Five ways to Inspire Your Church Towards Gospel Transformation
A question often asked at Greater Europe Mission is “How can we mobilize more people for missions in Europe?” You may be asking a similar question about how to engage your community or congregation to respond to God’s call to the nations. This can be a hard question to answer given recent declines in community involvement.
With this challenge before us, how can the Church mobilize more people to reach the nations? GEM suggests these five ideas to help answer this question.
Don’t start with Mobilization
Though it may sound counterintuitive, mobilization is not the first step to answering this question.
To make mobilization––a military term defined as “to assemble and make ready”¬––-happen, people must first have tools, supplies, and things to assemble and make ready. Without providing people with the right things like inspiration, fruit of the Spirit, and tools to disciple others, there would be no one to mobilize.
Mobilization is downstream of inspiration. If we first inspire people to become disciples that grow fruit for the kingdom locally, then we’ll see more––and better––opportunities to mobilize people for the nations.
Plant Seeds of Inspiration
American Christian leaders can often assume that people coming to our buildings are fully formed, mature disciples of Christ just waiting for the opportunity to be mobilized into God’s greater plan for the nations to know him. Many times, we falsely assume people are ready and waiting for opportunity. But overall, the American church is losing members and has been for decades. We all need fresh inspiration. Not only for people to stay in our churches, but for people to allow seeds of God’s global kingdom grow in their hearts.
The first step is to start planting seeds of inspiration to join the Father’s cause to heal the nations. This healing comes when we teach a gospel of transformation that paints a full picture of what the kingdom of God is all about. To see Europe transformed by Jesus requires us to showcase a compelling vision of what life abiding in Him looks like. Europe needs Jesus and will encounter him––not us.
Cultivating The Seed
At GEM, we estimate it takes about seven years from the time someone expresses interest in serving overseas to arriving on the field long-term. How many more years did that seed grow in someone’s heart before they first expressed interest? Sometimes the answer is months; other times it could be years, even decades.
How can we cultivate the seeds God plants in their hearts for the lost?
Cultivating that seed starts with offering a full view of God’s kingdom and his desire for total transformation: transforming our lives, our hearts, and our communities.
Many GEM workers are pursuing this kingdom work for the transformation of Europe. Katie in Latvia obeys God’s desire for transformation by ministering through practical and spiritual restoration to those struggling with limb differences or amputations. Before retiring in 2023, Jerry and Elizabeth Averill in Scotland exhibited God’s kingdom through the performing arts. These are just two examples of GEM workers showcasing God’s heart for physical and spiritual transformation to impact the hurting world around us.
Growing and Pruning the Inspiration
The Apostle Paul spent 14 years in isolation being stretched, grown, and pruned by the Lord for ministry. Jesus spent 30 years growing and developing before he produced fruit for his own kingdom.
Once you identify those in your congregation who are hungry to grow, start cultivating their passion for transformation of culture. Whether through the arts, healthcare, technology, or church planting, provide them with resources and opportunities to develop as missional leaders. Consider others in the congregation already serving on local (or global) mission as a valuable support to those you have identified through prayer.
Growing Fruit that goes Global
The fruit of the Spirit is for other people to eat. The fruit is not for the producer to enjoy, but to bless others. Europe is in desperate need of such fruit.
Lasting fruit that can expand the blessings of God’s kingdom won’t be generated by starting with mobilization. Healthy, lasting fruit starts with inspiring people towards a full picture of what a transformed life can look like.
Growing such fruit begins with prayer. Gather people in your church, your network, or your city to pray together for more of Holy Spirit. Seek God’s help as you continue to equip people with training on how to grow a life transformed by Christ.
Our goal at GEM is to see Europe transformed by Jesus. We believe that if Jesus can transform Europe, it will change the world. Our vision is not a western ethnocentric one, but to see the least reached continent touched by the good news of transformation through Christ. We want to see all the peoples of Europe––those who’ve recently arrived and those who have long called Europe home––transformed to reach the world. By equipping people with an authentic gospel and clear vision of the Kingdom, we will witness human flourishing surrounding true and proper worship of the King.
Are you interested in making disciples in Europe? Click here for more info.
About the author: Greg Salvo serves as the Relationship Manager for GEM USA, recruiting and equipping church leaders with tools they need to see their congregations effectively serve on mission. His passion is to see the church engaged with God’s mission in Europe, and Europeans transformed by Jesus. He and his wife Becca, GEM’s US Director of Mobilisation, live in Illinois.