Friday 15 July 2011

Why Tailored Mission Strategies?

This blog is about Christian mission but the concept is best illustrated if we start by thinking about how we choose and purchase clothes.

You can find lots of choice in stores these days and if you shop at supermarkets you should be able to find something that is right for you at a good price.  It might even fit fairly well.  Of course if you went down the route of bespoke tailoring someone would work with you to produce something that you feel good in and something that is a perfect fit everywhere.  The downside of that is that it will cost more.  But if you are someone who goes for bespoke tailoring you know how much better that is.

Let's get back to the subject of Christian mission.  There are a whole range of mission programmes on the shelves including social action programmes and evangelistic programmes.  Shop around and you will find something that will seem helpful for your church at this time.  I would be happy to give you some pointers if that's the route you want to take.  But imagine if you could develop a mission programme specifically tailored to your church and location.  Now imagine that this can be achieved for a very modest outlay.

What are the main advantages?

Here are just a few of the benefits...
  • It maximises the engagement of the whole core congregation;
  • It creates a strong sense of local "ownership" so your members will not feel that something has been imposed on them;
  • It enables confidence in mission engagement;
  • It works in any Christian tradition;
  • It can be developed whatever the theological position;
  • It can be tailored to fit a church of any size;
  • A stress-free way to become more missional;
  • It develops Christian discipleship and a sense of awareness of each member sharing in God's mission;
  • It will be relevant for your local community.
Take a look around this blog to find out more about taking a tailored approach to developing localised mission strategies.