Community engagement

In the old days, communities would come together to assist their neighbors in times of need. A ‘barn raising’ was a visual example of a community coming together to accomplish big things. We see and experience this on mission trips. We lived it in the city of Houston in the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey.

As much as we say we value community, our daily experience is marked by individualism. We settle for false community through social media. We don’t know our neighbors like we used to. At the same time, our culture is moving past doing things for ourselves, and relying on experts more than we trust our own two hands. We hire professionals to do work for us around the house. We pay and sponsor missionaries to share the Gospel in foreign lands so we don’t feel guilty about not sharing our own faith. We expect pastors to lead people to Christ, even though Jesus gave the Great Commission to all of His disciples. In many churches, ‘missions’ is a program or a trip rather than a lifestyle. 

At Pioneer Mission Community, we want each person in the community reaching out and serving within our city and beyond. God opens doors for us every day to connect with new people and engage with our neighbors. We expect the members of our community to find a place in the community where they regularly serve and shine the light of Christ. This might happen building homes for Habitat for Humanity, mentoring a student at the local elementary school, coaching sports teams to build relationships, serving the homeless at a shelter or in many other places.

However, we don’t want you sense of mission to be confined to sporadic service opportunities. We want you to see yourself as one sent by God to reach the people He has placed in your life. This means being ready to pray for someone facing a new challenge, ready to tell someone how Jesus has changed your life, ready to lead someone to Christ by walking with them through Scripture.

Engaging your community on a mission for Christ is as simple as introducing Jesus to the people in your life.