“Externally focused church are internally strong, but they are oriented externally. Their external focus is reflected in those things for which they staff and budget. Because they engage their communities with good works and good news of Jesus Christ, their communities are better places in which to live. These churches look for ways to be useful to their communities, to be a part of their hopes and dreams. They build bridges to their communities instead of walls around themselves. They don’t shout at the dirty stream; they get in the water and begin cleaning it up. They determine their effectiveness not only by internal measures – such as attendance, worship, teaching, and small groups – but also by external measures: the spiritual and societal effects they are having on the communities around them. Externally focused churches measure not only what can be counted but also what matters most – the impact they are having outside the four walls of the church. They ask, “Who lives are different because of this church?”
– Rick Rushaw and Eric Swanson, The Eternally Focus Church (Loveland, CO: Group, 2004), 17
