In my first article in this series, I showed that here in the West, our local communities are mission fields. Here, we’ll look at how we can examine ourselves and our suburbs to better connect with people as part of our long-term mission.
Exegesis and eisegesis. We use these terms a lot when we talk about studying and teaching the Bible.
Exegesis means reading out of what is there. In Scripture, it is the process by which we seek to understand what the Bible says, what it meant for the original readers, and how we are to live in the light of it now. Eisegesis, by contrast, means reading into it from ourselves—interpreting a passage according to our own experiences, attitudes and beliefs.
Both terms relate to written literature, so forgive me for borrowing them in relation to people. But they are powerful skills.
Exegeting ourselves
Jesus came to us at a particular time, in a particular place and in a particular form. None of us is Jesus, and we’re not meant to be! But we have been fashioned by God, re-born in Christ and planted in a particular place with a unique combination of skills, traits and life experiences.
If we applied eisegesis to ourselves, we might focus on what we think is wrong with us according to our own standards: I’m too tall, too shy, too brash, too this or too that. But what if we instead exegeted ourselves—reading out of our character, skills and experiences what God sees as important, including things that God might want to use?
I don’t mean we should treat ourselves in the same way that we treat Scripture. The Bible is the only place where God reveals and communicates himself. But we are his handiwork, and we can learn something by exploring what God has made.
So, ask yourself:
- What am I good at? Organising, cooking, encouraging people, gardening, IT, friendship, dancing in the rain—everybody is good at something.
- What am I passionate about? What energises me?
- What are my standout characteristics? Are you patient, passionate, a details person or a big-picture person?
- What events in my life might God be able to use?
- What areas of sin do I especially struggle with? Where do I need to ask God to continually change my heart so I’m appropriately prepared to carry the treasure of the gospel to others?
The aim is to start mapping ourselves and understanding the tools God has given us. And if this is hard, try it with another person or small group. It’s surprising what others can see in us that we cannot see in ourselves.
We know that God has prepared good works for us to do. Exegeting ourselves can help us think more intentionally about how he might have prepared us to do them.
Exegete your surroundings
This involves some research. It might sound clinical and not very biblical or Spirit-led, but it can be revealing and important.
It is easy to assume that we understand our community because we know our own neighbourhood, have a circle of friends who are like us, and attend a church where many people are similar to us. We can then assume that our community’s needs are roughly the same as our own.
That would be a mistake.
That is effectively eisegesis: reading our assumptions into our surroundings.
With a little research, we can discover people and needs that aren’t part of our personal landscape. Census statistics, for example, can reveal the age, family circumstances, ethnic backgrounds and languages of the people around us. Crime statistics can reveal what is happening behind closed doors, while data on things such as mortgage stress can expose financial pressures that aren’t immediately visible.
These things help us look beneath the surface. Who are the people around us? What are they facing? What might they need? And where are they?
There are plenty of other simple tools:
- Google your suburb. What do people care about? What comes up repeatedly in local community groups?
- Work out where people congregate. It might be sports fields, cafés, shops or the school gate. It might even be online.
- Exercise your powers of observation. Walk around your suburb and try to observe it with fresh eyes; get to know your surroundings in a way you never have before.
The aim is to build a picture of where God has planted us and the people he has placed around us.
Putting it together
If we exegete ourselves and exegete where God has planted us, we start to see where our skills and experiences might equip us—through deed, word and living witness—to carry the gospel to the people around us. This is about forming relationships with people in our mission field/suburb over the long term in an authentic, respectful and non-transactional way.
Perhaps there are single parents who need support. Maybe there are young mums who need friendship, or children struggling in their age group. Perhaps there is a foreign-born community that would benefit from English classes or a welcome morning tea. Maybe financial hardship, domestic abuse or addiction are significant issues.
The opportunities will be different in every community because you are different. Nobody else has your particular combination of experience and skills in your particular location.
And reaching people won’t always mean inviting them to church. Perhaps they would come into your home but not a church building. Perhaps they would chat at the school gates but not attend a formal event. Perhaps the best thing you can do is simply become a familiar, faithful presence.
Be available and openly Christian. Pray for opportunities. Be hungry and expectant, but don’t be frustrated if opportunities don’t immediately arise. Faithful obedience is not a to-do list; it is a way of life.
A few notes of caution
First, research is a means, not an end. Don’t become so absorbed in understanding your community that you miss the opportunities God has already put in front of you.
Second, works of compassion are not a substitute for the word. We need a both/and approach: both opportunities to demonstrate Christ-like compassion and opportunities to proclaim the gospel.
Finally, guard against instrumentalising relationships or seeing them as transactional. We should not see people simply as potential church attendees or Bible-study participants. If we are only interested in people because of what we can get from them, we aren’t really caring for them.
For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
Think of your community as your mission field. God shaped you deliberately and lovingly, and he planted you where you are.
So stay deep in Scripture to understand God’s will, but also lift your head and look around. Where did he put you? What skills and experiences did he give you that he can use?
Then step out in faith, knowing that God has gone before you and prepared in advance the good works he wants you to do.
Know someone in your church who would find this helpful? Please send it to them.