{"id":694075,"date":"2019-02-04T02:00:55","date_gmt":"2019-02-04T08:00:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thomrainer.com\/?p=694075"},"modified":"2020-02-07T15:31:03","modified_gmt":"2020-02-07T21:31:03","slug":"the-five-hour-challenge-turning-your-church-outwardly-focused","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/the-five-hour-challenge-turning-your-church-outwardly-focused\/","title":{"rendered":"The Five Hour Challenge: Turning Your Church Outwardly Focused"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>I was hesitant to write this post.<\/p>\n<p>Indeed, I could see church members using this post to advocate that the pastor needs to do more of the work of ministry like evangelism. I\u2019ve heard similar words many times: \u201cAfter all, that\u2019s what we pay the pastor to do.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Such words are shameful. Such words are unbiblical.<\/p>\n<p>But I do have to challenge pastors and church leaders. In recent years I have noticed a precipitous decline in the amount of time church leaders spend doing evangelism or doing activities that have an outward focus.<\/p>\n<p>And here is the reality: If the pastors and church leaders are not serious about reaching people with the gospel, you can\u2019t expect the members to do so. Most pastors are spending less than two hours a week in outwardly-focused ministries, specifically evangelism. They have become so busy doing good things they neglect obedience to the Great Commission.<\/p>\n<p>Here is my simple challenge: Commit at least five hours a week to evangelism and outwardly-focused ministries. Mark those five hours on your calendar like any other appointment. Make those five hours a priority. Do not come up with busyness and excuses that keep you from fulfilling your challenge.<\/p>\n<p>This challenge should apply to all vocational ministers on staff. If you are full-time, commit five hours. If you are half-time, commit three hours (yeah, I rounded up).<\/p>\n<p>Here are some suggestions for your five hours each week:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Take a non-Christian or unchurched person to lunch.<\/li>\n<li>Write five handwritten notes to people who do not have a church home and have visited your church.<\/li>\n<li>Email or text 20 people who are looking for a church home.<\/li>\n<li>Take two hours to walk and pray for homes in your community.<\/li>\n<li>Pray for opportunities to share the gospel every day.<\/li>\n<li>Find a person in need in your community. Help them. Let them know you are doing it as an ambassador for Christ.<\/li>\n<li>Start a Bible class that meets every week for eight weeks. Advertise on Facebook that the class will give you a basic overview of the entire Bible. Meet no more than one hour a week. You might be surprised how many non-Christians show up.<\/li>\n<li>Have a 15-minute stand-up meeting with your staff each week. Ask them how they spend their five hours.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>You readers are very creative. I know you can share with us many other ways to be outwardly focused. Let us know some of your ideas. Let us know what you are currently doing.<\/p>\n<p>Don\u2019t expect your members to be evangelistic unless you are evangelistic.<\/p>\n<p>Consider taking the five-hour challenge.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"I have to challenge pastors and church leaders. In recent years I have noticed a precipitous decline in the amount of time church leaders spend doing evangelism or doing activities that have an outward focus.","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":693867,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"publish_to_discourse":"","publish_post_category":"","wpdc_auto_publish_overridden":"","wpdc_topic_tags":"","wpdc_pin_topic":"","wpdc_pin_until":"","discourse_post_id":"","discourse_permalink":"","wpdc_publishing_response":"","wpdc_publishing_error":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1,175,180],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-694075","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-church-answers","category-grow","category-outreach-and-evangelism"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>The Five Hour Challenge: Turning Your Church Outwardly Focused<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"I do have to challenge pastors and church leaders. In recent years I have noticed a precipitous decline in the amount of time church leaders spend doing evangelism or doing activities that have an outward focus.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/the-five-hour-challenge-turning-your-church-outwardly-focused\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Five Hour Challenge: Turning Your Church Outwardly Focused\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I do have to challenge pastors and church leaders. In recent years I have noticed a precipitous decline in the amount of time church leaders spend doing evangelism or doing activities that have an outward focus.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/the-five-hour-challenge-turning-your-church-outwardly-focused\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Church Answers\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-02-04T08:00:55+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2020-02-07T21:31:03+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/church-lights.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"800\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Thom S. 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