The Outreach Influence Team: Infusing the Vision
OOI Staff
August 2017
Part of the Organic Outreach operating system is to develop an Outreach Influence Team (OIT). This is a team that is made up of all the leaders and directors of your church. This would include your lead pastor, all other pastors, the chairman of your church board, and every person who leads any ministry in your church. Chapters five and six of Organic Outreach for Churches explain just how to go about forming this team.
When we introduced Organic Outreach at Shoreline Church, we started by considering every one of our church ministries and creating a list of each person who serves as the primary leader in each area of ministry. It made no difference whether they were paid staff or a valuable volunteer, their participation on this team would be imperative.
We started with 14 members on the Outreach influence Team. Now that we are training churches both large and small, we’ve seen Outreach Influence Teams started with as few as 5 people and as many as 20 and the result is still the same; the church is influenced toward becoming outreach-focused.
Now our Team has grown to 30 people and part of this is church growth, inevitable when proper outreach focus is infused. But part of it is also because we saw there would be greater outreach infusion by breaking down larger ministries into smaller parts.
Each of these members is trained, challenged, and encouraged by me toward finding their own natural and authentic way of growing in the area of personal evangelism. They, in turn, bring this vision to those who are working with them in their area of ministry. They are also challenged on how their area of the ministry itself can begin to reach out to the unchurched.
As we presented Organic Outreach at Shoreline and put together the OIT, I think everyone initially involved agreed that God was all about reaching lost people. Although most folks on the team agreed that personal outreach is certainly a good idea, at least some of them didn’t see it fitting into their busy schedules or were uncomfortable with the concept, especially if they spent most of their time at the church or with unbelievers.
"Do you mean to say you actually try to motivate people to do something uncomfortable for them?” You better believe we do. It’s called good leadership, and when it comes to reaching the lost, it’s a necessity."
You may be thinking right now, “If I were to put together a team like this, there would be people that really didn’t want to do it. Do you mean to say you actually try to motivate people to do something uncomfortable for them?” You better believe we do. It’s called good leadership, and when it comes to reaching the lost, it’s a necessity.
Remember, you cannot lead what you do not live, and if you want your whole church to become outreach-focused, it must start with, be lived by, and include all of your leaders.
“You even do this with volunteers?” Absolutely! If a man or a woman is not willing to commit to the Great Commission and live it out as well as influence it, they should not be in a key role of influence, lost souls are too important.
I’m sure the leaders of your church congregation are serious about their walk with Jesus and their commitment to the church. It won’t be difficult to get everyone in agreement that reaching lost people is the very heart of God. It will take some time, but eventually, every leader in your church can find their natural way of reaching out with the love and hope that is found in Jesus. They will be influencing outreach into their area of ministry, getting their ministry to reach out to the community and into the world. The results will be amazing.
Who Will Lead This Team?
If we want our church to flow with evangelistic passion we need an Outreach Influence Team Leader who is willing to seek out and take opportunities to reach out to lost people in their personal life. That leader must influence, train, and challenge all the leaders in their church every month to do the same. These leaders are the members of your OIT.
For more information on launching an Outreach Influence Team at your church and to access our OIT resources, contact the Organic Outreach team at info@organicoutreach.org.