seen working in a ministry and putting something in writing with your full name attached for all to see. What if Ezekiel was checking his likes? My guess is we wouldn’t be reading about Ezekiel because God could not have used him.
I also learned boldness can be inspiring, which hadn’t occurred to me before. Several people said they were encouraged by seeing my boldness.
If we aren’t bold today, then when? There has never been a more important time when we as believers need to stand united and strong in our faith.
Challenge: How are you preparing your people to be bold? How are you helping them build courage? How are you supporting them in this? How do they support each other and Christians outside your church?
Support People in Doing Organic Outreach
The leaders on our team came from several different churches in town. I realized part of the hesitation I was witnessing was due to their lack of exposure to organic outreach. Most churches here try to draw people in versus going out to them. There is little done intentionally to prepare members to share the gospel in a natural way, which I identified as another gap in preparation. (I bought the Organic Outreach book for the leaders and hope to offer a study of it this fall.)
Yes, churches talk about sharing the gospel, but giving people very simple strategies and phrases is a crucial step in empowering them to actually do it. As a leadership coach, I often find clients lack the right phrases to enter into a difficult conversation, but when we develop them and practice them, it increases their confidence. That same thing needs to be part of preparing people for outreach.
Challenge: What tools are you giving your people to naturally share what God has done in their lives? Do you know their level of confidence in engaging others in spiritual conversations? How can you increase that?
There have been abundant blessings through our neighboring ministry, but also many lessons about the realities of organic outreach in a time of crisis. I pray that these lessons are an opportunity for you to better prepare others to confidently answer the call to outreach, whether in a time of normalcy or a time of crisis.
Interested in some of the resources we created about developing a neighboring ministry? An outline of our approach and some related resources are available online.
