How does the church engage in mission with the local community today?
This question receives many different responses for one simple reason: it is not a simple question.
Simple problems have simple solutions. The question of the church engaging in ethical, effective, authentic and compassionate ways with its local community is one that must begin with this honest acknowledgement: "We don't know."
"I don't know" is a powerful statement. It carries the potential to awaken curiosity.
When we are curious the probability of moving past our assumptions and irrelevant knowledge increases; our mind and heart opens to possibilities for new learning, asking questions, listening to people's stories, leading to adapt our practices and try new things.
The ministry area of New Missions, particularly through our established Mission Experiment Group (MEG), is our attempt to ask questions, learn, experiment, and reflect on Christian engagement with the local community in our part of the world today. Through this framework, we hope to faithfully participate in God’s action and thereby join God in the unfolding work of God’s new creation of hope, peace, compassion, and justice for all in Christ.
Watch this short video from Tod Bolsinger, as he illustrates the challenge the church is facing today.
"New Friends" Coming Soon!
We are excited to announce a new group "New Friends".
This group is being led by the Mission Experiment Group (MEG) and the focus will be to develop meaningful relationships with CALD women who are socially isolated so that God's love might flourish.
This new group is borne out of a year long discernment process where a small group of people at Southside carefully and deliberately researched various aspects of the local community and identified gaps where we could both be of service to and also significantly learn from others in our community.