Many churches emphasize either reaching the lost or growing the saved, but few churches do both well. In this seminar, pastor Aaron Chung (Exilic Church, NYC) walks us through ways even the ordinary rhythms of church can be extraordinary means of outreach, shaping the minds and hearts of congregations in a weekly rhythm of discipleship. Both preaching and presiding (the things that happen during a service outside of the sermon) can become more than internal acts of discipleship, but also missional practices that help the church reach its surrounding culture.

If your congregation wrestles with the balance between “growing the saved” and “reaching the lost,” this conversation offers encouragement, clarity, and practical next steps.

Download the lecture slides below.

AMR – Engaging and Reaching Our Culture (1)

Key Takeaways

Presiding: using the liturgy to welcome skeptics

• Treat presiding as ministry, not housekeeping; it’s a weekly chance to engage non-Christians.
• Show the whole liturgy at a glance (e.g., on every slide with a simple progress marker) so first-timers know where they are.
• Give 30–60 second, seeker-sensitive explanations before each element of the worship service.
• Action prompt: audit your presiding for insider assumptions; add one crisp, vivid explanation per element on Sundays.

Preaching: cultural apologetics through story and formation

• Aim every sermon at core longings (à la Keller’s Making Sense of God): meaning, satisfaction, freedom, identity, hope, morality.
• Preach formation and counter-formation (head, heart, hands). Many traditions over-form one domain and under-form the others.
• Prep inputs: “Bible in one hand, YouTube/news in the other”—but rely on curated sources; build a running archive of stories/quotes by theme.
• Story is power: people convert to a truer, better story.

Practical Steps Pastors Can Implement Each Sunday

• Add a visible “order of service” and a simple “you are here” marker on slides.
• Script one 30–60s, outsider-aware intro for each liturgical element.
• Map your next 6–8 sermons to at least one of the six longings (meaning, satisfaction, freedom, identity, hope, morality).
• Audit ministries against “head–heart–hands” and shore up the lightest domain.
• Start (or revive) a single doc where you file illustrations by theme; add to it weekly.