by Chris Swann
Pioneering new ministry is exciting and challenging. All faithful Christian ministry connects in some way with God’s heart and mission to seek and save the lost as Jesus put it. And that is certainly true of missional pioneering. But there are some distinctive things that its worth bearing in mind as you engage with the task of breaking new ground as you seek to reach new people, demonstrating the love of Christ and declaring the good news to them in fresh ways, and in God’s kindness seeing the seeds sown take root, grow and bear fruit.
Perhaps the most critical principle to embrace in pioneering is the priority of God’s action in pursuing the mission.
Biblically, God’s people are sent with the same intent and as an extension of a prior sending — the Father’s sending of the Son into the world (John 20:21). Pioneers must learn to pay attention to what God is doing — in them, through them and around them in their pioneering context. Jesus’ invitation is to join with him in his mission in the power of the Holy Spirit.
Keeping in tune with the priority of God’s action — and reflecting our role as those God invites to join with Jesus in the power of the Spirit — means that the pursuit of closeness with God is the foundation of pioneering. Pioneering leaders and their teams must give first priority to listening to God for themselves, turning to God in prayer, feeding on God’s word in Scripture, and practicing the disciplines of noticing the grace of God at work (like the Apostle Barnabas does in Acts 11:19-24).
On top of this foundational work of giving attention to God’s action in us, pioneers would do well to observe 5 key principles in seeking to determine where God is at work around them and joining with what God wants to do through them. These 5 key principles can be expressed in the acronym READY:
• Research the context into which you want to pioneer
• Engage with the people and community in that context
• Articulate the vision you have for impact in the community
• Develop a diverse pioneering team of other leaders around you
• Yield to God's timing and the wise voices around you
Research
Researching the context in which you hope to launch a pioneering venture is vital. You need to listen, understand deeply, and ensure that the work you do to initiate new things is informed and shaped by evidence and facts on the ground.
Begin with demographics and statistics to build up a picture of who the people in the context are:
• Are they new arrivals — to the place or to Aotearoa New Zealand — or did they put down roots long ago?
• Are particular ages or demographics overrepresented (or underrepresented)?
• How has the profile of this community been changing over time?
Beyond statistics, try to notice how people live: what their day to day rhythms are, what they value and care about, and when, where and how they gather.
Ultimately, consider what might be going on spiritually beneath the surface in this community. What do people love, trust and worship (functionally if not formally in temples or shrines)? Where do they look for guidance, meaning, value and connection? Where might there be openness to Jesus and the things of God? And where is there indifference, resistance or even hostility?
Prayerfully considering these questions is the best way to explore what God might be doing in this community. As the Apostle Paul preached, God “made all nations to inhabit the whole earth, and he allotted the times of their existence and the boundaries of the places where they would live, so that they would search for God and perhaps grope for him and find him” (Acts 17:26-27).
Engage
All the research, statistics, facts and figures in the world can’t surpass being present in and engaged with actual people in the community.
Find the “city gates” are where people gather to build relationships, do the business of community life, and make important decisions. These may be formal institutional places like local council offices or town halls. But they might equally be school gates, sports clubs, libraries, neighbourhood houes, local business or owners association meetings, or spaces used by artists and activitists.
Make it part of your rhythm to turn up in these places and get involved. Get to know people. Learn to love them. Ask them about the things you’ve noticed in your research and listen to them as they respond.
Pray for the people you and your pioneering team engage and connect with. God has a way of writing on our hearts the people whose names we take upon our lips in prayer. And few things can supercharge your ability to pioneer ministry that connects substantially with people in the community, leveraging their real strengths and addressing their real needs, than growing in genuine love for them.
Articulate
You need to know and articulate the “Why?” of your pioneering ministry.
Vision can be overdone or overcomplicated — few things kill participation and group ownership more than someone having such a thoroughly worked out plan that the only part others can play in it is as a tiny cog in the machine they’ve created and intend to control. But without at least a glimpse of where things are going, what the goal is, and what impact (under God) you dream of having, it’s very hard for people to get excited and come on board with you.
One of the key things that should emerge as you consider what God is doing in the community you are researching and engaging with is a sense of what you would love to see happen:
• What is good and beautiful and lovely that you want to thank God for doing and bringing about in this community — now and in the past?
• What do you lament and find sadly broken, breaking your heart and stirring up your desire to see God heal, restore and resolve?
• And what do you long to see God do in and for people here, what impact, blessing, change and transformation is needed?
These are the sort of questions that can provide vision for your pioneering ministry. And once you start to form a sense of the answer to them, don’t keep the vision to yourself. Share it with people who can pray with and for you. See who resonates with it and picks it up (they could be your future team members). Test it out with the people in the community. See what sticks and look to build on that.
Develop
No one pioneers alone. It’s not possible, and it’s not a good idea to try. For one thing, building things around one person and their ideas, energy and relational “span” makes for a thin and brittle ministry — if it’s all built around you and something happens to you, or you move on or burn out, it’s unlikely that things will continue. For another thing, God has made the church a body for a reason. It’s good for us to work and build together as different but interconnected parts, all pulling towards a common end.
So make it a priority to develop a team.
Develop your team by recruiting. Recruit people who are warm to your vision, people who know the community and context (or are willing to get to know them), people who other churches and ministries can send or release to work with you. And keep recruiting (even after things are up and running). And the first missionary journeys of the Apostles unfolded, they were constantly drawing people onto their teams who had gifts or backgrounds that helped open doors — think about Timothy and his Greek cultural background that proved so significant as the Apostle Paul’s team began its ministry in Macedonia (Acts 16).
Develop your team by discipling and investing in the growth of people on your team. Team members are not only people you can do ministry with, they’re people to whom you need to minister — helping them grow, deepen their trust in God, steward the gifts given them, take on new challenges to serve and stretch themselves.
And develop your team by learning to delegate — not just tasks but responsibility and authority for decision-making — and by empowering others. This means not only inviting and making it easy for others to contribute and participate, but also taking seriously what they contribute. Settle it in your heart that your pioneering ministry will be better if others genuinely play a part in it, brining ideas and input that may be better than the ones you can come up with in splendid isolation. Actively embrace the blessing and challenge of team ministry.
Yield
Few things are more sure in pioneering than the likelihood you’ll encounter surprises and setbacks. Things almost certainly won’t go exactly to plan or unfold on the timeline or following the path you imagine.
So you and your team will need to be both flexible and resilient, not giving up at the first sign that things aren’t going the way you expected. But even more important than that, you need to seek God in this, yielding to the work the Spirit may want to do in you.
It can help to get into the habit of asking questions like:
• What might the surprise or setback reveal in you that needs to be brought to God and surrendered?
• What can you learn from the blockage or detour you’re facing?
• What opportunity is there to deepen your own trust in and dependence on God as you confront your fear, frustration, reactivity and impatience?
As well as expecting unexpected things to happen, plan yield to God in seeking to open yourself to the voices of wise counsellors who can speak to your ideas, plans and timeline. And also consider opening yourself up to a formal assessment process that addresses your suitability and readiness to lead in pioneering new ministry. Undergoing assessment doesn’t have to be a matter of judgement or proving yourself.
At its best it can contribute to your flourishing and the long-term benefit of your pioneering ministry by helping you grow in self-awareness, identify priorities for development, highlight where you would particular benefit from developing others around you in a team, and fuelling your dependence on God.