The Externally Focused Church Series

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The Externally Focused Church Series

Referenced in: Social Ministry Strategies

Introduction
Resources
Related Areas

Introduction

This, alongside Lewis/Irresistible Influence, are excellent models for social action among evangelical churches.

Externally Focused Church (EF) is one of the most comprehensive and widely used resources for ministries of social compassion and justice. It is actually a series of resources that began with the first volume, The Externally Focused Church (2004), and has expanded into several volumes and web-based resources through the Externally Focused Network.

Rusaw writes out of his experience in ministry with the LifeBridge Christian Church in Longmont, Colorado. Swanson was associated with Campus Crusade for Christ for 25 years. Each brings strong evangelical convictions and respect for biblical authority to the issue of social action. This is reflected throughout the series, exemplified by features in Externally Focused Church such as the appendix listing “Scriptures Revealing God’s Heart for the Poor, the Needy, Widows, Orphans, and Aliens,” and “Scriptures Concerning Good Works and Good Deeds.”

The authors frame social ministries as the proof behind the proclamation of the Gospel, the proof being the “other side” of Christian witness that evangelical churches tend to minimize or neglect. Through their experiences of leading churches and other groups into their surrounding communities, they were awakened to how demonstrations of faith through good works actually opened people to hearing the message of Christ. This should not be mistaken as doing good works as a utility toward evangelism, but as a legitimate faith expression in itself.

The Externally Focused series is an excellent first level resource for congregations that are serious about social action. Church leaders may need supplements to gain more biblical/theological grounding (see LifeandLeadership.com section on Theology of Social Action/Social Justice), as the EF series pragmatically stresses a holistic theology but does not develop it. Also, the implementation sections are quite basic and may benefit from other volumes on Involvement and Gift-Based Ministry.

So we ask, just what is an externally focused church? The authors provide the following criteria:

They are inwardly strong but outwardly focused.
They integrate good deeds and good news into the life of the church.
They value impact and influence in the community more than attendance.
They seek to be salt, light, and leaven in the community.
They see themselves as the “soul” of the community.
They would be greatly missed by the community if they left.

Each book in the series contributes a different piece toward equipping congregations to become more externally focused. They are listed below. The first two volumes present the meat of the EF approach.

Resources

The first two volumes present the meat of the EF approach:

Supportive volumes:

See Other Resource Guides on Christian Social Ministry:

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Ministry Resource Guides Index

Social Ministry