Getting to the right answers means first starting with the right questions. In fact some of the best questions are both diagnostic and visional at the same time. Below are eight questions about Family Ministry that should help you in evaluating your Church or ministry environment and determine if it’s right for you to chase after a Family Ministry approach.
Growth doesn’t just automatically happen. In order for a person or an organization to grow, the right stuff has to be consistently cultivated over a period of time. Even then, growth isn’t guaranteed. Reading a book, taking a class, going to a conference, listening to a sermon, spending time with a personal coach or mentor over a cup of coffee, or even reading the Bible doesn’t mandate growth. I mean how many people do you know who know the Scriptures, but aren’t growing and year in and year out never seem to end up looking much more like Jesus? How many people do you know who have a lot of content jammed into them but can’t translate all of that information into real life? Just because you have and follow a personal development plan that exposes you to the right content doesn’t mean you’re going to grow. Content alone doesn’t foster growth. So what does? The list may not be exhaustive, but if you can figure out how to couple the following list along with great content I think you and the organization that you lead in will be well on your way to growth.
12 years ago, the dream of North Metro Church was birthed by God in the hearts of a group of people that took a risk and started “doing church” in a way very few had the courage or vision to do 12 years ago in the south. The payoff to their obedience has been literally 1,000’s of people’s lives that will never be the same! In case you missed it a couple of weeks ago, I went ahead and posted this talk here for you. In it I roll out an overview of a refocusing on that dream and a sneak peak into a series that we’ll be doing in January to unpack our values at a deeper level. It’s a bit long, but if you’re interested in understanding who God has called North Metro to be and want to catch a glimpse into where we’re going check it out! This is a conversation I feel like I’ve been waiting my whole life for. Leading North Metro Church…this is was what I was made for.
Left to themselves organizations…including churches, drift. It can happen to the best of us if were not careful. As organizations and churches grow they seem to naturally become more complex. There are more assets to allocate, decisions seem to have more far reaching consequences attached to them than they once did when you were smaller and more nimble, and those decisions seem to just keep coming faster and faster. It is easy to become consumed with the business of running the church. But just because you’re busy doesn’t mean you’re taking ground.
12 years ago, the dream of North Metro Church was birthed by God in the hearts of a group of people that took a risk and started “doing church” in a way very few had the courage or vision to do 12 years ago in the south. The payoff to their obedience has been literally 1,000’s of people’s lives that will never be the same!
And yet over those past 12 years North Metro Church had become busy. And for the past season of ministry the Elders of the church courageously had been asking the question, “Have we gotten away from what God put us here for in the first place?” What has ensued is a radical commitment to refocus on and refresh the original purpose, values, and approach of North Metro.
On Sunday of this past weekend I rolled out an overview of a refocusing on that dream and a sneak peak into a series that we’ll be doing in January to unpack our values at a deeper level. The conversation that we had this weekend was one that I feel like I’ve been waiting my whole life for. Leading North Metro Church…this is was what I was made for.
The following is the framework of that dream that God started 12 years ago and some of the nuts and bolts of our conversation on Sunday. To get the whole story you’ll have to listen to the talk from Sunday…I’ll tweet the link out once it’s up this week.
In the blockbuster-hit movie, “The Dark Knight,” Harvey Dent, the District Attorney of Gotham City, is quoted as saying; “The night is darkest just before the dawn. And I promise you, the dawn is coming.” While it was a good line in a great movie, this idea appears to have first been penned in 1650 by the English theologian and historian Thomas Fuller. Who wrote in A Pisgah-Sight of Palestine And The Confines Thereof, “It is always darkest just before the Day dawneth.”
I help churches make vision real. I am a pastor, speaker, strategist, and ministry consultant at The Unstuck Group.
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