How to activate people into mission 

From a webinar by Underground Network

The challenge of activating others

Lucas Pulley, a leader of the Underground Network in Tampa, USA, reflects on a long-running leadership challenge in church life: not simply being missional ourselves, but activating others so that everyday disciples move from good intentions to real participation in God’s mission.

In an early experience, after months of talking about “being missional” and reading widely, his own house church still saw very few people actually engaging in mission. Meanwhile, another nearby house church - led by newer believers who didn’t even know the “missional conversation” language - had nearly everyone actively involved in mission.

In hindsight, Lucas sees that their leaders were doing (even unconsciously) a few catalytic things that helped people move from potential to action. What were those catalysts? How do we learn how to collaborate with God in mobilizing people?

Jesus’ pattern: compassion that mobilises workers

What was Jesus’ approach?

In Matthew 9, Jesus sees the crowds as harassed and helpless and feels deep compassion - yet he doesn’t attempt to do the work alone. He names the harvest as plentiful, the workers as few, and tells his disciples to ask the Lord of the harvest to send workers. The mission belongs to God; the harvest is God’s; and God chooses to involve workers.

In John 20, Jesus connects the church’s mission to the sending life of God himself: “As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.” The Father sends the Son; the Son sends the Spirit; the Spirit sends the church. Activation, then, is not us inventing a mission, but responding to (and joining) the sending movement that already originates in God.

From potential to kinetic: why catalysts matter

Lucas uses a physics metaphor to describe the shift leaders are praying for. A pendulum at its highest point or a drawn bow contains potential energy - real energy, but not yet released. Kinetic energy is energy in motion. In the same way, a “potentially missional Christian” may truly be called and sent, with the kingdom’s “energy” present in them, but still not actively engaged.

When that person becomes an “activated missional Christian,”, the potential energy of the kingdom is released into real movement and real fruit. The key questions become, "What “catalysts” help disciples move from potential to kinetic?" and, "What role do leaders play in fostering those catalysts without manipulating people?"

Unhealthy motivators that burn people out

Before naming healthy catalysts, Lucas warns about several unhealthy ones that can “work” briefly but ultimately distort the gospel and waste people’s energy:

1. “God really needs you.” While God chooses to involve us, he is never powerless without us; this motivator makes God small and turns mission into pressure.
2. “People need you.” People need Jesus and the resources of the kingdom; framing mission as “they need me” subtly shifts the centre away from Christ.
3. “You’ll finally be fulfilled when you discover your purpose.” This can turn mission into self-actualisation - serving for our own satisfaction rather than for God’s glory and the advance of his kingdom.

These motives can burn people out, lead to shallow engagement, and (when things get hard) prompt people to disengage rather than persevere. The warning is clear: the means matter, not only the activity.

A better root: Trinitarian Missiology

As a healthier alternative, Lucas points to “Trinitarian missiology” - a way of motivating mission from who God is and how God sends. The aim is to hold together two truths at once:

1. What God has done for us, and;
2. God’s heart for those who do not yet know him.

We are loved and adopted by the Father, and the Father has other children who don’t know his love. We are forgiven and given life through the Son, and others are still enslaved to death. We are convicted and led by the Spirit, and the Spirit is already at work drawing others to repentance all around us.

In other words, we are not “sent” because God is needy, or because we are saviours, or because mission completes our identity. We are sent because sending is in God’s nature - and God is both the source and the destination of our obedience.

The Church Leader’s role: model and call without control

So where do church leaders fit?

Lucas argues we do have a role, but it is not to force outcomes. We collaborate with God’s desire to send by helping people open up to what Jesus is saying and doing. Practically, that looks like two core practices:

1. model a sent life (as overflow, not performance), and;
2. call and invite others toward a sent posture of listening and obedience.

Leaders are not meant to convince, guilt, or overpromise. Rather, we help people see God’s love for them and for those outside the kingdom, learn to hear God’s voice, and imagine what it looks like to serve others in the way of Jesus - especially when it becomes inconvenient.

Practical mission catalysts: discern together, risk together, equip

Lucas groups practical “mission catalysts” into three buckets:

1. Discern together

• Intercession: praying “kingdom come” over specific places (neighbourhoods, schools, workplaces) and letting God shape compassion and imagination.
• Social mapping: mapping domains (work, neighbourhood, gym, kids’ activities), then places, then names—so people see where God has already positioned them.
• Listening prayer: strengthening the habit of hearing and responding to God together (not only about “mission,” but obedience as a whole).

2. Risk together

• Build a culture that normalises missional risk (shared experiences, shared language, shared memory).
• Group outreach: doing mission together creates a training ground for the not-yet-activated (even in distributed/incubator churches).
• Prayer walks: interceding together while staying alert to interruptions and conversations.
• Outreach goal-setting with peer coaching: naming concrete goals so the community can encourage and support follow-through without shame.

3. Equip

• Prioritise learning and apprenticeship, not only information (education matters, but it’s not the finish line).
• M-A-W-L: Model (I do, you watch) → Assist (you do, I help) → Watch (you do, I watch) → Leave (you do, I’m not needed).
• Hear–Respond–Debrief: Hear from the Lord → respond in obedient action → debrief to “catch the learning.”

Remember: activation rarely happens by accident—plan rhythms that combine teaching, shared practice, and debriefing so habits can form.

Conclusion: aim for activation by healthy catalysts

The goal is not to create pressure or performance, but to help disciples release the “potential energy” of the kingdom into obedient, Spirit-led action.

When our motivation stays rooted in the sending life of the Triune God, we can invite people into mission without manipulation. As leaders, we can start small and consistent: choose one practice from each bucket (discern, risk, equip), run it as a simple rhythm for a few weeks, and watch for where God is already at work - then call the community to take the next faithful step together.

Watch the 60 min video here: