Organic Outreach for Churches by Kevin G. Harney

Author:Kevin G. Harney [Harney, Kevin G.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Zondervan
Published: 2017-08-02T00:00:00+00:00

Who Can Serve in This Role?

The Outreach Influence Team Leader can be the primary pastor of the church, if this pastor has eight to ten hours a week to invest in leading the outreach ministry. It can be another staff person who is gifted and has time to lead this ministry. It can also be a volunteer.

When I worked with eleven churches to implement the content of this book in different church settings, two of these churches had lead pastors who felt called to be the Outreach Influence Team Leader. One of these pastors was leading a small church-plant of around a hundred people. The other was the pastor of a church of about a thousand people. Both of them did an excellent job serving in this role.

In the other nine churches, the Outreach Team Leader was a partner with the lead pastor. Two of these Outreach Team Leaders were volunteers, and in seven of the churches, they were staff members. In case you are wondering, the two volunteer leaders did an absolutely amazing job.

If you have ever tried to start an outreach ministry in a church, you might be shaking your head right now and wondering if I have lost my mind. You may have seen a church invest thirty, forty, or fifty hours a week in outreach with limited results, and you probably think that eight to ten hours will never get the job done.

The power of the organic approach to outreach is that the momentum for the outreach movement does not depend on the Outreach Influence Team Leader. Rather, that responsibility rests on the Outreach Influence Team members, who serve at the third level of influence in your church. These are the people who lead all of your church ministries. The responsibility also rests on the Ministry Workers (the fourth level of influence) and on the Ministry Participants (the fifth level of influence). As the outreach vision spreads to each of these levels, hundreds and thousands of hours of evangelistic activity are released on a weekly basis.

The job of the Outreach Influence Team Leader is to fan the flames. This person does not lead the outreach programs or administer lots of events. The leader’s role is to inspire and support the members of the Outreach Influence Team.

The Outreach Influence Team Leader also helps coordinate and support churchwide outreach events and programs, but this person does not have to lead them. Every outreach event or program should be “owned” or hosted by a specific ministry of your church and under the leadership of one of your Outreach Influence Team members.12

Outreach activity should never be led by a disconnected team that spends lots of energy trying to convince the other ministries of your church to participate. Instead, it must become the focus of every ministry in your church. When the Outreach Influence Team is functioning in a healthy manner, the Outreach Influence Team Leader is not burdened by running programs but is freed to inspire the team members and assist them in planning their events and programs.

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