Where: circles of accountability
Jesus told us to GO into the world and make disciples (Matthew 28:18-20). In other words, choose an area and multiply yourselves. Jesus told us to GO into the world and preach the Good News to everyone, everywhere (Mark 16:15). Seems simple, but we have a history of making simple things difficult. It seems that the life that Jesus offers and calls us to has turned into something less. In the words of Pastor Rick McKinley, "We've turned 'go' and 'spread' into complicated programs best left to missionaries and preachers. We've reduced 'all the world' and 'all creation' to just the folks who walk through the front door at church. And we've shrunk the Good News to a short list of words that will save a soul from hell."
Each of us spends at least 90 percent of our time outside a church building - in our homes, places of work, schools and neighborhoods. These are our circles of accountability, and we are called to take the Gospel to the people we rub shoulders with. If we are growing in our core values, then we will naturally be transferring the life of Christ to those in our circles of influence.
Corporately, we are called to reach our circle of accountability, (the three-mile radius around our location). Together we have taken responsibility for this radius, looking for opportunities to minister to the people in that circle. When people from other circles begin to come to Summit, we will begin planting Summit Churches in other circles of the Upstate.
To that end, we must be target driven in the multiplication of the church. We do this by applying Circles of Accountability. Circle of Accountability is asking God to give us a specific geographic sphere around us where we can empower and mobilize all of our resources to guarantee that in a specific time frame every man, woman and child will have the opportunity to see and hear the Gospel and be integrated into a local church.
Our circles include:
- The circle immediately around where our church meets (48 Brookfield Oaks Dr.)
- The circle of our city (Greenville)
- The circle of our state (The Upstate of SC)
- The circle of our nation (The United States)
- The circle somewhere else in the world (Kiev, Ukraine)