Therefore we believe our mission is about "Knowing God and Making Him Known".
As we ask how we do that as a Body. We look to our vision which is "To Experience God through relevant worship, discovering a place to belong, and participating in opportunities that make a difference."
Broken down, that means we want to...
- Engage people in worship and loving God
- Engage people in groups and loving others
- Engage people in ministry and serving the world
Through these engagements we believe God enables us to assist His Spirit in making disciples. These disciples are characterized in the following ways.
They love God. The love others. They are...
1) Connected
2) Caring
3) Growing
4) Serving
5) Giving
6) Worshipping
7) Reaching Out
I wonder if our starting point is found elsewhere than figuring out new structures (That will take time and planning). What if we each started upon focusing upon the three priorities.
1) Infuse the Discipleship purpose into everything we do. It's not just about ministry, getting through material, having a meeting. Every activity, etc is infused with the purpose of discipleship.
2) Each of us (and every ministry leader) accept the calling of a "Shepherding Leader". We accept the call to...
a) Know their name
b) Know their story
c) Know their need
This applies to each member of the group/team and the group/team as a whole. Who are they?
Where are they spiritually, etc.? Where do they desire to head? With this knowledge we choose to shepherd the individual, shepherd the group.
3) As Shepherd Leaders who know our groups, we continually are identifying the lowest common denominators (Seven Essential Qualities) of our group/team and designing ways in which to disciple the group accordingly.
Let me know what you think.
4 comments:
I believe that we are able to do this. It does not sound overwhelming and hits at the heart of what Christ wants us to do as we journey through live.
Where do you jump in on this whole discussion, first blog or last posted blog? I think you just jump...here goes.
I agree with Dan that it sounds attainable, yet as soon as I type that I realize how big the task is when you touch more than one area of ministry. Time and energy certainly are the enemy.
I agree it starts with effective leadership (the shepherding principle) but as I read the material I'm compelled to think that we need to start communicating to every individual that claims Christ, that they start the process as soon as they share their story. When they begin where they are at (new believer or dusty saint) by letting their experience impact someone else. Everyone can see them selves as part of the larger goal.
I know there are cautions based on maturity - but I'm just thinking in the realm of helping each believer feel that they can be part of this process.
The more that share the vision the greater the impact.
Having now read chapters 3 and 4, a couple of comments:
First, I think we are completely in agreement with the authors' stated goal (page 62), "The goal is to partner with God to move people through the stages of spiritual growth. Changed lives are the bottom line, the intended end result. Christ formed in people is the goal."
Second, the four elements (pages 68-78), Clarity, Movement, Alignment and Focus, make sense. We may have some challenges in the Alignment and Focus parts, specifically. For instance, on page 75, the concern that "...each ministry has its own leaders who are only passionate about their specific ministry. They rarely identify with the entire church but are deeply committed to their own philosophy," and the observation that these "committed people who have been around for a long time are passionate about their particular way of doing ministry. Sadly, they are more passionate for their area than for the church as a whole," are matters that we will need to address.
Thirdly, we certainly have the challenge of maintaining Focus. It is the task of simple church leaders to keep the ministry focused, so "they admittedly have blinders on. They are sometimes accused of being narrow-minded." If the leadership is motivated by trying to be popular and/or keep everyone happy, the simple goal will be lost.
I loved the example of Hezekiah. He was willing to remove what everyone believed to be "sacred." As a matter of fact, it had become so "sacred" that it had begun to be an object of worship. "To be simple you have to eliminate the unnecessary. Most of the things you eliminate will be good things." (page 80) I wonder what are the things/programs we need to look closely and unpopularly at in order to consider elimination.
Cathy
I believe we can, and need to do this. There are souls at stake!
I was speaking to a friend and he was sharing with me that individuals have the power to influence others in two ways. Good or Bad.
The problem is that majority of people have been influenced for the most part in a negative way. When this happens they in turn start influencing others in a negative way and it just perpetuates.
The solution is exactly what was blogged. Chip stated that he was wanting to help each believer feel they can be a part of this process. My question is how? I would love to be a part of this process, I just don't know how or where I fit.
Davis
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