International Oikos Day

One of the things that launched a movement was the release of the book, 8 to 15, the World Is Smaller Than You Think. So, a few years ago, we went ahead and made it official! 8/15 is now affectionately known (at least to some of us) as International Oikos Day!

August 15 provides us all a good opportunity to recommit to fulfilling the Church’s purpose in the world. After all, we don’t go to church, we are the Church!

It also provides pastors the opportunity to reenergize a church family to become more intentional about reaching out to their oikos. And there are a ton of ways to do it! Here are a few ideas.

You might want to call for a church-wide day of prayer for that day, to pray for your community.

. . . or ask the church family to take 8 to 15 minutes on that day, or even every day that week, to pray for their own oikos networks. 

. . . or encourage the church family to update their oikos card on that day. 

. . . or encourage the church family to, on that day, plan a way to invest in the life of someone in their own oikos.

. . . or ask the church family to, on that day, extend one individual or family who is on their oikos card an invitation to church on the following weekend.

. . . or declare the weekend before to be an official day of preparation for your church family to engage their world.

As you can see, and as they say, “the sky’s the limit.” My guess is, you’ll be able to think of a variety of other ways to bring some new outward-focused energy to your life or ministry and create your own template for that day.

If you’re not a pastor, or maybe you don’t attend an oikocentric church, you still might want to discuss they idea with your own family, pick one of those options and have some fun.

The stakes become greater every day! We’re praying for you!

Have a great 8/15 with your 8 to 15!