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Are You a "Do Something" Church?

Are You A "Do Something" Church?

By Miles Mcpherson on Nov 29, 2025

MilesaMinute.com

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Many churches talk about impact but fail to act. Discover how counting real needs, walking toward the hurting, asking meaningful questions, and loving tangibly can transform a community.

Scripture: Mark 10:49-51, Luke 17:17-19, Luke 15:4, Luke 5:10-11, John 21:15-17 (view more) (view less)

Tags: Service, Servanthood

Are You a "Do Something" Church?

When churches move beyond internal programs and imitate the concrete actions of Jesus, they become a living conduit of hope for people who are lost, overlooked, and hurting. This model emphasizes counting real needs in the community, walking directly toward those who suffer, asking how to help before assuming, and responding with tangible love. It pushes churches to embody the ministry of Christ with practical compassion instead of theoretical intention.

I think we would all agree that the conflict between our culture and the Christian church is growing hostile each day. But interestingly enough, it appears that non-believers don't have such a hatred for Jesus as they do His people.

So we began to think, what would happen if the church got back to doing the most basic of basic things that Jesus did?

Consequently, we have developed the Do Something Church® model.

A Do Something Church® is a church body that is committed to doing what Jesus did while in His body with the intent of establishing Pervasive Hope. Granted, Jesus did a lot of things while in His body and all churches are doing something similar to what He did. But a Do Something Church® goes beyond basic discipleship and focuses on four specific actions of Jesus that I think can revolutionize your church.

First, let me define Pervasive Hope. This means that for every way someone can be lost, we want to provide a practical way for them to be found in the very place they have ended up. I can tell you, this is hardly ever a sermon.

Let's get started:

1. COUNT

The Bible uses a number to measure something, on average, twice in every chapter and Jesus is no different. He measures the length of time He will be dead when He talks about being in the belly of the earth for three days. He also measures love when He explains that a man with 100 sheep left the 99 to search for one.

But in Luke 17:17–19, ten lepers come to Jesus for healing and only one returns to thank Him. Jesus knew how many lepers came to Him, so the question we all need to ask is how many lepers are in our communities. In other words, how many homeless people, prostitutes, kids in foster care, and elderly in convalescent homes are there in the geographic area God has identified your church to reach? How many symptom centers are there in our communities?

Symptom centers are places in which these people can be found, such as convalescent homes, homeless shelters, and strip clubs.

2. WALK

Jesus did not simply sit in the synagogue and wait for people to come to Him. He went to them. After you have counted and measured the symptom centers, you need to go to them. The presence of Spirit-filled believers has a spiritual impact on the spiritual climate of the symptom center. Whenever Jesus walked up to a demon-possessed person, before He could say a word the demon called to Him by name and begged for mercy. The demon knew who He was on a spiritual level.

The Rock Church has over 100 ministries that focus exclusively on our community, ministering to individuals in jails, strip clubs, skid row, convalescent home, foster homes, etc.

3. ASK

In Mark 10:49–51, blind Bart cried out to Jesus for help. Jesus asked a very simple question. He said, "What can I do for you?" Once you count to identify the problems and walk to be with the hurting in your community, the key is not to tell them what they need or start sharing the four spiritual laws. There is a much simpler and more powerful thing to do. Just ask how you can help.

4. LOVE

Respond to the answer to your offer to help with love. This simply means to respond in a God-honoring way and without fail; God will open doors of ministry that you cannot imagine.

In 2010, the Rock Church gave 228,000 hours of community service to the city of San Diego that saved the city over $4 million. We have been able to bless the city in ways we didn't even imagine.

Being a Do Something Church® isn't complex; it simply requires decision and action. Make the choice today to demonstrate God's love in practical ways that address the real needs of your community.

Scriptures: John 21:15-17, Luke 15:4, Luke 17:17, Luke 17:17-19, Luke 5:10-11, Mark 10:49, Mark 10:49-51

Miles McPherson (website: MilesaMinute.com)

View all articles by Miles McPherson

Miles McPherson is the senior pastor of the Rock Church San Diego, the author of the new book “God in the Mirror” and a former defensive back for the San Diego Chargers. Experience a daily minute-long dose of encouragement, a challenging and thought-provoking message from Miles—learn how at MilesaMinute.com.

Talk about it...

Morris Curry

commented on Jul 12, 2011

This is a great idea, however, it is not new and certainly not new to the majority of congregations that I have been associated with for 44 years in ministry. Sure, there are some congregations who have settled for the "Come hear or here" religion over the "Go Tell" methods of Christianity, but as John Maxwell says, "Everything raises and falls on leadership" so goes the leader so goes the follower. From my vantage point, it is the relationship with Jesus Christ that will promote the reponse to the needs of those the "Christian" will encounter in this world. If the culture is hostile to the Christian, Jesus say that would happen, "You will be hated because of Me"; so the issue is are we hated for our relationship with Christ or are we hated because of lack of relationship to him. The Rock Church is to be applauded for their fruit, but it is because I'm sure of their relationship to Jesus because the apple does not fall to far from the tree. Whether the Culture love us or not is not the reward, its the words we will here at the reward "Well done, you good and faithful servant"

Keith B

commented on Jul 12, 2011

So...since they don't like Christ, we just do the social gospel thing? We need a crucified and resurrected savior so we can "Do do do"? Yes, we need to be serving people--but we also need to be preaching the Gospel. I don't see any mention of that in this article.

Fernando Villegas

commented on Jul 12, 2011

K b, I think you may have misread the article. He doesn't say that non-believers don't like Christ. He says they don't like Christians because they don't live the way Christ lived, which is what a disciple is supposed to do. And yes, serving people does need to be balanced with preaching the Gospel, as that is also something Christ did. But just because he doesn't mention the preaching of the Gospel in this article does not mean he doesn't believe it is important. There's no mention of baptism in the article--are we to assume he doesn't believe in baptism? Do these authors really have to mention everything they believe in every article they write in order for some on here not to assume they don't believe in whatever they failed to mention? The point is that this article was written specifically on the aspect of serving others the way Jesus served. It was pretty basic stuff, really; but we need to be reminded constantly of these basics or we will be in danger of losing them. So, thanks to Miles for the reminder.

Eric Anthony

commented on Jul 16, 2011

Of course this is not a new idea God's love has existed as long as he has. Our world however has changed and it continues to be easier and easier for us to ignore those people whom with we do not come in contact everyday. In Jesus' time everybody new where the lepers and prostitutes were (not that these are the only ones who need our compassion and grace). Today, I couldn't tell you where in my small town/county those people are without doing some research and asking around. Bottom line, we must find God's people who are in need, fill their basic needs with love and then after showing them the love of Christ tell them where it comes from. In my experience, after steps 1