Putting God’s Vision

Into Practice
An Introduction to the Practice
of Integral Mission

Session 14
Student Workbook
 role play: church leaders’ monthly meeting1
Characters sit and talk among themselves. ey make enthusiastic comments
and generally agree that the studies on the Integral Mission of the Church have
been lifechanging, exciting, and powerful—opening their eyes to their calling
and to the true mission of the church.

After all characters have made positive comments and agreed together, then the
characters begin the following dialogue.

Chairman: Well, we need to move on and start discussing the “real”

business on our agenda.

Member: Wait a minute! When do we start applying these things

we’ve been learning about God’s Kingdom of Shalom and
the Integral Mission of the Church?

Chairman: Well, those were good classes, no doubt. But there are
pressing needs on our church’s agenda that need attention
right now. Maybe, at a later time, we can discuss to see if
we can include a few ideas from these classes into what we
do as a church. But for now, we need to talk urgently
about what to do to fix the leaky roof in our church
building.

Member: But… what was the purpose of taking these classes if we’re
not going to apply them? Shouldn’t we at least take some
time to think about our priorities as a church in the light
of God’s purposes for us, instead of going straight back to
business as usual?

Chairman ignores the question and continues with the meeting agenda—but
there is a knock at the door. A member goes to the door and has a conversation
with someone outside. (Visitor cannot be seen.) e member asks the person to
wait, then returns to the business meeting.

Person Who Went to Door: It’s a poor person who needs some help.
What shall we do?

Chairman: We have to attend to our business! Otherwise we’ll never

get anything done. Even Jesus’ said that we will always
have the poor with us. So tell him to come back at
another time.

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 discussion questions2

• What did you see in the role-play? What was the problem?
• Is your church like this in any way? Do you perceive you could have a
similar experience in your church after having taken these classes?
• How easy is it to get distracted from doing the things of the Kingdom?
What are some of the reasons?
• How can you make sure that the training you just received doesn’t
remain theory, but leads to practice?
• In fact, what are some of the things that you benefited most from in
this training? What new insights did you gain? In what ways did this
course challenge you? What in particular – after having gone through
this training – do you know you simply must put into practice?

putting god’s vision into action: the case of nueva

suyapa
“Nueva Suyapa is similar to any neighbourhood in the slums of any major
city in the developing World. It is located just a few kilometres from the
National University of Honduras and from the Basilica of the Virgin of
Suyapa in Tegucigalpa, the capital of Honduras. However, it is generally
isolated, neglected and forgotten by the local government. Nueva Suyapa
was founded in the 1970s over the old garbage dump of the city by flood
victims left homeless by Hurricane Fifi. Currently there are over 5000
families living in Nueva Suyapa. e majority of the houses have leaking
roofs and dirty floors. ere is no sanitation system for wastewater, and
families spend up to a third of their income on buying water because the
city system only connects them to water once a month. ere are not
enough schools for all the children, much less places for recreation. Many
young people find a sense of belonging by joining gangs, some of which
are the most dangerous in the city. Muggings, murders and other violent
acts are the primary causes of death. Almost seventy percent of the
households are headed by single mothers, who have a hard time finding
jobs that would pay them enough to get out of extreme poverty. Many
children from these homes spend their days on the streets, without access
to education, health or security.”3

discussion questions

• If you were a church in Nueva Suyapa that wanted to put God’s vision
of Shalom into action… what would you do? How would you
practically seek to respond to the dimensions of the need in the
community?

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 • Reflecting on the things you learned by studying God’s Story with his
world and his purposes for the church, what concrete actions would
you suggest, your church should undertake?

group exercise: bringing it home

Form a small group of four to six people with other members from your
community/church. Together, write a description of the community where you
live or where your church ministers. e description should list positive and
negative observations. (Do not yet discuss solutions to problems.) Write your
descriptions of your community onto a large paper, discuss the following
questions with the members of your group, and then report your findings to the
larger group.

group dialogue

• After describing your community, how do you feel about it? Is it an

easy or difficult place to bring about God’s intentions and advance his
vision of Shalom?
• What do you see as the greatest obstacle to God’s intentions being
realized in your community?
• Is it possible to overcome that obstacle?

essential principles for community transformation: the

nehemiah solution
Missing two background pictures.
He asks questions and listens (1:2-3)

He weeps and mourns (1:4)

He prays and fasts (1:4-11)

He analyzes the situation and considers his resources (2:1-6)

He makes strategic visits, engages in intentional networking and does a

power analysis (2:7-10)

He does research and assesses the situation for himself (2:11-16)

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 He publicly identifies with the people (2:17)

He publicly articulates and defines the problem (2:17)

He then turns the problem into an issue (2:17)

e people determine the solution and create their own strategy/plan of

action (2:18 & chapter 3)

e people carry out their actions (chapters 4-6)

e people confront the opposing powers and defeat them (chapters 4 &
6)

Nehemiah confronts the Jewish power elite in public and obtains their
consent (chapter 5)

e people complete their action (6:15)

reflection questions
How is the health, well-being and effectiveness of the Church affected
by our not taking seriously the Nehemiah model for ministry?
It is not affected at all. Nehemiah’s model was good for his time, but
has nothing to teach us today.
If we were to follow Nehemiah’s model for ministry, we could
potentially increase our effectiveness somewhat. But I don’t believe it
will significantly affect the well-being of our church.
We lose out on much by not taking Nehemiah’s model for ministry
seriously. If we applied it more consistently, the Church would become a
force for good in our communities.

To what degree are Nehemiah’s strategy and his principles for ministry
being practiced in our church?

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 Not much. If we do something, we do it FOR the community instead
of WITH it.
Very little. We say we don’t have enough resources.
We are applying these principles in our church.

Are changes needed in our life and the life of our church? If so, what
changes?
We need to understand these principles.
We understand and agree with these principles but need to put them
into practice.
We are on a good path and basically doing what Nehemiah did.

group discussion
Discuss with other members of your group how Nehemiah’s principles
could be applied by your church in the development of your communities.
Write a specific, short plan to apply one principle that you could do within
the next month.4

seed projects: loving your neighbor: real examples5

Introduction
Most local churches in marginalized areas have a common problem. ey
are poor. e members are poor. So are most of the people who live in the
churches' communities. Often, their material poverty—and how they see
themselves— confines their community outreach to sermons, door-to-
door witnessing, street-corner evangelism, and Bible studies. When they
are challenged with the idea that ministry goes beyond proclamation, their
focus is on their weakness. eir responses are predictable: “How can we
do anything to help others when we have so many needs ourselves?” “We
are 'little people'—what can we do?” “Who will listen to us?” “e
mission, the denomination, or the government have money—they are the
ones who can improve our situation.”

Seed projects are a way to help local churches break out of such self-
defeating thinking and plan and implement integral mission projects.
Seed Projects are short, simple ministry activities. ey are done by a local
church or small group, whose members sacrificially invest their own
resources to start a project that demonstrates God’s love to people outside
the church. Defined by biblical principles about seeds, they serve as the
beginning, not the end result, of an ever-growing ministry. Key
characteristics of seed projects include:

• Covered in prayer
• Motivated by God's intentions for Shalom

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 • oughtfully planned
• Simple—small, uncomplicated, and completed in a short time
• Done with local resources
• Directed toward those outside the church
• ose who benefit also participate, as possible
• Spiritual impact where appropriate
• Evaluated by Kingdom standards
• Result: God is praised

Seed projects help local churches see and experience that they have more
than spiritual Good News to offer their communities. Local church
people can be catalysts and servants, bringing about positive physical,
social, and spiritual change, even if they themselves are poor.

e following pages give examples of projects carried out by poor

congregations in several different countries. ey describe ministry
projects implemented by urban barrio churches, materially poor rural
congregations, and middle-class urban churches. ese churches did not
exempt themselves from Jesus’ command to love their neighbors. eir
examples show that all churches—even materially poor churches—can
proclaim and demonstrate God's love, beginning with small-scale efforts.

Not all projects listed, are not small, uncomplicated, or completed in a

short time. Yet, they are included for several reasons: (1) ey
demonstrate faithful, creative, and sacrificial witness. (2) Local churches
that have already served their neighbors through seed projects are
encouraged to undertake more complex ministry projects that address
physical, spiritual, and social needs. Examples of these larger projects are
also given. To carry out the larger ministry projects, local churches have
obtained material and technical resources by networking with local
governments or development agencies. ey have also networked with
other local churches, gaining valuable insights, resources, and
encouragement.

Seed Projects in El Dique

El Dique is an urban barrio community, created when hurricane refugees
settled on the steep bank of a river. ere are now approximately 250
people in a local church. Church leaders have met together weekly to plan
community outreach seed projects.

Example: is church in El Dique knew of children in the community

who could not afford to pay school fees. e church approached an
international child-sponsorship agency to get school sponsorships, but the
agency turned down the request. Church members decided to start a
sponsorship program, themselves. ey designed it and invited church
members to sign up to sponsor one child at 20 pesos per month (the

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 monthly school fee). One church member volunteered to sponsor one
child. Two others joined together to sponsor one child at $10 pesos each.
Four others had more limited resources and jointly sponsored one child.

Example: e church looked for non-Christian older widows in the

community who lived alone and needed help. ey believed that this was
one way to respond to the Bible's command to care for widows and others
who cannot care for themselves. ey offered to help five widows with
their housework. e offer was received, and the widows were amazed
that people who had no relationship to them were willing to help them.
Each woman has since placed her faith in Christ.

Example: Church leaders learned of five church members who had

material needs. Members who had the needed resources or skills were
networked with those with the needs. he networking provided one person
with a much-needed pair of shoes, another person received dental work,
and a third member's wall and latrine were repaired.

Example: Church leaders decided they needed more people to counsel

their members about spiritual and psychological problems. ey contacted
a local agency that provides training for lay counselors, and a team of
church members was trained.

Example: Church leaders found a woman who is known to be a good

manager of her household budget. ey invited her to give a seminar
about managing a household with very limited income. All the
community was invited. Many people from the church and the
community came for this teaching.

Example: Church leaders discerned a need in the church and the

community for teachings on family relationships. ey contacted a local
person with a background in family counseling and planned a seminar on
husband-wife and parent-child relationships. Advertisements were posted
throughout the community. Church members, as well as a number of
people from the community not associated with the church, attended the
seminar. Church leaders also used the opportunity to share their faith and
explain their interest in serving the community.

Seed Projects in Mt. Sinai

Mt. Sinai is an urban barrio church located on the edge of a large
metropolitan area, but isolated from the city by a deep ravine. Church
membership is about fifty. is small church had a building made of
rough wood planks, a leaky tin roof, and a dirt floor.

Example: e church and community had no electricity. e pastor

began to research what would be needed to get the city power company to

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 bring electricity into the community. He learned that $20,000 would be
needed, so he and members of the church talked with other community
residents and offered to work together to raise the necessary funds. ey
organized a plan in which the nearly one-hundred families of the
community gave a few quetzales every week. Eventually, the community
raised $10,000. rough field trips and requests to businesses and
development agencies, they obtained pledges for the balance of the needed
funds. ey now have electricity.

e pastor reported that, before the electricity project, the community

viewed the church as separate from the community. After this project, the
community saw the church as an important part of it. People from the
community came to hear what motivated the church people to begin the
electrification project.

Example: Because of the success of the electricity program, the church

participated with the community to plan to connect their community
directly to the capital city, located across a deep ravine. Without the
connection, the people had to take a several-kilometer detour.

Example: e church members wanted a permanent building for

worship, religious education, and a training center for the community.
ey planned that the building would be used all week, day and night, to
help the people of their community. ey began raising money through
food baskets. Each week, members bring a portion of food: a cup of rice
or beans, some butter, or vegetables. e basket is sold and the proceeds
used for the future land and building. Each week the church is raising
about $7.00.

is small congregation is similar to many of the other barrio churches.

Before understanding God’s vision of Shalom for their world, they had
little hope of doing anything in their community, other than holding
services for worship, preaching, and teaching. Now, after the success of a
seed project that met a major need in the community, their vision and
plans have greatly expanded. Whatever the future holds, their credibility,
witness, and effectiveness have been enhanced in the eyes of the
community.

Seed Projects in La Verdad

La Verdad is a barrio church in a large city. e church building is made
of wooden planks, a tin roof, and a dirt floor. Church membership is
about eighty people.

Example: When this church was first challenged to accept God’s

challenge to advance his vision of Shalom in their community by loving
and serving their neighbors and sharing what they had, their response was

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 “We are so poor, we cannot do that.” eir pastor told them, “You may
not have much food, but you can share a small amount of sugar, rice, soap,
or something else with those who have less than you.” In response to what
they believed God was telling them, the members brought small amounts
of food during the week and put them into a common basket at the
church. Each week, the church gave the food basket to a very poor, local
non-Christian family. e families served had an opportunity to see an
expression of the love of Christ.

Example: e members of this church implemented the idea of tithing, or

giving ten percent of, their time and skills for seed project ministry in the
community.

Seed Projects in Los Minas

Los Minas is an urban barrio community built on the side of a cliff. e
barrio was quickly settled by people who lost their homes during
Hurricane David in the late 1970s. Before the influence of the Kingdom
of God through the Los Minas church, the community had a reputation
for theft and violence. Seed projects in the community greatly improved
the community and strengthened the credibility of the church and its
message. A local church in Los Minas has about forty members.

Example: Church members began to think of ways to demonstrate their

concern for the people of the community. ey chose to help sick or
otherwise needy neighbors with housework. Non-Christian families were
offered help, and they gladly accepted.

Example: ere are no vehicle roads in the community, only sidewalks.

Garbage collects, rots, and creates serious sanitation and health problems
in the narrow spaces between houses. On several occasions, the church
has organized a garbage clean-up campaign. Members of the church go
through the community with buckets, plastic bags, and rakes. ey bring
the garbage to the top of the cliff, where city trucks can haul it away. As
the church members work in this activity, they share their faith. eir
neighbors are willing to listen to the message because it is clear that the
members of the church identify with the problems of the community.

Example: e community had little or no organized social activities for

young people, so the church organized two baseball teams. e time they
spend with the young people also gives church members a good
opportunity to share their faith.

Seed Project in Los Mameyes

Los Mameyes is a barrio on the edge of a large metropolitan area. e
local church there has fifty members.

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 Example: is church identified five families in the community whose
homemakers were too sick to do housework. Church members helped
them clean their homes, wash and iron their clothes, and clean their yards.
Most of these families have since become followers of Jesus.

Seed Projects in La Cieñega

La Cieñega is a large, crowded urban barrio built on a swamp on the edge
of a wide river that runs through a large city. It had no public sanitation;
no public schools; high unemployment; and many other spiritual, social
and economic problems. ree local churches in La Cieñega cooperated
in community ministry. ere are between thirty and sixty people in each
of the congregations.

Example: e churches initiated three preschools. ey rented empty

homes for the school buildings and staffed them with members of their
churches. e government was impressed and offered to assist by
providing government-paid staff. By networking, the churches found food
and nutritional supplements for the children from international
development agencies. ey held meetings for the parents to talk about
parental care. e parents were so impressed with the schools that they
supported them by paying fees, and the preschools became selfsupporting.

Example: e three churches started a literacy program for adults. By

networking, they discovered an agency that would train their literate
members to teach nonliterate adults. Six church members attended the
training sessions and started six literacy programs in the community.

Example: One of the churches initiated a vocational training program for

young men in the community, teaching carpentry and cabinet-making
skills. e teacher was a church member with carpentry skills, who
volunteered his time and knowledge.

Example: e churches joined together and organized the community to

build a small bridge across a bad place in one of the main roads, where
vehicles often got stuck during the rainy season. From the concept of
networking and field trips learned from a Christian development
organization, they asked local businesses for building materials for the
bridge. ey were pleasantly surprised that the businesses cooperated.
People from the churches and the community volunteered their labor to
build the bridge. With the success of this seed project, the churches were
encouraged to address the same problem in other places in the community.
A total of five, small concrete bridges were built—all with local resources.

Example: One spiritual seed project was the public showing of an

evangelistic tool, Jesus Film. As a result, many people indicated their
interest in following Jesus.

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 Two illustrations of the credibility earned by the churches because they
demonstrated the Gospel: (1) Community leaders have asked the pastors
and leaders of the churches to officially represent the community on
several occasions. One time, when it was rumored that the president
wanted to tear down the community to build a tourist port, community
leaders asked for their representation to the national government. Before
the churches began their outreach ministries, people didn't think the
churches cared about the problems that mattered to the community. (2)
Two young Communist leaders in the community came to one of the
three pastors and said, “We didn't know that Christians cared about
people, but we see that you do. So do we. We want to know if we can
work with you.”

Seed Projects in Carapita

Carapita is a church in an urban barrio of the capital city. ere are
approximately one hundred members in the church.

Example: is church went to a neighboring community to work on the

main sidewalk and its lighting system. e lighting system was not
functioning, and the sidewalk was full of garbage and weeds. e church
organized fifty of its members and worked from nine o'clock in the
morning until two in the afternoon, collecting garbage and pulling weeks.
Several members who had the needed skills repaired the lighting system.
Christian music was playing, and Christian tracts were distributed. e
people of the community were impressed, and some came to help. Others
brought juice and cookies to the workers.

Example: A government social worker met with the church and invited
the young people to help clean up—and then plant trees—in a
mountainous area near the local hospital. Twelve young people joined
others from the community, the hospital staff, and the local public school
in this two-day project. e government provided the tools and seedlings.
Organizers of the event publicly expressed gratitude to God and to the
local church. ey said it was the first time they had seen a Christian
group participate in this kind of activity.

Example: A local public school badly needed repairs on the toilets, the
electrical system, and a sewage ditch. ey had money for materials, but
not enough to hire laborers for the repairs. About twenty-five people
from the church joined an equal number of community people to do the
repairs on a Saturday. Women from the church and community prepared
sandwiches and drinks for the workers. School authorities and teachers
publicly gave thanks to God and invited the church to do other activities
with their students, such as movies and conferences.

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 Example: A local public school invited the church to give drug prevention
lectures to ten- to thirteen-year-old students on four successive Friday
afternoons. e use of drugs is a major problem in the barrios of this city.
e students responded positively to the lectures and the vision of having
a better life by following God's plan, instead of seeking pleasure in drugs.
e students and teachers asked that the church come back with more
lectures and Christian films.

Seed Project in Fonfrede

Fonfrede is a rural community. ere are approximately one hundred
members in the church.

Example: One Sunday morning, a group of foreigners unexpectedly

visited the morning service. ey arrived with a big truck and machinery
and announced that they were going to dig a well the next morning. ere
was great excitement because water was a tremendous need in Fonfrede.
ere were no wells; people got their water from a polluted river. Some of
the people of the community had to walk three kilometers to the river, and
sometimes it was dry.

e next morning, excitement was high. e entire community had heard

that there would finally be water in Fonfrede. e foreigners started their
well-drilling machinery but found that the entire valley was filled with
river stones too large for their equipment to handle. ey couldn't drill
any wells. Disappointment and discouragement were very evident.
Facilitators from a Christian development organization encouraged the
church leadership to explore what they could do on their own to meet the
need for water. ey made a field trip to a development organization that
owned intermediate-technology equipment, which could be used to dig
wells by hand. At first, the idea of successfully reaching water with a
hand-dug well was not well received. e people thought that the water
level was too deep. If hand-dug wells were possible, they reasoned, why
hadn't they been dug before?

However, because of the heightened interest in water, the church

leadership decided to try. ey rented the one-by-one meter collapsible
steel cylinder and winch. ey moved it to Fonfrede and began to dig for
water at the back of the church property. Water was struck at forty-five
feet. Predictably, the celebration great.

Nonchurch members, however, were not pleased. ey thought that

church members would hoard the water. On the contrary, the church
invited the community to share in God's blessings of their successful well.
Soon, representatives from nearby parts of the rural community began to
ask church leaders if they would help dig wells in other parts of the
community. e church responded positively. In little more than a year,

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 fifteen wells were dug by hand, one more than eighty feet. (We can
speculate that, if the foreigners had been successful digging a well by
machine, there might be only one well in Fonfrede today.)

rough this expression of concern for the community, the church gained
so much credibility that, when the church invited the community to come
to hear the message of God's love, it was filled with community people.
ey were curious to know more about the God and the people who had
provided water.

Seed Projects in Chapernas

ere are approximately forty members in a very poor church in the small
rural town of Chapernas. Traditionally, the people in Chapernas have felt
very powerless. In previous politically troubled times, they have been
victimized by opposing political groups.

Example: e young people of the church decided to try to demonstrate

their concern for the people of their community. ey had never done
anything like this before. ey decided to work on four houses which had
been flooded during winter rains. Two were homes of community people
not associated with the church, and two were church members' homes.
e young people dug diversion ditches around all four houses. e
community took notice, commenting that "crazy Christians" were helping
people not even connected to their church. Further, they were helping
without asking for anything in return.

Example: e church members began taking collections from their own

meager supplies of food. ey started to share the food with people in the
community who had less than they did. Several of the people who
received this expression of neighborly love decided to follow Jesus.

Example: Because of the initiative he saw in his church members, the

pastor decided to try to improve his family's housing. He said the poverty
of his living situation had been a “giant in his life” for many years, but he
didn't see how he could provide better housing for his family because he
earned a very meager salary. e pastor, his wife, and several children—
including one married son and his family—all lived in a two-room house.
e walls were made of poles and the floor of dirt. ere was no caulking
between the poles, so the home was open to weather, insects, and people
who wanted to look inside.

With the help of the young people from the church, the pastor began to
carry stones from a nearby creek and put them in a pile near his house.
Week after week, the pile grew. Eventually, there were enough stones to
build a foundation. en, the pastor bought one or two cement blocks
each week. A visitor became interested and promised to buy two cement

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 blocks for every one that the pastor bought. A year later, there were
enough blocks to put up walls. Today there is a cement block house where
the pole house stood, an example for the entire community that, with
vision and encouragement, people can make a difference in their living
situations.

Example: e road into Chapernas had many deep holes that filled with
water and mud during the rainy season. e deep holes made it difficult
for vehicles to travel in and out of the community. e members of the
church led a campaign to fill the holes with rocks and dirt. When they
started their seed project, a man with a tractor decided to help them. As a
result, the two-kilometer road into the community is much better.

Seed Projects in Santiago

e following example is from a church in a large urban area. Church
members are middle-class, and many members are professionals. e
church has approximately 2,500 members.

Example: Immediately after a Bible study on the topic of “A Christian

Response to Human Need,” the pastor called the church to repent. He
realized that the church had not been responding to the physical needs in
the community—especially to the needs of the poor—as it should. In
response, many of the members of the church, including professionals,
committed two hours per week to volunteer in their area of vocational
skill. e church set up a program to coordinate and schedule the hours
and skills with community needs. If the services are not directly needed,
then the members contribute financially what they earn in two hours, and
those funds are used for community outreach.

Example: One woman who cleans homes for a living was assigned to
clean the home of a sick man who was not related to the church. He was
astonished that someone who didn't know him would care enough to
come and clean his home. He asked her why. She told him it was because
of Jesus' love for him. As a result of her labor of love, he opened his life to
faith in Christ.

Example: Some of the women in the church started a sewing class for
local women. ere were 150 women who took classes to learn how to
sew clothes for their families, as well as to produce extra income.

Example: e members of the church regularly go through their unused

prescription drugs and bring them to the church. Doctors in the church
classify them, and they are used in a medical clinic outreach program.

Seed Projects in La Alameda

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 e following examples are from a middle-class church in La Alameda, an
area at the center of a large metropolitan area. e church has 150
members.

Example: e pastor challenged each member to fast one meal a week and
bring the funds not spent on food to the church to share with needy
people in the surrounding barrios.

Example: Major soccer games are on Sunday and conflict with church.
Drinking, gambling, and foul language are associated with the games, and
those who play soccer are seldom found in church. Church leaders knew
that many young men would like to play the sport, but lacked opportunity.
e church sponsored a soccer league which quickly grew to eighteen
teams and offered its building as a meeting place for the league's leaders.
Church members demonstrated their concern for the young people and
shared their faith during practices and games.

Example: Several doctors and medical students in the church organized a

clinic in the church. ey also began several clinics in neighboring
barrios, to meet physical and spiritual needs of the people who live there.

Other Examples: e pastor related other examples of seed project

ministries which the church had done:

• Held a child-care class for mothers

• Painted speed bumps to make them more visible to drivers
• Ministered to approximately twenty alcoholics in a nearby community
where the church has an outreach
• Filled potholes on a street
• Collected clothes for needy children
• Placed garbage barrels in the community (with Scripture verses painted
on the side)
• Constructed concrete stairs on a steep, heavily traveled path
• Formed a cooperative group for affordable dental care
• Offered door-to-door service by dentists who were church members
• Distributed bed sheets to prisoners
• Collected and distributed school supplies for children whose fathers
were in jail
• Distributed vitamins
• Gave preventive health seminars
• Requested service of a city truck to carry away community garbage

Other Examples and Ideas for Seed Projects

Here are a few more ideas for seed projects:

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 1. Church members survey the community for widows without means of
support. e church then offers to be an adoptive family, providing
physical and emotional support. Individuals are available to cook,
provide food, clean house, care for children.
2. e church starts its own child sponsorship program. Church
leadership identifies a needy community child who cannot afford
school. After determining the financial need, they match the child
with sufficient members of the church who pledge the support needed
for that child to attend school for one year.
3. e women of the church do an informal survey of items needed by
people from the community—clothing, food, cookware, etc. e
pastor tactfully announces the needs in church and gives members an
opportunity to volunteer to meet the needs.
4. e church starts a soccer team and invites other local teams to play.
Someone begins the games with prayer, thanking God for His concern
for healthy bodies and good human relationships. e visiting team is
invited to stay for refreshments and fellowship.
5. A survey is taken of skills available within the church, such as
carpentry or sewing. Members sign up to volunteer their skills for a
given period of time. e church coordinates skills and time resources
with community needs.
6. Church members set aside one handful per day of a staple food (rice,
beans, flour). At the end of the week, or when the container is full, it
is taken to a more needy neighbor or brought to church to be
distributed as an expression of Jesus' love.
7. Church members who can read volunteer to attend a local literacy
program to learn to teach others to read. ey return and offer reading
classes for the community.
8. Church leaders meet with community leaders to explore how church
members can contribute to community projects.
9. e church organizes a community-wide garbage clean-up project.
e project begins with a mini-drama for the community, illustrating
God's concern for health and sanitation and showing the relationship
between garbage and disease.
10. e church holds seminars on issues of interest and invites the
community. Guest speakers may be invited, and members seek to
build relationships with outsiders. Sample subjects: “How to Be a
Good Husband,” “How to Be a Good Wife,” “How to Shop and
Cook for Good Health,” “Boy-Girl Relationships,” “Sexually
Transmitted Diseases.”

Conclusion
As we have seen through these case studies, numerous ministry activities
reflect God's concern for the needy. Such activities can easily be
undertaken by the poor and their churches.

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 Imagine the “salt and light” effect there would be in our world if every
local church were known to act in these ways. is was the same kind of
impression made by the early churches in the communities in which they
ministered. May your church provide the same reflection of God's love
and desire to bring biblical Shalom to your community!

if jesus were mayor: how would your community

change?
Introduction
e Bible clearly says: “Where there is no vision the people perish.” A
church without a vision does little more than maintain the status quo. It
has little chance of making an impact for the Kingdom of God in its
community. But a church with a vision has an opportunity for earthly and
eternal significance.6 ere are many visions that seek to capture a
church’s heart. Some uphold the vision of a praying church. Others call
churches to the vision of supernatural healing. Still others insist that
churches should embrace a vision of evangelizing, or worshiping, or
fellowshipping. While all of these visions are important, they all fall short
of God’s overriding vision. Churches shouldn’t just accept any vision – but
God’s vision for the people and the universe he created and loves. Jesus
taught us to pray to our Father: “Your kingdom come, your will be done on
earth as it is in heaven.” God wants his will done on earth – now – as it is
in heaven. Knowing that, let’s ask ourselves the following question; a
question which may help us better understand God’s overriding vision and
our own mission within it. So let’s imagine: “What would Jesus do if he
were Mayor?”7

What would Jesus do if he were Mayor?

• What would he do about street children and the homeless?
• What would he do about alcoholism, drug abuse, and other addictions?
• How would he strengthen families?
• How would he promote safe drinking water, adequate housing and food,
health services, garbage and sewer systems, and decent roads?
• What would he do about fair wages and adequate employment?
• What would he do about unwanted children and care for the sick and
elderly?
• What would he do to bring beauty – clean streets, trees, flowers, and
public parks?
• What changes would he make in the education of children and adults?
• What new public policy decisions would he institute?
• How would he help people evaluate problems and make just decisions?
• What would he do to change the way local government works?
• What would he do about rampant corruption and bribery?

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 • Would his teachings be televised? Would he hold “town meetings”
where his agenda and Kingdom principles would be set forth?
• What would he do about crime and civil unrest? What guidelines
would he use for police and community relations?
• What changes would he make in the courts and judicial system? In the
prison systems?
• What would he do about the gap between the rich and the poor?
• How would the “little people” be treated in the community? How would
the powerful people feel about him?
• What would he do about single moms and disintegrated families?
• How would he seek to address migration abroad?
• What regulations would he establish for business?
• What would he do about depression, loneliness, and mental illness?
• How would he deal with pornography, sexual immorality, and
prostitution?
• What would he do about family violence and sexual abuse?
• How would he improve social relationships among the citizens?
• What would he do about recreation and entertainment?
• What role would the church play in the community?
• How would he encourage unity among churches and civic
organizations?
• What would he do about other religions?
• Would his teachings and actions put his life in jeopardy?
• How would the community be changed to reflect the municipal
administration’s priorities?

Ground Rules
Before our speculations go off course, here are some ground rules to
imagine his governance in ways that are compatible with the realities of
Jesus and the present world:
• Jesus’ mayoral actions would match the character of God and fall in line
with God’s vision of Shalom.
• Jesus would not establish a theocracy or a government ruled by the
church. History is replete with examples of how this experiment didn’t
work.
• Individuals would have free choice.
• Jesus would not create a welfare state. For example, his government
would not instantly provide free housing for everyone. He would not
instantly and miraculously make everything perfect for all of the
citizens. As he did throughout God’s Story, he would involve the
citizens in healing the brokenness around them.8
• Indeed, Jesus would do what we discovered that God has done
throughout world history. He would look for a people willing to stand
in the gap and advance his vision of Shalom. And when he found them,
he would give them his Spirit and power and be present with them in
this undertaking.

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 group activity
Now we are ready to engage these questions: “If Jesus were Mayor of your
municipality, how would your community change, based on what we
studied today?” “What would happen if Jesus’ character, values, laws and
teachings were the governing basis for our communities?9 Let’s pretend
that Jesus really is Mayor. He has assembled his “task force”. We – the
local church – are on it, and he wants us to carry out his agenda. “How?”
we wonder. He reminds us about the Nehemiah strategy and the concept
of seed projects, namely that seeds work in small, sacrificial ways. We nod
in agreement. en he assigns different groups of us to develop action
plans to address specific issues in our community.10

• Choose two or three questions from the list above, and discuss them
together with other members of your group, remembering the Nehemiah
model for ministry as well as the concept of seed projects.
• Discuss with other members of your group how Nehemiah’s principles
and the concept of seed projects could be applied by your churches to
address these specific issues.
• Write a specific, short plan of action of how you would go about
addressing one of these issues, taking Nehemiah’s model of ministry as
well as the concept of seed projects into account.
• If there is time, make your own list of what you think Jesus would do if
he were Mayor of your municipality.
• Have someone from your group share your insights and findings to the
larger group.

application journal:

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 endnotes
1 Adapted from e Harvest Foundation, Leadership Development Training Program
Level 1, ird Printing, 10-9
2 Adapted from e Harvest Foundation, Leadership Development Training Program

Level 1, ird Printing, 10-1

3 Adapted from Tearfund, On Solid Ground (Cimientos) – Facilitator’s Guide, 8
4 Adapted from e Harvest Foundation, Leadership Development Training Program

Level 1, ird Printing, 14-4

5 e Harvest Foundation, Leadership Development Training Program Level II, ird

Printing, 19-1 to 19-13

6 Bob Moffit, If Jesus Were Mayor, 10
7 Based largely on Bob Moffit, If Jesus Were Mayor, 10-12
8 Bob Moffit, If Jesus Were Mayor, 12
9 Bob Moffit, If Jesus Were Mayor, 12
10 Bob Moffitt, If Jesus Were Mayor, 275

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