Do Good. Deliver Hope. Together.
The Dream of Everyone’s Wilson
Your Work Is Ministry:
“I’ve been going to church for 30 years, but I don’t know that I’ve heard that the work I do every day is actually sacred work.”
Those comments came from a local, Jesus-following business owner after I shared with him over a burrito that his work is soul care, that producing products is not secular work. But that the work he does to serve his employees and their families, his customers, and the local community is God’s work.
In Genesis 2, God commanded Adam and Eve to cultivate and care for the earth. The tilling of the soil was not a secondary, necessary evil. It was a fundamental part of image-bearers of God fulfilling their purpose on earth.
This perceived gap between sacred work and secular work may explain in part the struggle many local churches have in making disciples of Jesus and impacting their communities. In our formerly Bible-belt community, close to 80% of our residents are not connected to Jesus or to a local church at all. We live in a post-Christian community filled with all the brokenness, heartache, and vulnerabilities that lostness creates.
All the while, scores of Jesus-loving, committed, and skilled men and women sit in churches every week assuming the best thing they can offer to the church is their financial contributions. They volunteer in the preschool ministry once a month, maybe they teach a small group, maybe they work as a greeter for 90 minutes each week, but they aren’t sure what it means to live on mission for Jesus for the 40 hours of their work week. Living Sent Ministries helps people understand what it means to live on mission at work.
Everyone’s Wilson Provides the Opportunity to Engage the City:
Everyone’s Wilson is a coalition of Gospel churches who work together for the good of every person in Wilson County, Tennessee. In fulfilling this mission, it’s our hope to remove barriers, clear pathways, and identify achievable steps that churches can take to equip and mobilize believers to join Jesus’ work in the most profound pockets of vulnerability in our community.
These pockets include hunger, addiction, safety, and education. So on the one hand, we teach and resource the church to be a missionary in the local community. And then we build and broker strategic partnerships in the community where the church can join people and organizations who are already serving in these areas of need.
For example, our schools are already working to prepare students for a better future. But every pocket of vulnerability intersects in the local schools. So we’ve created a school partnership initiative that allows churches to build a robust partnership with schools that can help students and faculty achieve their goals. In the process, Jesus-loving people are loving their neighbors and building meaningful relationships that can change lives.
We’re forming similar initiatives to address hunger and poverty, addiction and recovery, foster care, disaster relief, first-responder support, and others. All of which will give local churches and individual believers clear pathways for Gospel witness, kingdom impact, and community transformation.
We like to say, “We do good and deliver hope, and we do it together.” When churches pursue the kingdom of God and act like a missionary, we can do great things together.
The vision of Everyone’s Wilson begins in Wilson County, Tennessee, but our vision for kingdom impact extends well beyond our community. So if we can help you, your church, or your business or organization to implement these kingdom strategies for community engagement, please reach out. It would be an honor to serve you.
Daryl Crouch, Executive Director
darylcrouch@everyoneswilson.org
423-571-5290 (cell)
