Q&A with Eric Lewis
Eric Lewis is the military ministry leader for Vision San Diego.
What is your key role with military ministry?
I have dual roles: I work for both Shadow Mountain Community Church (SMCC) and Vision San Diego. For SMCC, I help military families that are new in town get involved quickly at the church and then help them transition when they leave. For Vision SD, I train and motivate churches and pastors to have a similar strategy.
Why is it important for churches to have a strategy?
It’s really hard for military families to be involved in churches because they change locations about every five years. The problem is that when you go to a new church, you have to start over.
When talking to churches about having a strategy, what are some of the challenges you face?
I try to help churches understand the need for a strategy for their military people. It doesn’t take much to convince a church that they need a strategy for evangelism, youth, or small groups/Sunday School, but it’s difficult convincing them of the need for a strategy for their military people.
One key reason churches don’t have strategy is they’re transitory, on average changing locations every five years. However, the average person changes churches every five years. Another reason is that the kind of fruit that comes from a military ministry is not growing a church, it’s growing the Kingdom. When pastors change their attitudes from growing their own church to wanting to grow God’s Church, God blesses their local church.
How can people in the military connect with churches that have strategies?
The Military Missions Network, comprised of evangelical churches, chaplains, and para-church ministries, has a growing network of churches around the world that are military-friendly or have a focused military ministry. Many of these churches are strategically located where the military’s migratory patterns always go through. Go to militarymissionsnetwork.com to search for military friendly churches by location.
How can people pray for the military ministry in San Diego?
Pray for churches and church leaders to rise up that will look for ways to reach out to military families and individuals in their communities.
Pray that God will reveal 15-20 churches in San Diego County that are willing to create a military ministry plan.
Pray that God will open people’s hearts and eyes, so they will see the military as a mission field, not just another ocupation.
Ask God to reveal ways and opportunities to reach out to the physical, emotional, and spiritual needs of the military community here in San Diego.
Click here for statistics related to the military presence in San Diego County.
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