How Do You Begin a Grassroots Ministry?
Grassroots ministry is the starting point of advancing the gospel and building the next generation, beginning with people around you who haven’t heard the good news of Jesus.
As a labourer living and discipling among the lost, how do you begin a grassroots ministry?
1. Pray for:
• compassion for those who don’t yet believe.
• labourers to be sent into the harvest field. – You are the first step of God’s answer to this prayer.
• one person with whom to share the gospel and your life.
• boldness to proclaim the Gospel.
Matthew 9:36-38, Ephesians 6:18-20
2. Initiate with one person to share the gospel and teach them to do the same.
3. Establish them in the scriptures, building a love for God through His Word.
Psalm 1, Hebrews 4:12
4. Trust and abide in God. God will continue to expand His Kingdom and glory. Trust Him in this journey of foundational ministry.
John 15:4-5
5. Partner with others. Find at least one other person who’s also praying and believing God for big things. Labour together for the advancement of the gospel and future spiritual generations.
Luke 10:1-2
If you would like to join us in labouring in one of our grassroots ministries, please contact us at info@navigators.org.au and we’ll connect you to a community near you!
Small Initiatives
By June Sparks, first published in Compass Winter edition 2020
At the Neighbours to Nations Conference, I was reminded once again and encouraged to continue taking small step-by-step initiatives in the lives of those around me in the process of pointing them to Jesus.
Jesus said the greatest command is to love God with heart, soul and mind, and the second is to love your neighbour as yourself. Attending, paying attention, listening, noticing, seeing are the first steps in influencing the people around you toward Christ. Jesus had compassion on the crowd, he saw them as lost, like sheep.
Prayerful seeing and hearing leads to connecting. Our encounters move from knowing by sight into acquaintance and a deepening relationship. Prayerful encounters (being with/among the lost at life events, weddings, funerals; socially – just getting together for coffee, dinner; in crises – over time, friendships develop and trust is built) can become mutual and intentional friendships.
Prayerfully taking small initiatives leads to further insight and Spirit-led seeing and seizing of opportunities: seeing obstacles to faith that need to be removed; seeing truths that need to be shared; seeing practical help to be applied.
All of it – under God – becomes God-stories within the big picture of His redemption story. Some may be stories of sowing, others of cultivating, others of reaping and seeing generations spring up. In a world where distrust and suspicion are on the rise, small random as well as planned consistent initiatives have a big impact.
