I used to think that the church would be the key ingredient for reaching individuals and transforming society! I was right and yet I was wrong because my concept of the church's influence needed a new focus. We all know the church is not a building but the church is made up of people and those people are working people, people in society. And if we are going to reach society with the gospel then the people in the church, not the church as an institution, not the church as a service, not the church as a program or the pastor of the church is going to reach society. Ultimately it is the people attending the church that are going to go out in to the world where they work and reach society with the gospel.
 

This concept led me to connect a teaching that has been used to structure YWAM’s University of the Nations, which gave me tremendous application in the light of City Reaching and transforming society. Back in 1975, Loren Cunningham (Founder of Youth With A Mission) and Bill Bright (Founder of Campus Crusade for Christ) compared notes one day and discovered that the Lord had put on each their hearts the very same thing about how to disciple the nations and turn them back to God! They found that they both had identified seven areas of influence that shape societies. [1] Those Seven Areas of Influence can be easily remembered by following the first 7 alphabets in the English language. A, B, C, D, E, F, G:

A=Arts. This includes the areas of painting, drama, mime, sculpture, handicrafts, cinema, writing, dance, poetry, sports, music,
B=Business and Commerce.
C=Church. This also includes the areas of social service.
D=Distribution of Media. This includes newspaper, television, journalism, internet, radio, magazines.
E=Education. Seminaries, Colleges, Universities, schools, informal training,
F=Family. Counselling, Health Care, Medicine, Pre-Marital and Post Marital Counselling, Child Development
G=Government. Police, IAS, Members of Parliament, Members of Legislative Assembly, Lawyers, Judicial,
 

There are also other key areas that are outside these 7 areas that include Science, Technology, Economics, and Medicine. YWAM further took this concept into their training programs and began to build a University which is now in operation around the world with a regional centre in Pune based on the 7 Areas of Influence.[2]  The University has 7 Colleges preparing each student to serve the Lord in society by impacting these areas. Those colleges are the College of Christian Ministries, College of Performing Arts, College of Education, College of Humanities and International Studies, College of Science and Technology, College of Communications, College of Counselling and Health Care. These Areas of Influence are spheres that shape society.

 

I was recently doing a prayer walk through Kathmandu City and as I came to one of the main squares of the city I noticed all the art work that was on display. It was shop after shop of religious items and there was nothing “Christian” to compete with it. Christian art does not have to be just religious but it is art that represents the values of the Kingdom of God. It may be something pure, something beautiful or something that represents a biblical value. I began to pray as I walked by the shops of idols that God would raise up Christian artists who would be in the midst of the idols displaying an alternative art form and being an alternative lifestyle and verbal witness in the midst of other artists.
 

We are not only called to preach the Gospel to every creature but we are also called to Disciple the Nations. As we have seen in the city of Chennai that just having more churches does not necessarily bring forth more transformation. Chennai now with a total of 2500 churches is increasing every year in the rate of suicide, wine shops on every street corner, 2000+ slums and environmental and moral issues that overpower the ever expanding church. Why is this so?
 

Landa Cope, former Dean of the College of Communications in the University of the Nations tells the story of a British TV journalist who seriously took the challenge that Christians believe their religion makes a better society.[3] This journalist went to the most “churched” city in the United States and  looked at crime, drugs, race relationships, economic equity, education, violence in schools etc. It was a disaster! Then he interviewed some of the religious leaders in the community. Choosing leading people of the church, he asked their views. He allowed them to address the needs of this city! Without exception they had nothing to say about the gospel being applied to the needs of their home town!
 

Unfortunately most of us don’t understand that the Message of God’s Kingdom is not just something we hear in church but it is something that is to be unleashed in and through society’s structures to bring about transformed lives and then transformed communities. Secondly most of us have divided our lives and our thinking into secular and sacred compartments. This division has made us to see those who are pastors, missionaries, Bible teachers, and evangelists as full time servants doing the Lord’s work and the rest of us as those that support them and attend their meetings. The reason we are not reaching the cities today is simply because we have not employed the harvest force that is sitting in the churches and have opportunities every day to effect society.
Pastors are called to shepherd their churches but the church is called to shepherd the community. For too long the church has endeavoured to bring as many people to as many services as possible inside the four walls of the church. All we have ended up doing is making people become busy going to church rather than equipping people to reach and transform society.
 

In the chart below you can see the church as the centre. When the church is the centre it will become bigger but that does not mean it is impacting society. It can sometimes simply mean that the church is getting fatter. The typical attitude of the church when it comes into contact with business people is to see whether that person can come to church so they can give their donation to help the church. Or when the church comes in contact with a musician the church thinks, “how can I rope this person into leading and helping with the worship service?”  When the church encounters an educationalist the church thinks how they can get this person to teach Sunday school. In other words the church is the CENTRE of everything and service to the Lord is defined within its four walls. You can see the arrows indicating that talent from the spheres of society are flowing into the church for the benefit of the church.