Unit 2: Mission Catalyst Living in Mission
You’ve made it to Unit 2! Congratulations. Unit 1 is a necessary foundation but can be daunting with all the theological concepts that must be assimilated. Unit 2 is about the doing of witnessing. Through each of the four lessons the participants will develop skills that can help them be engaged in everyday missions. Like all good skills, mastery requires practice and some level of discomfort. When I was learning to play guitar, I had to spend hours practicing the chords and the rhythm of the strum before I could get them in synch. My fingers ached and even bled at times, but over time, I developed callouses and muscle memory, so I could form the chords without a thought. In a similar way, being a ready witness is about practice, pain, and patience. Unit 2 will begin with a comforting exercise to help address our human fear of rejection. It will also cover the discipline of prayer walking, conversational evangelism, and the art of Neighboring.
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6Prayer Walking Introduction
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7Prayer Walking: Thy Kingdom Come
Prayer walking is a powerful practice of walking and praying in specific locations, seeking God's guidance, protection, and blessings upon the people and places you encounter. Prayer walking is not just a physical activity, but a spiritual discipline that allows us to partner with God in interceding for our communities.
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8Complete a prayer walk
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9Conversational Evangelism Introduction
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10Spiritual Conversations
Complete the Lutheran Hour Learning Path titled, Spiritual Conversations. It can be found here: https://lhm.reach360.com/learning-path/aad4e646-e065-44d3-bed6-45fe7fbe5355
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11Read the book, "The 9 Arts of Spiritual Conversations" by Mary Schaller and John Crilly
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12Your Mission List Update
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13Meet with your mentor to discuss conversational evangelism
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14The Art of Neighboring
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15An Introduction to Neighboring
Jesus said, "Love your neighbor as yourself." Our greatest mission field is often the neighborhood in which we live. In this unit, you will be equipped and challenged to develop a witnessing strategy for your neighborhoo. This unit uses the book, "The Art of Neighboring" by Jay Pathak and Dave Runyon to guide the preparation and planning process. The author's are not Lutheran, so you'll want to keep your law/gospel filters on. However, the resource offers helpful guideance for developing the art of neighboring. You will need to purchase a copy of the book for this unit. It can be found on Amazon. If you've not done so, read Joining Jesus on His Mission, by Greg Finke. Finke, a Lutheran pastor, provides a great companion perspective to The Art of Neighboring. Joining Jesus is also available on Amazon.
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16The Art of Neighboring
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17Evaluating The Art of Neighboring
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18Completing Unit 2
Mission Catalyst: Unit 2
Topics:
- Handling Rejection
- Prayer Walking
- Conversational Evangelism
- The Art of Neighboring
The participant must have completed Unit 1 of the Mission Catalyst Program.