Church Planter’s Boot Camp Update #4
Now that we are officially over the half way point in the boot camp, we are really excited to start implementing some new things into the foundation of our church and the team God is building. We have learned a lot over the last several days, but today was such a great day as we went through the question, “Who will do it with me?” This question, talking about people joining our journey to plant a church, was a question that we really could identify with as we are currently in this process of building relationships as we build a team! Here are a couple of things that as a team we will begin to focus on as soon as we get back:
- Team building Activities- First of all, let me say this!!!! We have the best team in the world right now! These guys are great and we are so blessed to have each one of them! They are doing great things for the Kingdom of God right now and I am honored to say that I am their friend, pastor, and co-laborer in Christ! You guys are awesome! Okay, with that said, we are on the right track with giving our team opportunities to grow as a family. For example, last Friday we had the team over to our house for some chill time, fun, and food. It was a great opportunity to get to know everyone a little better and have a fun time. We drank coffee, ate some good food, played Mafia, Taboo, and even watched the Cardinals whoop the Pirates (oh, how sweet that was). But we want to take this a step further. By giving our team opportunities to grow as a team through activities and exercises is just as important as fun and chill time. Take some time to get your team together and begin to participate in certain activities that will be team building and growing. Our whole agenda is to develop and build leaders. We don’t want to create more volunteers. Rather, we want more people to grab a hold of the steering wheel of this car and help us drive it. We are looking forward to some awesome team building moments over the next several months.
- A Community Focus – The next thing that is an obvious question we need to ask ourselves is, “How will we do it?”. We spent some quality time today thinking about and writing down all of the different needs represented in our community, who we are called to reach, how we will meet the needs, and who we will partner with to accomplish those needs. As you identify the WHAT in your community and the HOW you are going to reach them, you can begin to formulate the ultimate vision you have for your church and community. I have felt that identifying our vision as our “community focus” is what we need to do. I feel that as we begin to share with people what God is up to, I feel that “community focus” will give people more of an idea what we are all about, rather than a “vision”. Don’t get me wrong, it is the exact same thing, just different terminology. It seems that church people and Christians might understand what “a vision” is, but if you told an unchurched person, “Hey bro, do you want to hear our vision for the community?” This person might get confused on what this really means. Although a “community focus” tells people right off the bat what you are talking about. Obviously, you are about to share what your specific focus for the community is. In other words, this identifies THE WHO are you reaching, THE HOW you are going to reach them, and THE WHAT will be the result!
Hey Church Planters!!!!! This is good stuff isn’t it??
If you are planting a church or will be at some point, REMEMBER THIS!!!!! You need to hear from God what He has called you to do in your community! This is not the time to “copy and paste”. You need find the needs, meet some people, meet those needs, establish a community focus, establish your mission (how you will accomplish your vision), and then filter all of these things through your core values. Find out what is specifically important to you as a church in terms of who you will become. What do you value???
It was a great day! I believe we will be talking about finances tomorrow so you will need to tune in tomorrow evening for some more good stuff!
