by Robby Christmas

One way to help Christians engage in more Gospel conversations is to equip them to understand and engage in both Proactive and Reactive Mission. Reactive Mission is simply living your life in your normal rhythms and being ready to engage in missional opportunities that arise “out of the blue.” Proactive Mission involves adjusting your life and going outside of your normal rhythms in order to find missional opportunities. I Peter 3:15 describes reactive mission – “Set apart Christ as Lord” (live your life), and “be ready always to give an answer” (engage in missional opportunities as they arise). Jesus sending out the 72 disciples in Luke 10 would be a great example of proactive mission.

Consider this example of Reactive Mission: You go to work like any other day. You bring your lunch and sit at your normal table in the break room. During lunch, someone comes to sit with you and starts sharing some difficulties they are going through. You take the opportunity to turn the conversation toward the Gospel.

Now let’s make this an example of Proactive Mission: Because you want to get to know your coworkers better, you decide you will invite a different coworker to lunch twice a month. During lunch you are looking for every opportunity to turn the conversation toward the Gospel. The result in these two examples is the same, but the distinction is clear – with the Proactive Mission approach, you went out of your normal rhythms in order to look for an opportunity to share the Gospel with your coworker.

Both of these approaches are important and the goal of both is the same: Gospel conversations! But there is some value in recognizing the distinction and in challenging ourselves and those we lead to be prepared for Reactive Mission and be intentional about Proactive Mission.

Here are some key ways to be prepared for Reactive Mission:

  • Be faithful in your time with the Lord. Our lives will provoke questions only as we set apart Christ as Lord (I Peter 3:15), and this will not happen consistently without spending time reflecting on Christ as Lord.
  • Learn to notice other people. In Matthew 14:14, the story of Jesus fed 5,000 people, he started by seeing “a large crowd and had compassion on them.” Jesus was trying to get away to grieve the loss of his cousin, but noticing these people led to compassion, which led to a change of plans. Sometimes, reacting correctly when opportunities arise will require us to change our plans, so we must see people like Jesus did.
  • Practice transitioning conversations and using your Gospel-sharing tool of choice regularly. (Col. 4:5-6)

Here are some ways to be intentional with Proactive Mission:

  • Make room in your budget. How would the person in the lunch example above be able to pay for those lunches? Lack of money should never been seen as a barrier for mission, but some Proactive Missional efforts may require money. So work these efforts into your budget. Don’t let poor planning hinder your missional lifestyle.
  • Make room in your schedule. Who has time for this kind of thing?! The people who see mission as a priority in their lives and adjust their schedules accordingly. Be one of those people.
  • Volunteer with nonprofits. One great way to engage in Proactive Mission is to look for ways to meet needs in your community. Volunteering with non-profits is a great way to do this. You can also look for opportunities on Meetup.com pages that are based on volunteer work. This is a great way to demonstrate Gospel grace as you seek to share Gospel grace.
  • See this article by Jonathan Dodson for more ideas on how to go out of your way for Gospel-sharing opportunities:

As we continue to train people to be prepared to engage in Gospel conversations, we may also look for ways to help get people into situations where they are more likely to have those Gospel Conversations. Understanding Proactive Mission is a great way to do this.

Robby Christmas is a church planting resident at Family Church.