For too long church leaders have focused on increasing the size of their church rather than increasing their reach outside of the four walls of the church building. The result? Church life becomes a predictable set of routines with predictable results. Church members struggle to reach the neighborhoods they drive through on their way to church programs, unable to penetrate their surrounding communities in a meaningful way. Reaching the Unreached recounts the stories, struggles, and triumphs of individuals and churches that have reinvented themselves to meet the world where it is, working to reach the ones that no one else is reaching.
The search for the “silver bullet” of success has diverted us from tapping into the timeless principles found in the book of Acts, says author, pastor, and front-line church planter Peyton Jones. Yet the spiritual climate that Paul and the Apostles stepped into is not all that different from the brave new world the church faces today.
From accidentally planting a church in a Starbucks in Europe, to baptizing members of the Mexican mafia in Long Beach Harbor, Jones has been on the frontlines of today’s missional movement and has lived to tell the tale. In Reaching the Unreached, he teaches church planters, pastors, and church leaders how to convert pew jockeys into missionaries and awake the sleeping giant of Christ’s church, one person at a time.
Today there are two types of churches: those who put their proverbial heads in the sand, and those who champion 1st century principles, meet the challenges head on, and embrace the adventure of mission in community. Tomorrow, only one type of church will survive—those that accept the challenge to reach the unreached.
