For years now church gurus have talked about the seating capacity of a building.  You know, if your main worship service is 80% full you need another worship service. Well, even though that’s still true, how many you have in worship and the size of your building is not enough.  The real standard for evaluating success for a church is how many people does it send out into the community and world to share their faith.

Over the last ten years I’ve noticed more and more leaders catching on to this “sending” factor.  Some churches even send people out every week to bless the community in some way and spread the Good News. It’s a real blend of social action and evangelism. It’s not just doing good, although that happens.  It’s transforming the community in multiple ways- better schools, neighborhoods, jobs, salvation- well you get the picture.

So here is my question- how many people do you intentionally send out to bless the surrounding community? Is that even on your radar? If not, there’s something missing to your ministry.

If you want to see the “sending” in action, visit one or more of the following churches who have and are leading the way: The Healing Place in Baton Rouge, Cincinnati Vineyard, Dream Center in Los Angeles, and Summit Church in Raleigh-Durham.

Bill Easum www.churchgrowtharticles.com easum@aol.com