First Steps To Becoming a Missional Church

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Many conversations about our churches becoming more missional (discipleship-focused) assume there are nothing but objections and arguments against living this way. But what about those churches where people are already convinced and just need direction?

This week on the Everyday Disciple Podcast, we lay out the very first steps to becoming a missional church. These are steps that you can ABSOLUTELY take today, and your folks will love it!

In This Episode You’ll Learn:

  • The difference between leading complacent people vs. the highly motivated.
  • Why exposing people’s fears and preferences creates opportunities for change.
  • The FIRST thing Caesar would do to start moving your church toward mission.
  • 3 More ideas and next steps to keep you moving in the right direction.

First Steps Missional Church

From this episode:

“There is a big difference between trying to lead people who are complacent and not excited about the gospel or discipleship, and those that are embracing this idea that our faith can be woven into all of life…and so can discipleship and the gospel.”

 

Each week the Big 3 will give you immediate action steps to get you started.Start a Missional Community from Scratch
Download today’s BIG 3 right now. Read and think over them again later. You might even want to share them with others…

Thanks for Listening!

Thanks so much for joining us again this week. Have some feedback you’d like to share? Join us on Facebook and take part in the discussion!

If you enjoyed this episode, please share it using the social media buttons you see at the top of this page or right below.

Also, please subscribe and leave an honest review for The Everyday Disciple Podcast on Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen. Ratings and reviews are extremely helpful and greatly appreciated! They do matter in the rankings of the show, and we read each and every one of them.

 

Links and Resources Mentioned in This Episode:

Free Download of the Big 3 For Episode #399

Coaching with Caesar and Tina in discipleship and missional living.

Get Caesar’s latest book: Bigger Gospel for FREE… Click Here

Join us on Facebook

Transcript
Caesar:

It's where we have to start.

Caesar:

All of this begins to till the ground of your folks, hearts, exposing their fears and preferences and complacency, or any fear of man issues.

Caesar:

It creates a lot of opportunity to address the thing behind the thing in everyone's heart when it comes to really living on mission.

Caesar:

So this is so key, you know, it, it's almost hard to believe that the church is even having this discussion about whether or not we'll have the mission, which is discipleship at the center of our focus and effort.

Caesar:

And fund it and all of that, you can absolutely do this with confidence that Missional living, making disciples is a lifestyle is God's will for his people.

Heath:

Welcome to the everyday Disciple Podcast where you'll learn how to live with greater intentionality and an integrated faith that naturally fits into every area of.

Heath:

In other words, discipleship as a lifestyle.

Heath:

This is the stuff your parents, pastors, and seminary professors probably forgot to tell you.

Heath:

And now here's your host Caesar Kalinowski

Caesar:

yeah, man.

Caesar:

Well, it's yours been hot here in the old weather department after having a very chilly and wet spring, kind of didn't even feel like we had one, uh, all of a sudden, a few weeks ago.

Caesar:

Boom.

Caesar:

It got hot and dry.

Caesar:

And, uh, my lawn is proof of that.

Caesar:

It's looking pretty brown and crunchy in spots, even though I feel like we've been watering the heck out of it more than ever.

Caesar:

But, uh, the grandkids love running around in the yard and playing in the sprinklers.

Caesar:

So it all works out.

Caesar:

Uh, no complaints.

Caesar:

You don't complain when you live here in the Pacific Northwest, because it'll soon be cool enough and, uh, we'll kiss summer goodbye, but not yet.

Caesar:

We're still enjoying it.

Caesar:

How about you?

Caesar:

You having a good summer?

Caesar:

I'm not sure when you're hearing this podcast because they just feed out and the interwebs all the time, however, that's where we're at.

Caesar:

And if you're hearing it right away, I hope you've had a good summer so far.

Caesar:

Hey, have you joined us over in the Facebook group yet?

Caesar:

We have a pretty good group going on over there.

Caesar:

Thousands and thousands of people have joined us for the Everyday Disciple Podcast group.

Caesar:

Over there.

Caesar:

You can search that up pretty easy, or you can go to everyday Disciple dot com slash.

Caesar:

And join us in there.

Caesar:

Bring ideas for episodes, questions on the show, comments, whatever I was answering a few of those in there today.

Caesar:

And we are in the process of starting to try and really ramp things up there in the group.

Caesar:

Wanna see a lot more discussion we're planning on posting a lot more cool resources for you, different things like that.

Caesar:

You want.

Caesar:

Yeah, join us in the group.

Caesar:

It's all good.

Caesar:

It's all free.

Caesar:

Just head on over and search it up or go to everyday Disciple dot com slash Facebook.

Caesar:

We'd love to have you, and by the way, too, because we are here in the middle or end of summer, and kind of heading off into the fall and looking at new ministry opportunities.

Caesar:

I'll bet a lot of you.

Caesar:

Are thinking about, okay, our small groups are starting up.

Caesar:

What's going on.

Caesar:

We want to grow in the Gospel.

Caesar:

We wanna get people more focused, outward, and all that.

Caesar:

Have you checked out the primer series in, uh, Missio publishing?

Caesar:

Have you ever checked that out?

Caesar:

There's the tangible kingdom primer and the Gospel primer and the justice primer.

Caesar:

So you've got this huge, really cool three step they're eight week studies.

Caesar:

You do a little bit each day together and you can grow in the Gospel and you can grow in justice and mercy with.

Caesar:

Primer the justice primer and all that.

Caesar:

They're just, they're very good resources.

Caesar:

We've used them all many, many, many, many times, obviously full disclosure.

Caesar:

I wrote the Gospel prime.

Caesar:

Still love it.

Caesar:

still love using it.

Caesar:

Still do use it and lots of people do, but I just thought, uh, I'm gonna remind you of those resources, cuz you're probably looking forward here and thinking, okay, a lot of stuff's kicking off.

Caesar:

So head on over to Missio publishing.com, see the resources they have there.

Caesar:

There's all kinds of stuff more than that.

Caesar:

But I just think this time of year, those primers they're perfect.

Caesar:

So maybe you'll check that out.

Caesar:

Missio publishing.com.

Caesar:

They help support the show.

Caesar:

So we like to give 'em a little nod once in a while and I think it'll help you.

Caesar:

Now not too long ago, we received a great question from a longtime listener of the podcast who asked about the first steps that we'd suggest for a church that's wanting to move toward more incarnation and Missional forms of ministry and church life.

Caesar:

And I know this is the case for a lot more leaders these days, and everything's changed and the need to really get outside the church's four walls and make disciples in community is on a lot more people's minds, especially this time of year.

Caesar:

Heath and I discussed this and I think you'll find it really helpful.

Caesar:

Check it.

Heath:

Hey, today's topic and discussion was kicked off by one of our longtime listeners.

Heath:

Rob Ford.

Heath:

It's Rob, Rob not only has a name that I covet because neither of us lucked out.

Heath:

Anytime I say my name to somebody, it's like, how do you spell that?

Caesar:

And Rob Ford, I love Caesar.

Caesar:

Kalinowski.

Caesar:

Are you kidding?

Caesar:

It's cool.

Caesar:

It's

Heath:

just hard to, I still spell it, Rob.

Heath:

I know.

Heath:

Rob Ford is just a great name.

Heath:

Yeah, but Rob's a pastor.

Heath:

He's a father.

Heath:

He's an all around smart guy.

Heath:

And he actually posted this question in the podcast group on Facebook.

Heath:

And what he wrote was he said, what are the first steps, a church that's excited about becoming increasingly Missional should take.

Heath:

It seems like a lot of the conversations kind of assume.

Heath:

There are all these objections and arguments against living this sort of way that a person has to overcome.

Heath:

But what about those contexts where people are already convinced and just needing direction?

Heath:

What would be those first few steps to heart?

Heath:

Steps to start heading in the right direction.

Caesar:

Wow.

Caesar:

Great question.

Caesar:

And I love it.

Caesar:

It's on the positive end of it.

Caesar:

Cuz we've had a deal with a lot of times like Missional when your church isn't into it or when yeah.

Caesar:

Your elder board is your elder board safety or whatever.

Caesar:

So, um, I love it.

Caesar:

It's a great question.

Caesar:

Thanks Rob.

Caesar:

Um, I think there is.

Caesar:

There is a big difference between trying to lead people who are complacent and not excited about the Gospel or discipleship or just like, you know, I'm just, I'm doing my 1.7 Sundays a month.

Caesar:

Yeah.

Caesar:

Nationally average now for super committed Christians at church, you know?

Caesar:

Um, and there's a difference between that and, and leading those that are embracing this idea that our faith and the Gospel could be woven into all.

Caesar:

life And so can discipleship and all of it.

Caesar:

Right.

Caesar:

So, but let me let explain how this works.

Caesar:

I'm gonna give people, I wish I had a whiteboard we have right now, but let me explain, um, how people move through like new ideas and learning and all this.

Caesar:

So we call these the five E.

Caesar:

Okay.

Caesar:

And that's because they all start with E but here's how it goes.

Caesar:

I'll give 'em to you and then I'll explain 'em I'm gonna go real fast.

Caesar:

Okay.

Caesar:

Okay.

Caesar:

Five E's are exposed.

Caesar:

People need to be exposed to new ideas.

Caesar:

Okay.

Caesar:

Embrace.

Caesar:

They need to embrace stuff, you know, like maybe they got exposed, but they embrace it.

Caesar:

Engage.

Caesar:

That's the third one.

Caesar:

Okay.

Caesar:

Equip.

Caesar:

And then the fifth E is extend.

Caesar:

Okay.

Caesar:

That's good.

Caesar:

Okay.

Caesar:

So here's how it works when it comes to like Missional living and discipleship as a lifestyle, but you know, not like I said of courses or whatever.

Caesar:

So like what Rob's saying, Hey, like I got folks like that.

Caesar:

Sure.

Caesar:

Um, they they've been exposed.

Caesar:

They were exposed to some of these concepts and ideas.

Caesar:

Yep.

Caesar:

And they've made it to the second year.

Caesar:

They've embraced it.

Caesar:

They go like, we wanna do it.

Caesar:

Hmm.

Caesar:

And now it seems they're at the place of like, okay, how do we engage it?

Caesar:

Yeah.

Caesar:

Let's because see, some people will be exposed to an idea and they'll go, Hmm.

Caesar:

Yeah.

Caesar:

Sounds biblical sounds.

Caesar:

Right.

Caesar:

But they don't really embrace it.

Caesar:

Sure.

Caesar:

They just kind of go.

Caesar:

Yeah.

Caesar:

But I'll just do it.

Caesar:

We've always done.

Caesar:

Let's study it a bit more.

Caesar:

It ain't working.

Caesar:

Yeah.

Caesar:

Whatever.

Caesar:

Yeah.

Caesar:

Some people will go, like I was exposed to the Missional ideas and discipleship is the lifestyle, but, um, and, and they embrace.

Caesar:

But they never go about engaging it.

Caesar:

Sure.

Caesar:

They still like, oh, we gotta do this.

Caesar:

I really love it.

Caesar:

You're right.

Caesar:

This is what I've always wanted.

Caesar:

This is a church we've dreamed about, but they don't engage it.

Caesar:

But once people do engage, they generally find pretty quickly they need equipping.

Caesar:

Hmm, they need coaching.

Caesar:

They need tools.

Caesar:

They need new ways of doing old things because they're not doing the old thing anymore.

Caesar:

And then eventually those people that have been exposed, embraced it, they've engaged that lifestyle.

Caesar:

And now they're being equipped in it.

Caesar:

They will start to extend this or expand it out towards others.

Caesar:

Hmm.

Caesar:

Okay.

Caesar:

So today let's assume Rob's folks and, and anybody listening, your folks have already been exposed to Missional thinking and this idea of all of life discipleship and they've embraced the idea.

Caesar:

Now we wanna begin to baby step them towards engaging this lifestyle.

Heath:

Okay.

Heath:

Okay.

Heath:

So Caesar, what do you think would be your first step right out of the box.

Heath:

If you were leading a church or even working at a church and leading folks who have bought into this, this Missional lifestyle, but need some direction and easy first steps towards Missional living as, as an actual

Caesar:

church.

Caesar:

Okay, good.

Caesar:

And I've, I've said this before, like if I was to, you know, show up and I just got hired as the new pastor and people are like, we're hiring you to take a Missional, like people, cuz I've had been asked this what's the first thing you do.

Caesar:

Yeah.

Caesar:

Here's what I'd start doing.

Caesar:

I would start by having everyone in the church.

Caesar:

Invite one, not yet believer or non-Christian couple over for dinner.

Caesar:

Churchwide everybody like this week.

Caesar:

Okay.

Caesar:

And if you really got a lot of gumption, I'd say, Hey, let's gonna try this for four weeks.

Caesar:

You know, maybe make it part of a preaching series or something like that.

Caesar:

Right?

Caesar:

Sure.

Caesar:

Okay.

Caesar:

And the goal should be just to have one dinner, just have dinner, tell your folks don't try and make this a big evangelistic high pressure meal, you know, or get together, close the deal, get 'em all at church bill Baptiz them.

Caesar:

Like I would challenge everybody and then I would do it myself.

Caesar:

You have to do.

Caesar:

Make sure all the elders are doing it and all the staff are doing it.

Caesar:

We're all gonna have one person or couple, not yet believer over for dinner this week.

Caesar:

Okay.

Caesar:

And we're gonna see what God does.

Caesar:

There's no pressure because like y'all eat anyway.

Caesar:

So you're not asking anybody to do like, ah, no, one's got time for that.

Caesar:

What?

Caesar:

Yep.

Caesar:

You're no, one's hardly skipping dinner.

Caesar:

yeah.

Caesar:

So that's off the table so that this is a rhythm, right.

Caesar:

That people can do.

Caesar:

And then here's part two of that.

Caesar:

Then having lots of stories from folks on stage the next Sunday and every Sunday for those, you know, that week or four weeks sure.

Caesar:

To celebrate what happened.

Caesar:

Okay.

Caesar:

And I would say this too, if folks are too afraid, you're like, oh, I don't know.

Caesar:

You know, we've never had anybody over.

Caesar:

I don't have any, not believing friends.

Caesar:

Right?

Caesar:

Like they won't do it.

Caesar:

They can team up with another couple, but then I would say have two dinners that week.

Caesar:

Hmm.

Caesar:

So like, you know, you, you and I are gonna do it together.

Caesar:

Sure.

Caesar:

For whatever reason, you know, like my house isn't, you know, whatever, I don't know.

Caesar:

Yeah.

Caesar:

Um, then I would say, okay, great.

Caesar:

Let's do it together.

Caesar:

But you pick somebody in your life, I'll pick somebody in my life.

Caesar:

So it'll be, you know yeah.

Caesar:

But we're eating seven nights a week anyway.

Caesar:

So it's not like, oh, it's this big add on, right?

Caesar:

Yeah.

Caesar:

And this would be a challenge.

Caesar:

I know.

Caesar:

But baby step like, and so.

Caesar:

Even if you just did it once.

Caesar:

Sure.

Caesar:

And you had, but make sure you have people then come up and tell the stories.

Caesar:

Right.

Caesar:

That's good.

Caesar:

Good.

Caesar:

The following week, you know, I would, pre-interview two or three folks and, and that's key cuz I used to be head of production for a giant church and it's like, I'm gonna have them come up and talk.

Caesar:

They're like, you know, 40 minutes later, you're like, don't do it.

Caesar:

I said two minutes, what happened?

Caesar:

So pre-interview them, you know, two or three folks or couples and have them share their stories.

Caesar:

Like what did.

Caesar:

Who'd they have over, how did it go?

Caesar:

Mm-hmm like, well, I had a neighbor over, or I had this one, couple that they used to, you know, our kids used to, you know, hang out, but then we don't see 'em anymore.

Caesar:

Whatever, like whoever it is, like a little of that.

Caesar:

And then what's, how'd it go.

Caesar:

And what surprised them about their time together?

Caesar:

Did God show up in any surprising and cool ways?

Caesar:

And I, and there again, maybe I do this once, but I, I think I would kind of weave it into like a four or six week series and do it all those weeks.

Caesar:

Sure.

Caesar:

And just make it set that vision.

Caesar:

Yeah.

Caesar:

And, and don't forget to have people up front share those stories.

Caesar:

Good, bad or otherwise, cuz that makes it.

Caesar:

Yeah, that would be the very first step I would do.

Caesar:

And the thing I,

Heath:

you just, you, you said it in passing, but I think it's so important is when you say like, this is everybody, this isn't, Hey, the pastor and the elders get to bypass this and just leave it to the con no, everybody's doing this pastors, elders staff.

Heath:

Absolutely.

Heath:

Every single person.

Heath:

Right?

Heath:

Yep.

Heath:

And it makes a lot of sense.

Heath:

And it seems to engage the whole church, uh, without it being this huge, impossible thing to do right.

Heath:

When you do it, you're,

Caesar:

you're not killing anybody's, you know, sacred cows or anything, or like, whatever, it's just like, you're eating anyway.

Caesar:

Here's the challenge.

Caesar:

Let's all do it really seriously.

Caesar:

Let's do it and see what happens.

Caesar:

What, like, here's the thing, the evangelistic fruit, the Missional ideas, the, the, all the stuff that people would experience, it would go through the roof in a week.

Caesar:

Mm-hmm because most people, they don't, they go their whole life and barely have anybody over, you know, with attention.

Caesar:

Right.

Caesar:

So imagine a whole church doing it.

Caesar:

Yep.

Caesar:

And then maybe they did four weeks in a row.

Caesar:

Oh my gosh.

Caesar:

You'd have more people wanting to get into your life.

Caesar:

Absolutely.

Caesar:

And into your version, I mean all of it for the right reasons.

Caesar:

yeah, right.

Heath:

Yeah.

Heath:

You know, and the other thing I love is, is like the way you said, just have dinner, just be like, you're not signing, 'em up for class.

Heath:

You're not doing baptisms at the end of the night.

Heath:

You're you ask?

Heath:

'em their story where they're from.

Heath:

What's their.

Heath:

Greatest accomplishment, what they do

Heath:

work.

Caesar:

I had a guy, I had a guy right in this week and he was telling me about, you know, just getting started with Missional stuff.

Caesar:

And he, and he's been hanging out this, I, I can't remember where it was like some coffee shop or somewhere in, in the town, in the town.

Caesar:

And he has two people and he gave me their names that, uh, seem to be leaning into relationship.

Caesar:

And he wanted to know what I thought they should do next.

Caesar:

And I said, well, why not have more for, you know, a meal.

Caesar:

Exactly what I'm saying here.

Caesar:

He wrote back.

Caesar:

He goes, yeah, I'm thinking about that.

Caesar:

But I thought about doing a handwritten note to them, inviting him to hear me preach on Sunday.

Caesar:

What do you think of that?

Caesar:

And I said, well, I wouldn't do that.

Caesar:

Yeah.

Caesar:

I would do what Jesus did come hang out, like start there before he starts correcting our theology.

Caesar:

Right.

Caesar:

Yeah.

Caesar:

And see, and that kind of goes into this too.

Caesar:

Like this first step of like, Hey, let's all just have meals.

Caesar:

With no pressure, no closing, no, you know, hardcore evangelism or apologetics going down or whatever.

Caesar:

Yeah.

Caesar:

You know, it's easy.

Caesar:

It doesn't start off by telling your folks why they suck or what they doing wrong or any of that.

Caesar:

And remember they're leaning in.

Caesar:

So that's what I try.

Caesar:

Yeah.

Heath:

I love that.

Heath:

man um, yeah.

Heath:

And like you said, it's not this huge, impossible thing to do.

Heath:

Yeah.

Heath:

Everyone can, you know, it's handles for every single person.

Heath:

There's nobody

Caesar:

listening today that couldn't do that.

Caesar:

Even if they didn't plan it out like this Sunday.

Caesar:

They couldn't just go, Hey, you know what?

Caesar:

By the way, before we, before we close today, I wanna try something and I'm gonna do this.

Caesar:

My wife and I are doing the elders.

Caesar:

I have talked about it.

Caesar:

And I wanna challenge you all to do this.

Caesar:

Have one, not yet believer and or couple over for dinner this week.

Caesar:

Yeah.

Caesar:

No agenda.

Caesar:

Just do it.

Caesar:

And we're all gonna talk about it.

Caesar:

And I'm gonna hit up some of you on the phone this week.

Caesar:

Call you, get you up on stage.

Caesar:

We're gonna hear how it went.

Caesar:

Yeah.

Caesar:

And just see what God does with simple.

Caesar:

Something we're already doing I E

Heath:

eating

Heath:

Yeah.

Heath:

You know, and the, and the other thing, it seems to have an effect on like people's hearts

Caesar:

as well.

Caesar:

Right?

Caesar:

Absolutely.

Caesar:

It starts to, till the ground of your folks' hearts, exposing their fears and preferences and complacency, or any fear of man issues.

Caesar:

Right.

Caesar:

And it creates lots of opportunity to address.

Caesar:

The thing behind the thing yeah.

Caesar:

In your people's hearts.

Caesar:

So when you talk to people, how'd that go?

Caesar:

And they're like, well, you know, that's okay.

Caesar:

They did it go there or like, well, we didn't really do it.

Caesar:

Well, go there.

Caesar:

What was, what was the thing behind the thing that kept them from doing that right.

Caesar:

To really live in it.

Caesar:

So this is super key.

Caesar:

And this is gonna give you a zillions of opportunities to begin to address the thing behind the thing.

Caesar:

Yeah.

Caesar:

Okay.

Caesar:

I love it.

Caesar:

Okay.

Heath:

So what are some other ideas, uh, or maybe even next steps that you would

Caesar:

suggest here?

Caesar:

So here's three more ideas you can implement right away.

Caesar:

And you don't want to, you know, I don't wanna give you a hundred and don't try to do too much, but if you take me up on that first one, like, okay, we're all the whole church.

Caesar:

We're gonna try to have, you know, one meal with a, not yet believer yep.

Caesar:

This week.

Caesar:

And maybe you do it for several.

Caesar:

Okay.

Caesar:

Next.

Caesar:

I would have your folks start to pray.

Caesar:

What's next Lord.

Caesar:

Hmm.

Caesar:

And the, for those people who have, you know, that they've had over for dinner, right?

Caesar:

So like, yeah, we had, you know, we had the Smiths over, you know, uh, Nelsons were over for dinner.

Caesar:

We don't know 'em that, well, it went pretty good.

Caesar:

It was really fun.

Caesar:

They were like, this is so nice of you to do that.

Caesar:

Start praying.

Caesar:

What's next Lord.

Caesar:

Like literally, like I'm gonna sit down as a couple, you know, Tina and I are gonna do this.

Caesar:

You and Kathy are gonna do this.

Caesar:

You're gonna sit down and go like, Hey, we had so and so over.

Caesar:

We don't know him that well, we could guess.

Caesar:

Yeah, what's next Lord.

Caesar:

And just like, whatever he says, do that.

Caesar:

Right.

Caesar:

Yeah.

Caesar:

And, and I'll put a link in the show notes on more about how to do what's next Lord, cuz it's a big part of our coaching.

Caesar:

It's really how to like ask the spirit of God, like how to Disciple people, you know, instead of guessing and being all freaked out, like what if they don't want to?

Caesar:

And.

Caesar:

You ask the spirit of God.

Caesar:

What's next.

Caesar:

It's always perfect.

Caesar:

Yeah.

Caesar:

Right.

Caesar:

So I'm not gonna get into it much deeper than that, but because we we've talked about, I'll put a link in the show notes.

Caesar:

Okay.

Caesar:

I think the other thing with that

Heath:

too, is that sometimes we feel like we have to have the game plan for people's salvation.

Heath:

Yeah.

Heath:

And so we don't ever get started because it's such a huge commitment.

Heath:

We don't know where it's gonna end.

Heath:

So when you simply do like, what's next Lord, like maybe it's take, 'em a bottle of wine.

Heath:

It might be invite em over

Caesar:

for a TV show offer to let their kids come and sit on the couch and do their homework since they're always latchkey or yeah, exactly.

Caesar:

Or it might be come up and see how that job interview went or who knows.

Caesar:

Right?

Caesar:

Yeah.

Caesar:

I love never came up at dinner.

Caesar:

So dinner simple.

Caesar:

You're already doing it.

Caesar:

Have somebody over and next.

Caesar:

Just start praying.

Caesar:

Okay.

Caesar:

Lord what's what do you want us to do next with that couple?

Caesar:

Yeah.

Caesar:

So it's not just like, remember when the church did the dinner.

Caesar:

That was cool.

Caesar:

That was cool series.

Caesar:

Yeah.

Caesar:

And people go like, I don't know what to do.

Caesar:

Yeah.

Caesar:

You don't have to.

Caesar:

God knows.

Caesar:

Yeah, exactly.

Caesar:

Here's what we always say about what next Lord.

Caesar:

You don't need the master plan for those people.

Caesar:

Sure.

Caesar:

You know, the master, he has the plan.

Caesar:

It'll be perfect.

Caesar:

Works out.

Caesar:

Yeah.

Caesar:

Okay.

Caesar:

All right.

Caesar:

You said you had three things.

Caesar:

What's the second one.

Caesar:

The second one, I would say, um, I would ask all the elders and staff to start having an open table sort of meal once a month, or, you know, for the bold, like you're saying, like these are people who are really into it ready once a week.

Caesar:

So what an open table is, is it's just like a very simple, simple meal that you hang on the calendar, like, say it's every Thursday, like Tina and I just set ours for Tuesday, you know, and, uh, for this year, and it's like, Hey, you know what?

Caesar:

That's gonna.

Caesar:

All the time.

Caesar:

And so I'm gonna invite that same couple over.

Caesar:

I'm gonna start invite neighbors over anybody I run into.

Caesar:

I'm like, I don't know.

Caesar:

I don't know.

Caesar:

Like I say, you know what?

Caesar:

We always get together and we do spaghetti and then we, you know, we watch the, you know, this show or whatever, or we do so and salad and we hang out.

Caesar:

We're just getting to know our neighbors better.

Caesar:

It's an open table.

Caesar:

Okay.

Caesar:

And, and I would say, let the leaders start to model that.

Caesar:

Yep.

Caesar:

Maybe it's once a month.

Caesar:

I'm telling you the more frequent it is, the more fruit you're gonna get from it.

Caesar:

Like anything, um, maybe it's weekly, but they could start to have folks over again.

Caesar:

And this is, uh, and, and these things too, by the way, they're not trying to close the deal or like, so you can get all your neighbors into the church building right away.

Caesar:

Right.

Caesar:

They're what we call high invitation.

Caesar:

Like anybody come, we're just doing it anyway.

Caesar:

And some weeks you might have nobody, some weeks you might have one person or ever, and their, their high in.

Caesar:

They're low challenge.

Caesar:

Yeah.

Caesar:

Meaning we're not, we're not.

Caesar:

Oh, but as long as you're here, let's go ahead and bust out Romans and you know, the, the Romans road.

Caesar:

Oh boy.

Caesar:

You know, don't there just have a meal and start to build relationships.

Caesar:

Mm-hmm right.

Caesar:

Just start to build relationships.

Caesar:

Yeah, totally.

Caesar:

It's

Heath:

gonna catch on it.

Heath:

It always does.

Heath:

He

Caesar:

knows how simple these steps are.

Caesar:

Yeah.

Caesar:

These are like super, like there's no.

Caesar:

No reason than other, our own hearts that we couldn't do these remember?

Caesar:

Absolutely like, like our listeners question, Rob said, like, I, what about folks who are leaning in and they wanna do this?

Caesar:

Yeah.

Caesar:

Well then do it.

Caesar:

They're easy.

Caesar:

These are super easy.

Caesar:

Here's a third one.

Caesar:

Okay.

Caesar:

Start to have it.

Caesar:

A requirement that your staff all spend at least four hours each week outside the office.

Caesar:

Hmm out in the community at a cafe or some other social setting that's frequented by, uh, here goes people . Wow.

Caesar:

Especially those people, you feel that God's called you to Disciple and reach with the Gospel either individually or as a church.

Caesar:

Okay.

Caesar:

Yeah.

Caesar:

So imagine now some people say, well, we only have two people on staff.

Caesar:

Okay.

Caesar:

Or it's just me and I'm an assistant or whatever, but some people listening, like, well, we got a ton of people.

Caesar:

Yeah.

Caesar:

And we're all crazy busy.

Caesar:

And it's meeting, meeting, meeting.

Caesar:

Listen, if you're serious about this and people are saying, yeah, we're in mandate it four hours.

Caesar:

Like I know, I know some churches to do it.

Caesar:

It's a day, a week, a day, a week, and that's not stay home and party and play.

Caesar:

It's like no day a week.

Caesar:

You still have work to do, but do it out in public.

Caesar:

Yeah.

Caesar:

Coffee shops.

Caesar:

Do it at coffee.

Caesar:

Shop, take a friend out, take a neighbor to lunch.

Caesar:

That's okay.

Caesar:

That counts because remember the work of the church is discipleship.

Caesar:

It's the mission.

Caesar:

It's the Gospel in.

Caesar:

So why not?

Caesar:

Why not?

Caesar:

If you're a church that's really trying to move towards this, like a baby step first step.

Caesar:

Why not say, you know what, what's good.

Caesar:

You know, we're asking everybody to live this way.

Caesar:

Yeah.

Caesar:

We're gonna make space in people's time.

Caesar:

And we're actually gonna say to our staff, like, so what'd you do this week?

Caesar:

Yeah, just been so crazy busy.

Caesar:

Great.

Caesar:

Go.

Caesar:

Be crazy busy at the Starbucks.

Caesar:

Yep.

Caesar:

And come back and share it.

Caesar:

It just see what God's doing.

Caesar:

It's okay.

Caesar:

And then talk about that at staff meetings, remember the kingdom, the kingdom of God expands at the speed of relationships and the Gospel moves along the lines of.

Caesar:

So, can you say that one more time?

Caesar:

That's really good.

Caesar:

Yeah.

Caesar:

The kingdom of God expands at the speed of relationships.

Caesar:

That's how the kingdom expands and the Gospel then moves along the lines of trust that we build in those relationships.

Caesar:

And you gotta be out there and you gotta be having meals and you gotta get started and God's at work.

Caesar:

And so he'll, he'll be doing things that you are like.

Caesar:

Yeah.

Caesar:

But what about, and how do we get to, and then when do you finally.

Caesar:

Don't even stress yet.

Caesar:

Start there.

Caesar:

Trust me.

Caesar:

You're gonna be blown away.

Heath:

Yeah.

Heath:

And these are all things, ideas anyone can get started with right away.

Heath:

So hopefully, Rob, this was a, an answer to, to your question.

Heath:

Thank you for putting that on the Facebook group.

Caesar:

And uh, I hope folks will take these super simple steps and I'm not joking.

Caesar:

Like if I got hired tomorrow and someone said like you full caveat, everybody wants this.

Caesar:

That's, you know, that's why we've hired you.

Caesar:

This is exactly what I do.

Caesar:

Yeah, exactly.

Caesar:

It's what we already do.

Caesar:

You know what I mean?

Caesar:

Absolutely.

Caesar:

I don't have staff to like send out to cafes and all, but now there again, why is that important?

Caesar:

Because that's modeling something.

Caesar:

Yeah.

Caesar:

And that's gonna start to trickle into all their other work and they're gonna be talking it up with people and that's gonna fill your preaching and sermons and all well creates a culture, right?

Caesar:

Like you're creating a new standard, a new culture.

Caesar:

Absolutely.

Heath:

Okay.

Heath:

So let's get to the big three, which is the big three takeaways of nothing else we want you to walk away

Caesar:

with from this week.

Caesar:

And you can get a printable PDF of this week's big three as a free download as always by going to everyday Disciple dot com slash big three Caesar big three for this week.

Caesar:

Okay.

Caesar:

Here they are condensed down.

Caesar:

Number one, moving your church toward Missional living is absolutely possible.

Caesar:

And it's what Jesus had mine for his family all along.

Caesar:

Hmm.

Caesar:

Okay.

Caesar:

So know that.

Caesar:

All right.

Caesar:

It's, it's almost hard to believe that the church is even having this discussion about whether or not we're gonna live on mission, you know, make disciples as the central focus of our efforts.

Caesar:

Yeah.

Caesar:

Okay.

Caesar:

You can absolutely do this.

Caesar:

Hear this, everybody out there who's leading, you can absolutely do this with confidence.

Caesar:

That Missional living is God's will for his people.

Caesar:

Okay.

Caesar:

Yep.

Caesar:

It really, really is.

Caesar:

I agree.

Caesar:

Okay.

Caesar:

Number two.

Caesar:

Okay.

Caesar:

Two exposing the unbelief that people hang onto that keeps them from truly engaging.

Caesar:

Missional.

Caesar:

Living is key.

Caesar:

Even when they say, yeah, you know, I, I want this.

Caesar:

Okay.

Caesar:

So it's super key.

Caesar:

Even after your community embraces the Gospel.

Caesar:

And the idea that discipleship was meant to be lived as a nice as a lifestyle.

Caesar:

So God's eternal plan was always to fill the world with his glory.

Caesar:

By disciples of Jesus, making more disciples of Jesus in every household, neighborhood, city, and nation, and the holy spirit will guide you and empower you in this.

Caesar:

This is like an eternal endeavor.

Caesar:

Yeah, it is.

Caesar:

Okay.

Caesar:

So you, you get to do that.

Caesar:

Amen.

Caesar:

And start by exposing, you know, getting people engaged a little bit.

Caesar:

So it exposes their own belief in that.

Caesar:

Yeah.

Caesar:

All right.

Caesar:

Number three.

Caesar:

All right.

Caesar:

Third, uh, put the date on your calendar right now that you'll challenge your church to start having one meal each week with a, not yet believing friend or couple.

Caesar:

Okay, lead by example, fill your teaching and preaching with new life and stories.

Caesar:

From your own experiences as you head into these new Missional rhythms and be, be honest about where you're at and invite lots of folks in community to share their experiences too.

Caesar:

That's gonna give people great hope and Hey, I could do this too.

Caesar:

Sure.

Caesar:

And if, if you're not sure that your church or community is ready to dive into this Missional living, so you're listening to this going very interesting, but I'm the other guy, you know, um, start by assessing where your folks are at in those five E's that we spoke about earlier, expose embrace, engage, equip, extend.

Caesar:

Okay.

Caesar:

And I hope these simple steps are helpful to you.

Caesar:

You can do this.

Caesar:

I know you can.

Caesar:

If you'd like help setting up new Missional, discipleship processes and a framework for discipleship that happens in all of life, not just classes and all that.

Caesar:

We'd love to talk to you and see if the coaching that we offer is a good fit.

Caesar:

I know I bring this up often.

Caesar:

That's because we're seeing such amazing results with the people that we're.

Caesar:

Love that to be you, you can go to everyday Disciple dot com slash coaching to get all the information on it.

Caesar:

And hopefully we'll talk and get you into one of our new cohorts that are starting up real soon.

Caesar:

I would love it.

Caesar:

Well, that's it for today.

Caesar:

Join me next week.

Caesar:

As we talk about how the blessings that God's poured into your life and the life of your family are a perfect inroad into making disciples and living.

Caesar:

Family on mission.

Caesar:

It'll be actually a natural next step.

Caesar:

After the things we talked about today, hope you'll join us for that.

Caesar:

I'll talk to you soon.

Heath:

Thanks for joining us today.

Heath:

For more information on this show and to get loads of free discipleship resources, visit everyday Disciple dot com.

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