We aren’t going anywhere!

The other day, our life group had a conversation about “Somewheres and anywheres”.  We asked the question:

“how best can our church serve those who consider themselves to be ‘somewhere’ people.”

One person who would not say they are a Christian at the moment responded.

“Give us time.”

They encouragingly said that they felt they were being given that time and space to think things through and ask questions without pressure. 

Actually one of the benefits of being a “somewhere church” is that you are in a position to do just that, to give people time.

With an anywhere mindset, you don’t know how long you have with people before either you or they move on. So the pressure is on to get a Gospel response and impart as much Discipleship content as you can.

However, the message in a somewhere   context is “we aren’t going anywhere.”. That gives you time and space. You don’t have to rush your Gospel presentation, you can build relationships.  You don’t need to worry if there isn’t an immediate response. You can take your time with Discipleship.

This has an impact in our preaching too. First, you don’t have to cover everything in a message, yiu can come back next week.  Secondly, it means you aren’t under pressure to cover all the big Bible themes in three years. You can take your time through Luke’s Gospel, Isaiah or Romans,  hitting the big books. Because noone is going anywhere.