Reaching Out

Ignorance regarding the issues facing your local community is no excuse for your lack of involvement. In order to advance Christ’s Kingdom and fulfill the Dominion Mandate of Genesis 1:28-29 you have to obtain reliable intel. To do this requires a series of targeted strategies.

What You Need to Know

 
Tap into the mind of the community. You can only know what people are thinking by what they are saying. Take a poll. Asking questions is a sure fire way of getting to know what is on people’s mind. This can be done in a number of ways.

Tactics
Getting to know the issues that are driving conversation and concern in your local community is essential if you are going to offer solutions. You cannot offer solutions to abstract problems. Issues are never abstract. They are concrete. If you are going to resonate with the people you must concretely identify  the “hot topics” so that you can push the right solution buttons. Consider the following suggestions.

1.      
Take a poll. This can be done in a number of ways either through casual conversation or in a more formal manner. By using a simple but targeted three question questionnaire you can identify where the citizenry stands on certain issues. For a more general poll you can simply ask for people to identify three issues that they are most concerned about in their neighborhood. This will assist you in giving more specific solutions to the specific problems they identify. Probe your audience. Ask the right questions to get the necessary feedback.

2.   Taking a poll and filling out questionnaires is only good if you can re-connect with the people you poll. Ask them to give you their email address so you can send them the results. If that seems too intrusive you can give them a card with a blog address or a web address that they can access for the results. The blog should offer both the polling statistics and a series of solutions addressing  some of the concerns. The blog can also invite subscribers so they can keep apprised of future polling statistics.

3.   After polling a group on a select number of topics you may wish to write an op-ed piece in the local newspaper explaining some of the results of your investigation. Use this venue to offer some Biblical solutions to the concerns and to invite readers to visit your blog.

4.   Setting up an email account is also a good idea. This can be used for people to send in their suggestion as well as their complaints. Remember, people love to tell others how to fix the ills of society. They also love to complain. Give them a forum to do both.

The Goal

First: Gathering  intellectual and emotional data from each individual to use as a platform to address pressing social issues.

Second: Use your query to get inside the minds of the local folk in your local community so that you will be able to relate to them on these issues from a solution oriented position.

Third: Appeal to their a priori knowledge in hope that they will become part of the ground swell for change at your direction.

Fourth: Establishing yourself as a leader by asking the right questions and offering plausible solution.

Finally: Set up a platform where the people can go to be heard - a web page, email link or blog site.

Nothing ever happens by doing nothing. Now reach out and ignite a movement.

It's Personal

Humanism will always remain an abstract concept, a heretical doctrine of anti-Christ, only until it affects you personally. It isn’t until the ravages of this self consuming insidious doctrine sets itself upon you to destroy you, your marriage, your family or your beloved children that the battle against humanism becomes personal. 

When the fight against humanistic evil becomes a personal assault you must take it personally. I take humanism’s attack, especially when it directly affects my family or my brethren, as a personal affront. For me the battle for Christ’s Kingdom against humanism is personal because it has proven to have real heart wrenching consequences. If the battle is to be won, it must be taken personally. Otherwise it is merely a frivolous exercise of ‘beating the air’.

Don't Just Sit There

Churches are full of members that believe that if they simply show up they are fulfilling the Great Commission. Certainly this is a false notion which has terrible consequences. The decay of American culture is proof of that. These folks believe that if they are attending church regularly and not overtly violating any of the Ten Commandments they are in step with God’s will. The fact is that showing up to church and living a moral life is not Christianity, at least it is not the Christianity of the Holy Scriptures. It is, however, a truncated, perverse and pietistic view of Christianity which has nothing to do with the Gospel commandment whatsoever. Everyone that holds to this false view of Biblical Christianity puts on an ethical façade. They have that part nailed down. Go to church, sit in pew, stay awake, look interested,  give an occasional nod at the preacher and all is well. Few ever move beyond that mechanical practice. 

Then there are the others. These also go to church, live moral lives but they go another step further. These even volunteer from time to time for a certain ministry or task. Usually it is because they have been shamed into it or hounded by the preacher. Yet, these too are acting out a façade.

Christ calls the saint to move beyond the façade of simply attending church and volunteering once in a while. He has called His people to advance His Kingdom by taking leadership initiative.

He has called the saints to be self starters, ground breakers, trail blazers. He has given His grace so they can initiate Dominion Action. Anybody can stand around and wait to be told what to do. Leadership is not only knowing what to do, and how to do it, but it is actually doing it. Leadership is showing what to do by example. Getting things done is what counts. Talking about what needs to be done is not . It never was.

The saints must escalate the gospel program of Christian Reconstruction. They must set agendas and re-set agendas when those agendas become sluggish. God’s people are called to be both part of the team as well as leaders in the team. That is how the Kingdom advances. That is what needs to be done.

Preaching For Real Change

In order for any Biblical change to take place cultural objectives must be established. This requires deep study and active observation as to the issues plaguing our nation and the world. It also takes resolve, commitment and focus. The problem with many of the strategies proposed to bring about a Christian reformation is that while they focus, they remain infatuated with either  political or economic solutions disregarding the root of the problem. Once reformation ideas remain fixed upon an isolated political or economic plain, it no longer can yield a Biblical answer. Without a thoroughly Biblical solution to society’s problems all remedies are fleeting resulting in only temporary  respite.

While the areas of economics and politics need to be challenged and redeveloped according to Biblical mandates the root of the cultural problem is more fundamental than politics or economics. The root of all societal problem is not environmental, economic  or political. All cultural problems stem from sin. Man’s sin is the root of cultural disintegration which is exhibited in political, economic, legal and social policies. Redeem the root and you redeem the fruit.

Gary DeMar comments,

“The Christian’s first task therefore is to bring the Word of God, the gospel of Jesus Christ, to men and women who are in need of personal dominion, subduing the desires of a rebellious heart. Societal dominion cannot take place by those who will not first see their need of personal responsibility before God.” [God & Government]

While Biblical Leadership must address all aspects of the social order  it must always keeping in mind that the root problem of every society is man’s desire to be God. Sin must be addressed. In this way, and in this way only, are all problems also addressed.