Identify Your Oikos

Who do you knowthat lacks a personal connection with Jesus Christ?List them here.

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The Oikos Principle

When Jesus worked a miracle on

someone’s behalf, like the man in Mark 5, it was his custom to give him or her a

simple assignment--to return home with a story.

As Jesus was getting into the boat, the

man who had been demon-possessed begged to go with him. Jesus did not let him, but said, "Go home [OIKOS] to

your family and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how he has

had mercy on you." So the man went away and began to tell in the Decapolis how much Jesus had done for him. And

all the people were amazed. Mark 5:18-20 (NIV)

But Jesus wasn’t referring to a home as a structure but as a network of

relationships. Oikos is the Greek word New Testament writers used to represent those key relationships we all

find at the center of our daily lives. Like everyone else, your oikos is made up of

your friends and family, neighbors and coworkers. Jesus’ simple expectation is that you also will tell them what God

has done for you.

At Gateway, the Oikos Principle serves

as the cornerstone of our strategy for Showing God’s Love to the world.

What Is An “Oikos?”

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Next, make a commitment to pray daily for these individuals. Pray that they would sense God’s presence in their lives and that God would draw each one to himself. Offer yourself every day as an instrument in that process.

At Gateway we devote ourselves to pursuing three main goals.

• Knowing Christ - this is the pursuit of our relationship with God and

we celebrate and share in this as we all gather together for worship each weekend.

• Growing Together - this is the pursuit of living as God’s family. We develop the spiritually encouraging relationships we all need within small gatherings called Grow Groups.

• Showing God’s Love - this is the pursuit of fulfilling the second half of the great commandment - to love our neighbors. It’s what we do with the majority of our week, when we are not gathered for worship or in our Grow Groups.

Showing God’s Love is lived out by serving those in our spiritual family and by influencing those in our Oikos.

Our evangelism strategy is very simple: Oikos. That’s it! We don’t have a program. We don’t have professional evangelists. We simply help you impact the people that God has already placed in your life. If there is some way that we can help you do that please let us know.

God does not expect you as an individual to reach the entire world with his love. A task that size would be paralyzing. He does ask you to reach your world though--your relational world of the 8-15

people who are closest to you. These people make up your “extended household” or Oikos. It’s always a good idea to be thinking and praying about the needs of the people around you. As you keep your eyes open for opportunities, you will be able to Show God’s Love in many different ways.

They can be summarized in three simple categories:

What does a person do with an Oikos?

INVESTBecause Jesus’ strategy for building his church focuses on relationships, investing in

your relationships is always a good place to start. Whether it is a friend, neighbor, co-worker or relative, when you invest in

someone’s life it can be a display of God’s love. Listening, meeting practical needs and

just spending time together as friends are valuable ways of investing. When we start with investing, people know that our love for

them, and therefore God’s love too, is sincere and dependable.

INFORMThe people in your life need to know some things about your relationship with Jesus too. When you read what Jesus asked of

people in his life, it was most often simply to tell others what God had

done for them personally. It’s important that the people in your

Oikos get a chance to know your story of faith.

When people are open, it is important that they also hear how they can

pursue a relationship with Christ for themselves. Don’t worry about what you

don’t know. Informing is all about the things you already know and have experienced with God.

INVITEThere are many times when the best thing to do is to invite people to take a step

closer to Christ. This might involve encouraging someone to accept Christ’s offer of forgiveness and relationship. Or

perhaps they need the more gradual step of attending church with you. Did you know

that surveys of unchurched individuals reveal that more than 80% of them would accept an invitation to church from a

friend? Or maybe the next step is to merely invite someone to build a stronger

relationship with you! Invitations to dinner or coffee can count too!

If you would like to dig a little deeper

into the Oikos principle and how we apply it at Gateway, we would

encourage you to read the book, “Oikos, Your World, Delivered.” It is available for purchase ($10) at our

Welcome Center.

Oikos at Gateway