Chapter 2: O Brother Where Art Thou?
Putting Things in Context
“______ Church really gets ‘it’ right” (Northpoint, Hillsong, Willow Creek, Saddleback,
Mars Hill, Life Church, etc… fill in the blank…)
Have you ever been inspired by the success of another church or ministry and found
yourself dreaming about how you could bring ‘it’ to your church? Have you ever caught
yourself thinking, “if we just had ______ like ______ Church - then we would be
set”? Or perhaps you’ve already implemented ‘models’ from other churches - only to
wonder why some succeed and some fail? All potential ministry inspiration should first
pass through the filter of Context.
Your ministry context is the framework that determines your congregation’s needs. Your
local church’s context is made up of many elements, including: denomination, history,
church vision/mission, your people, church resources, church size/scale, technology,
media, culture, local demographics: ages, religions, ethnicity, education, crime, politics,
economy, working class, and so on.
For example, a rural country church of 100 provides an entirely different ministry
context than my suburban church of 1,000. For that matter, my church of 1,000 has a
different ministry context than the church of 1,000 down the street. A church that is in
close proximity to a university has a different context than one sharing a parking lot
with a retirement home or one set in the homeless district of an urban inner-city. What
style(s) of music do you use? What do your outreach and service activities look like?
Ministry today should look different than it did 10 years ago. It’s a different time, a
different world, a different context.
Know your context. Know the people you are ministering to (both inside and outside the
church). And let that inform your ministry decisions.