How vital is your congregation when it comes to Outward Incarnational Focus? Take our quiz and find out!Please note that this quiz only reflects the individual quiz taker's perceptions. To dive deeper encourage your session, deacons, or other small group to take it; then share your answers  and talk together.  If you want a fuller, richer dive into your congregation's vitality makeup related to all 7 marks consider the US Congregational Vitality Survey.

Interviews

Out of Chaos Hope is an interview with elder Marilyn Stone, a member of the National Response Team for Presbyterian Disaster Assistance and moderator of the Milwaukee Presbytery's Disaster Preparedness and Response Task Force. Marilyn shares how she came to be involved, the work of PDA nationally and internationally, how this work is funded, and how you can get involved. For more information visit the PDA webapge. You can also contact Marilyn for a presentation with your congregation or ministry team.

In this interview with Rev. Dee Anderson (West Granville) and Kristi Sebald (Habitat for Humanity, Milwaukee), we encounter the perfect mash-up of Outward Incarnational Focus and Caring Relationships.  Thanks to 35 years of shared ministry between the Presbytery of Milwaukee & Habitat for Humanity (Milwaukee), over 30 families have homes and members throughout the presbytery have discovered ministry with a lasting impact.

Going Deeper Inward to Go Better Outward: A conversation with Trish Eckert, pastor at Tippecanoe Presbyterian Church.  Trish shares how the ministry of Divine Intervention, begun by a small congregation with deep care for members of its community, has impacted a city of over a half a million.  And it starts not by rushing out with an idea to fix and save but by deep inward listening then building relationships of mutual care and respect.

The Game vs The Huddle, a conversation with Chip Hardwick, Synod of the Covenant Exec. Using the football analogies of the huddle and the game, Chip unpacks how congregations engaging the mark of Outward Incarnational Focus are in the game vs. those only focused inward (the huddle). He also shares the creative and life giving ways congregations are exhibiting the vital mark of Outward Incarnational Focus. 

Resources

Neighborhood Church: Transforming Your Congregation into a Powerhouse for Mission was selected by Ruling Elder Vilmarie Cintrón-Olivieri and the Reverend Cindy Kohlmann, Co-Moderators of the 223rd General Assembly (2018), to inspire churches to become strong community partners. Purchase the book here.
Five part video series on Neighborhood Church:
Part 1 Communal Conversion: the path to becoming a neighborhood church
Part 2 Are You Listening?
Part 3 Transforming Partnerships
Part 4 Utilizing Space
Part 5 Different Approach to Worship

Presbyterians for Earth Care
How to Become an Earth Care Congregation

Neighboring Sunday, a guide to planning an experience of worship  and getting to know your neighborhood

Tools from the Presbyterian Mission Agency
Modes of Mission Engagement, a helpful tool for mission teams and congregations to discern their current mode of mission and learn of others. "When groups engage in mission, they often use different strategies, or modes, for going about their work. These modes shape the very nature of the mission and affect how groups interact with partners and understand “success.” Find out which mode most closely matches your current mission involvement, and consider other modes you might be drawn to engage in."

How is God Calling Your Congregation? A Guide for Discerning Congregational Mission Focus 

​Mission Selection and Evaluation Tool

Presbyterian World Mission, International Partners Manual

Articles
Mission and Anti-racism by Laura Cheifetz

Mission Accomplished, a new spin on the traditional capital campaign. At Second Pres in Roanoke VA, four longtime mission partners all came to church leaders a few months before the pandemic to lay out their capital needs. “We’ve had big capital campaigns before, but we kept every dime for renovation. It’s easy to raise money for your own church,” Rev. Anderson said. The question was: Could Second Presbyterian Church raise this much and have it all go away?

​Outward Focus, a bible study based on Luke 10 with reflection questions by Chip Hardwick. A church with outward focus moves beyond philanthropy. It lives and connects alongside its partners, building relationships for the sake of the gospel. After all, the church exists by mission, just as a fire exists by burning.