Beyond the neighborhood

Acts 1:8 …all Judea and Samaria

Do you have plans beyond your neighborhood?

Many individual Christians are content with fishing at home. This is good in a sense. This is our most important place to start. We train our families in the way they should go and we model the lifestyle of Christianity to our children.

Are you modeling a Christian lifestyle? If not, what are you modeling? (Another blog)
Acts 1:8 says we will be witnesses in Jerusalem, in all of Judea and Samaria … This is a strategy for ministry we can follow as individuals and corporately as the body of Christ. It is a pattern of concentric circles. Picture dropping a pebble in a pool of still water and notice how it makes circles outward from the point of impact.


Take this visual of concentric circles and realize that God has impacted your life. Can you see the potential impact of your life on your sphere of influence? You have affinity with a good number of people. Stop and think about those circles. Draw it out on a sheet of paper.

Center – Home
1st ring – parents
2nd ring- friends
3rd ring – neighbors
4th – co-workers
5th- city
6th –counties
7th – State..

Do you get the picture? Jesus modeled this for us in Matthew 4:

23 And he went throughout all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction among the people. 24 So his fame spread throughout all Syria, and they brought him all the sick, those afflicted with various diseases and pains, those oppressed by demons, epileptics, and paralytics, and he healed them. 25 And great crowds followed him from Galilee and the Decapolis, and from Jerusalem and Judea, and from beyond the Jordan.

Jesus' expectation for his disciples is to the spread of the Gospel and follow his plans to accomplish the Great Commission. The Church ‘must’ focus on building the Kingdom. Many individuals and Churches never get beyond Jerusalem. Christ expects us to be fruitful and multiply at home, in our city, counties, state and abroad.

Are any of you numbers people?

Numbers help us understand how big a mission this is.

Barna Group- Approximately 75 million disconnected Americans (not connected to any Church)
28% in the South and Midwest
43% in the West
40% Northeast

Here some stats close to home. These are population stats in St. Johns County:
1990-2007 they had 52.5% growth
2003 – Population 142, 949 and expect 210,052 by 2012
There would need to be 420 Churches (500 members each) to cover the growth.

That being said, do you or your Church have a plan to reach those who don’t have a relationship with Christ? Do you have tears and a heart for the lost? Their lives now and eternally depend on God’s people working to expand the Kingdom of God. Start reaching those in ‘your’ sphere of influence today.

Learn to fish and GO FISH!