Can a simple, organic, house church do missions? Can our Lord raise up apostolic teams and send them to the nations out of our house churches and networks? The answer is yes! But, there needs to be some changes in the way we think and approach missions or we will fall into the same traps that plague the institutional missions effort. This is the reason for this series of articles. Hopefully it will spawn some discussion, but most of all spur us all to take the gospel of the Kingdom into the regions of our world where there is no witness, no preaching and no church. Basically to those who are out of reach. “How will they hear unless someone is sent?” (Romans 10:14-15)

A SIMPLE PROCESS:
• Study God’s Word (see Part 2)
• Pray for the Nations
• Find a “Champion”
• Pray for harvest, and opportunity for all to participate in that harvest
• Seek the Lord for His Plan
• Follow the Plan

Apostolic Missions Begins with Prayer for the Nations

Once your local church grasps this call from your King, you will incorporate into your gatherings a time of prayer for the nations and seek the Lord’s direction regarding what to do. This is done for several reasons; you need to find out from the Lord how you are going to participate first hand in reaching the unreached. The Lord will give you a plan that you will not only initiate amongst yourselves, but share with the other house churches in your network (If you are not part of a network, join with one in your region. If there is not one, start one!) This plan consists of several simple steps that would prepare your church to reach the unreached.

Find God’s Champion

A major strategic step is to recognize someone within your church that would serve as a “champion” for the cause of reaching the unreached. This person would remind everyone of the needs of the unreached, to be sure prayer was initiated, and that they were progressing towards their goal of taking the gospel of the kingdom to an unreached people group. This advocate or champion would be sure that the apostolic mission the Lord has birthed in your midst remains in the forefront of the hearts of each person in your church.

Continual Prayer

What is meant by prayer in this context is that the church develops an integrated initiative to pray for harvest, to pray for opportunity, and to pray for the advancement of Christ’s kingdom through the ministry of every member of the church. The success of your mobilization to reach beyond yourselves begins with the success of the mobilization of prayer for the lost. Your prayers would be focused on praying for the unreached as well as seeking the Lord so that He would reveal to you His plan regarding how to reach the world around you in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and the uttermost parts of the earth. As a result of much prayer and seeking the Lord’s will, you will come up with a God breathed strategic plan.

In part four we will begin to discuss some of the things that could be a part of that pan. Link to Part four

[Don is available to come to your area and share with your group or network to assist your church to reach the unreached. dondavis@house2harvest.org ]