Transforming Church

The themes for the year are:

1. Discerning God’s Vision. With a leadership team developing a commitment to discipleship and building a healthy, gift-based Body of Christ at the core of the church, it’s time to broaden the circle and begin discerning a Vision for the Congregation. Without a clear God-given vision in place, you cannot empower people to become a permission-giving, Spirit-led community. Themes include the move from membership to discipleship community, the move from maintenance to mission, serving the community’s deepest needs (within and beyond the church walls).

2. Discerning Gifts and Calling. If we are to live out the Luther’s Priesthood of All Believers (the unfinished business of the Reformation), it is incumbent upon us to engage the congregation in a broad-based discernment of Spiritual Gifts and Calling or Vocation using Life Keys, Life Shapes or another discernment tool. As Bill Easum has said for years, healthy churches create an environment where: We are changed by an experience of the living God, our hearts and minds transformed. Once we are touched by God, and yearn for a deeper walk with Him, the church helps us to discern our spiritual gifts, and how they might benefit the community. God has a purpose for each of us. Biblically, gifts are given for service to the community. Our calling from God is rooted in the gifts. He always supplies us what we need to do the work he lays out for us. So, if we have discerned our gifts, and we pray and meditate on the question, “God, what would you call forth from these gifts you have given me?” Then, we may discern our calling. Just because we have a certain spiritual gift, doesn’t mean we are fully equipped to use it. Not all gifts come to maturity at the same time. People are equipped through learning, discipline and practice. Effective churches go about helping equip people to use their gifts towards their calling. This final step is essential for the church to be the church. As we are changed, gifted, called and equipped, we are sent out to use our gifts for the benefit of the community, witnessing Christ’s love to all. Few churches seem to have this healthy system in place. With most of our congregations being member-based instead of disciple-based, they experience 20% of the people are doing 80% of the work. Many members do not seem to move beyond worship and occasional fellowship activity in their spiritual walk. Even in growing church communities, engaging a majority of people in mission and ministry is quite a challenge. Christ is calling His disciples to take responsibility for their own spiritual journey and experience the joy that comes from serving Him out of their gifts and passion.

3. Multiplying Opportunities for Spiritual Growth. Small group experiences are a very effective tool for lay people to enter into a deeper spiritual journey. People find connections, inspiration, mentoring, service opportunities, support, prayer and accountability in a small group of friends. So the second year will see a major initiative to multiply small groups in the congregation, to help us put legs under the move from membership to discipleship. Participation in a small group is something that works best when first modeled by pastor, staff and lay leaders. New members are often much more attracted to a small group initiative than existing members who have existing networks of friends.

4. Gift Based Ministry Teams. Following the leadership team’s model, the church will begin the shift from Committees to Gift Based Ministry Teams. This shift is a move from control and micromanagement, by pastor and/or council, to trust and empowerment. As people begin to walk deeper into discipleship, to discern their gifts, to pray for God to help them see the unique calling that He has been preparing them for their entire lives, the Spirit will bring forth many new ideas for ministry and mission. Mike Foss has described the transition to ministry teams in this way. With a clear vision in place, we begin to empower new mission and ministry by asking three questions about each idea for a new initiative that bubbles up: What will this do to move us closer to our vision? What will this do to get you involved in the accomplishment of our vision? Are there two or three around here who will agree with you to form a team to work on this new mission? If there aren’t two or three who agree, who are ready to get involved and help, then the idea is probably not what the Spirit is calling forth in this place at this time.

5. Church as Learning Organization. Healthy organisms and organizations adapt to rapid change in the environment. Churches as a whole are slow to respond to change. That helps explain why they stop growing, plateau, decline and eventually die. Over time the vast majority will not continue to adapt, and will live out their usefulness. All organisms and organizations have a birth, life and a death. Participants will learn to see their church as the Body of Christ, an organic interconnected system, how one change impacts many others, and where the leverage is for healthy change.

6. Change Management. All change is stressful. Pastors will learn the skills of being a mid-wife to the emergence of Spirit-led change in the congregation. Nathan Swenson-Reinhold puts it this way. Pastors function with an attitude of expectation in Christian community, fostering the capacity to give birth to new ideas and mission and to frame the anxiety and pain related to these changes as temporary signposts that God is up to new life in their midst.

7. Managing Anxiety and Conflict in the System. Change always encounters resistance, and the move from maintenance to mission, from membership to discipleship may evoke anxiety in the church. Conflict can be healthy, as long as it is effectively channeled. Participants will learn to maintain a non-anxious presence and manage conflict that may emerge in a healthy way. We will look to Matthew 18 as a model of resolving conflict in the Body of Christ.

Find the Year One Learning Journey here: