The Mission Field Already Has Your People

Imagine a church of sixty people on a Sunday morning.

Sitting on the third row is Karen, who teaches third grade at the local elementary school. Forty hours a week, she stands in front of twenty-two children in a community where many of those kids have no other stable adult presence. She knows their names. She knows their families. She knows which ones go home to empty houses.

In the back row is Dale, who owns a small excavating company. Every week, he works alongside people who have never been invited to church. He employs three guys from the community, one of whom is going through a rough divorce. Dale does not preach to him. But Dale is present, patient, and real.

In the middle is Angela, who runs a freelance graphic design business from her kitchen table. She has clients across three counties. She is the only person in her family who goes to church. Every client relationship is a gospel opportunity she has never been taught to recognize.

Next to her is Phil, who was recently laid off and has been filling his time volunteering at the food pantry, helping the elderly gentleman down the street with yard work, and teaching a younger man in the church how to restore a old truck. Phil does not have a title. He does not have a ministry position. He just shows up and helps.

Every Sunday, these sixty people gather. They sing. They hear a sermon. They drink coffee. And then Monday morning, they scatter into the community — and most of them go back to living as if the gospel has nothing to do with their Monday-through-Saturday life.

Pastor, this is the tragedy of small church ministry in one sentence: the mission field already has your people. They just do not know it.

The Old Model: Come to Us

For most of the twentieth century, the operating assumption of the local church was simple: people need to come to church to encounter God’s love.

This shaped everything. Building design. Programming. Outreach strategy. The unspoken message was: “We have something you need. Come and get it.”

This model worked — for a while. In communities where going to church was culturally expected, where Sunday was a protected day, where churches were the social centers of their towns, the “come to us” model produced results. People came. Churches grew.

But the cultural landscape has changed. In many rural communities, church attendance is no longer assumed. Sunday mornings are filled with sports practices, farm work, and sleep. The unchurched neighbor is not hostile to the church. They are simply indifferent. They do not see any reason to come.

In this landscape, the “come to us” model produces smaller and smaller results. Fewer visitors. Fewer conversions. Fewer people who encounter the love of Christ through the local church.

Something needs to change. Not in the gospel. Not in the mission. In the model.

The New Model: Go With Them

Brent Lacy, an author and long-time rural ministry advocate based in Indiana, has spent years making this argument to churches across rural America. Through his books (This is NOT DiY: Renovating the Local Congregation, 2025; Rural Youth Ministry, expanded second edition), his RuralThinkTank podcast, and his direct work with small churches, Lacy argues that the most strategic thing a small pastor can do is stop trying to get everyone to come to church events and start equipping the people already scattered across the mission field.

The concept is simple: every church member who works, creates, serves, or relates to people outside the church is already a missionary. The church does not need to send them somewhere. The church needs to send them with something.

Lacy calls this “releasing the creatives” — identifying the writers, artists, speakers, teachers, consultants, business owners, tradespeople, and organizers in your congregation and equipping them to share the gospel through their everyday work and community presence.

Not secondary to “real” evangelism. Not a supplement to the pastor’s preaching. A primary means of gospel advance. As Lacy writes, the church must recognize that Christ Himself is the Master Builder of His congregation (Lacy, This is NOT DiY, introduction). The church’s job is not to manufacture results but to faithfully release the people God has gifted into the places God has already put them.

What This Looks Like in Practice

The writer does not need to start a Christian publishing company. She can write — articles for the local paper, stories for community newsletters, content for local businesses — and infuse her work with honesty, hope, and grace. She can mentor young writers in the community. She can tell true stories that reflect the goodness of God without preaching.

The artist does not need to paint Bible scenes. She can teach art at the community center. She can paint a mural on the side of a building. She can display work at the local coffee shop. She can use beauty to make people stop, look, and feel something they have not felt in a long time.

The teacher does not need to convert her classroom. She can be the adult who sees every child, who refuses to give up on the difficult student, who treats every family with dignity. She can be the presence of Christ in a public school without saying a word about Christ.

The business owner does not need to put a Bible verse on his invoice. He can run his business with integrity. He can pay a living wage. He can mentor employees. He can be generous with people in crisis. He can let his business be known as the place where people are treated well.

The consultant does not need to evangelize his clients. He can offer his expertise to the church board, the food bank, the school booster club, and the town council — for free. He can help failing organizations succeed. He can be a problem-solver in the name of Christ.

The speaker does not need to preach in a pulpit. She can organize community events. She can moderate discussions. She can bring people together around shared concerns. She can create spaces where the church shows up as a servant, not a salesman.

The Church’s Role: Equip, Pray, Release

The church’s role in “releasing the creatives” is not organizational. It is spiritual and relational. Here is what that looks like:

#### 1. Identify

Ask your congregation: “What are you good at? What do you love to do? Who do you interact with during the week who will never come to our church?”

Make a list. You will be surprised how many gifted, passionate, well-connected people are sitting in your pews every Sunday, completely unaware that their skills matter to the kingdom.

#### 2. Affirm

Many church members have been taught — explicitly or implicitly — that “real” ministry happens inside the church building. Teaching. Preaching. Leading worship. Serving on committees. Everything else is “secular.”

This is not a biblical distinction. Scripture does not divide the world into sacred and secular work. Paul was a tentmaker (Acts 18.3, ESV). Lydia was a dealer in purple cloth (Acts 16.14). The Proverbs 31 woman was a real estate investor, a manufacturer, and a merchant (Prov. 31.16-24). None of them treated their work as second-class to their ministry. Their work was their ministry. Tell your people the truth: the gifts God gave them are not hobbies. They are kingdom tools.

#### 3. Pray

Start praying by name for church members in their Monday-through-Saturday mission fields.

“Lord, bless Karen in her classroom today. Give her eyes to see which child is struggling. Give her words to say that heal. Give her endurance when she is tired. Let her students see Jesus in her.”

“Lord, bless Dale at his work site. Help him be patient with his employee who is going through the divorce. Give him the right words at the right time. Let his life preach a sermon that his mouth does not have to deliver.”

This kind of prayer revolutionizes a congregation’s understanding of mission. It tells people that their work matters. It tells people the church cares about their whole life, not just their Sunday morning presence.

#### 4. Support

Create a small “missions seed fund” — $500 to $2,000 per year set aside specifically to help church members pursue community impact projects that require a little start-up money.

Writer who wants to launch a community newsletter? Fund the first three months of printing.
Artist who wants to teach a free art class at the community center? Buy the supplies.
Teacher who wants to stock a book classroom library? Purchase the books.
Business owner who wants to sponsor a little league team? Cover the registration fees.

This is not church budget spending. This is church planting spending. Every dollar you invest in a community-shaping, gospel-advancing, member-empowered initiative is a dollar invested in the mission field where the church already has people.

#### 5. Celebrate

Every month, tell a story from the mission field. Not the overseas mission field. The Monday-through-Saturday mission field.

“Last month, Angela redesigned the logo for the local food bank pro bono. The director told her it was the first time anyone from a church had offered to help without trying to get something in return.”

“Dale’s employee, the one going through the divorce, came to Dale last week and asked if they could talk. Dale listened. Then he told him about the hope he has in Christ. No altar call. No invite to church. Just one man being real with another man.”

These stories are fuel. They tell the congregation: this is what we do. This is who we are. Ministry is not something that happens only in the church building on Sunday morning.

A Challenge to Pastors

Here is the hard truth: if your outreach strategy depends entirely on church-sponsored events, you are competing against every other organization in your community for people’s time and attention. Sports leagues. Civic clubs. School events. Social media. Netflix.

Most small churches cannot win that competition. They do not have the budget, the staff, or the cultural relevance to out-program the world.

But they have something the world does not have: sixty people who are already embedded in the marketplace, already known in the community, already trusted by their neighbors. Sixty people who, if equipped and released, could take the gospel further in a year than a decade of church events could reach.

Lacy makes a related point that seminaries often do not teach: the church does not need more programs. The church needs a pastor who sees the congregation as an army of missionaries and leads them accordingly (Lacy, This is NOT DiY, Part Two).

That pastor is you. Or it can be. But it requires a shift in thinking. Pastors who are trained to see success as Sunday morning attendance and building programs will always default to event-based outreach. Pastors who see success as believers faithfully representing Christ in every sphere of life will equip and release their people for the mission they are already living.

Go and Make … Disciples of All Occupations

The Great Commission does not say “go and make church attenders.” It says “go and make disciples of all nations” (Matt. 28.19, ESV). “All nations” includes all neighborhoods, all workplaces, all schools, all civic organizations, all online communities.

Every person in your congregation who interacts with non-believers during the week is a potential disciple-maker. The question is whether the church has equipped and released them for that task.

You might not see the results immediately. Missionary work is slow. Discipleship is a long game. But over time, a church that releases its creatives into the community will see gospel fruit that no program could produce.

Start this week.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why is creativity important in the local church?

Creativity reflects the image of a creative God. It also opens doors for people who might not engage with traditional ministry formats.

How do we release the creatives in our church?

Give them permission, space, and support. Many creative people in the church are waiting to be asked.

What if our church is not a ‘creative’ church?

Every church has creative people. They may be in the kitchen, the garden, or the workshop, not just on the stage.

How do we balance creativity with reverence?

Creativity and reverence are not opposites. The most reverent worship often involves the most creative expression.

What practical steps can a small church take to foster creativity?

Start a creative team, host an art night, invite members to share their work, and celebrate creativity as a form of worship.