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App Recommends Different Ways to Serve God in Community

Jesus commands all of His followers to what is now called the Great Commission, to “go and make disciples of all nations” (Matt 28:16). But that doesn’t mean all Christians must travel to some distant unreached people group to share the Gospel. Even before COVID-19 put the world on lockdown, that wasn’t a practical step for most people.

For most Christians, obeying this call means taking advantage of the opportunities that present themselves in your normal life. “Missional living is living like Jesus by intentionally taking steps of faith to demonstrate and communicate the Gospel to people in everyday life,” says Jeff Kreiser, Executive Director for the ACTS Group.

Recently Jeff and Matthew Watts, Digital Product Team Lead for Cru, spoke in one of the Indigitous Digital Outreach Workshops about how you can use the MissionHub app to take steps of faith in community. The webinar series is part of Indigitous’s partnership with GO 2020, where we have a collective goal of mobilizing 100 million believers to reach 1 billion people with the Gospel in the month of May.

Principles of missional living

To live on mission, to make the most of the relationships in your life, you have to be open to stepping out of your routine and comfort zone. Like most people, Matt has a normal routine, where he rides his bike home from work, waves to various neighbors on the way home, and just wants to get inside the house with his family to start the next part of his day. But what if he interrupts that routine to start a conversation with one of those neighbors? “Am I willing to stop? Am I willing to have my agenda adjusted for something God might want to do?” Matt asks.

Jeff says that each of us has “split-second opportunities” that happen each day. Passing by your neighbor on the sidewalk, riding in an Uber, or dining at a restaurant can all be opportunities for spiritual conversations if you’re living missionally. In those split seconds, you have to decide whether to follow God or follow your own agenda.

Who are the people in your life right now? Those are people with whom you can live intentionally, walking with them on their spiritual journey. According to Jeff, there are four key principles of missional living.

  1. Every person matters. Your family, your friends, your coworkers, your neighbors, the person delivering food to your doorstep, they all matter to God.
  2. Everyone is on a spiritual journey. “We believe that God is pursuing every person that they may know Him,” Jeff says. Knowing where the people in your life are in their spiritual journey helps you to live missionally, walking with them on their journey. The MissionHub app has 5 phases of a spiritual journey: Uninterested, Curious, Forgiven, Growing, and Guiding.
  3. When taking steps of faith, every step counts. “A lot of times, we think that the big decisions are the things that count most,” Jeff says. While making a decision to follow Jesus is a huge and important step, it is a very big step that required many smaller steps to get there. All of those smaller steps are also important and shouldn’t be overlooked when you are trying to live missionally.
  4. Take steps of faith in community. While most places are not allowing people to gather right now, community is still an important part of missional living. Whether you use social media, Zoom, a MissionHub community, or something else, being in community with others allows you to walk with them in their spiritual journey.

Taking steps of faith

Taking a step of faith can be something you say or something you do. It can be having a spiritual conversation or showing Christ-like generosity by helping meet one of their needs. It can be calling a friend, helping your neighbor with their yardwork, delivering meals for those who can’t leave their homes, or comforting someone who is feeling anxiety about the pandemic.

Using MissionHub

MissionHub is an app designed to help you be intentional with your everyday relationships by taking the next best step to help others experience God. Based on your own phase in your spiritual journey, the app suggests steps for you, which you can add as tasks to complete. Once you have done that, the app suggests you add others who you would like to help grow in their journey.

Our relationship with God has seasons, times of growth when we are at a spiritual peak, as well as spiritual valleys when we aren’t growing and don’t feel close to God. “What has often kicked me out of that back into growth is not learning more, is not consuming more, but it’s actually when God invites me to share what I have,” Matt says. “It’s that act of sharing and giving away what He’s given to me through multiple different ways that actually has me continue to grow.”

MissionHub

After you add someone to take steps with and indicate their phase in their spiritual journey, the MissionHub app suggests a number of steps to take with that person. Those steps are based on your phase as well as theirs and can include anything from praying for that person to learning something new about them to asking what they think about God. After adding it to your steps, you can set a reminder so the app will give you a nudge, reminding you that you wanted to take that step.

As you take steps of faith with people who matter to you, MissionHub suggests new steps and tracks that activity, letting you see how the two of you are journeying together. MissionHub also has communities, where you can create and complete challenges and encourage each other on as you take steps of faith.

Whether you use MissionHub or not, it is important to live on mission. In doing so, you’re obeying Jesus, helping others come to know him, and growing in your own faith. As you take steps of faith, we invite you to be part of GO 2020, doing your part to help one billion people hear the Gospel this month. Taking part in GO 2020 doesn’t have to be intimidating; just start with small steps.