We’re having a great response to our current sermon series, “Spring Training.” The interviews with Sparky have been in a word…interesting. This Sunday in worship we will explore the fundamentals of being a disciple-making congregation. That is quite a mouthful or as Sparky might say, “You gotta listen if you want to pay attention.”
Your first question might be; what is a disciple-making congregation and do we really want to be one? A disciple-making congregation is one that recognizes our faith is only one generation away from extinction. It also recognizes that being a follower of Jesus does not come naturally to many of us. There are a few things that we all have to learn, develop and grow into in order to sustain the momentum of faith in our lives. For us, as a congregation, we need to practice these fundamentals because our community needs to have a church like us that is…“Big Enough to Make a Difference, Small Enough to Care”.
In the spirit of “Spring Training” I’m calling these few things we need to focus on, “fundamentals”. Others who are a lot smarter than me call them “Quality Characteristics”. I’ve chosen to use a list that includes 8 fundamentals. These fundamentals (or characteristics) are listed on the banners that are flying in our sanctuary.
The truth is there wasn’t room on the banners to include all that I wanted about these fundamentals. Like a baseball team who practices throwing, hitting and running until it is a second nature; we also need to learn to do certain things in a way that becomes more natural for all of us. And so let’s add some adjectives to our fundamentals.
Then Sparky’s Top Ten list of the Eight Fundamentals of a Disciple Making Congregation would look like this….
Passionate Spirituality
Gift Based Ministry
Inspiring Worship
Loving Relationships
Need- Orientated Evangelism
Holistic Small groups
Empowering Leadership
Effective Organization
It would take a whole season (which is longer than the guy in front wants to talk) to go through all of these in one worship service and so on Sunday I’m going to choose two. One that we do well and one that Sparky might encourage us to work on. I’ll leave you to guess which two.
It’s going to be a great worship service as we welcome several new members. There are literally enough new members joining on Sunday to play all the positions of a baseball team including a relief pitcher. Maybe I should get Sparky to come and instead of Bruce Webster lining everyone up to introduce the new members, Sparky could ask them what their best position might be. Then he could introduce them that way. I can hear it now; going to the Social Action team… assigned offering envelope number 487 originally from Milwaukee, WI….. Ok maybe not, but it’ll be a great day together as we welcome these 10 new teammates. It’s an opportunity to practice what I hope will be inspiring worship. Or as Sparky might say, “Even if you can’t make it, you should come.”
Keep the Faith!
Pastor Dan
Your first question might be; what is a disciple-making congregation and do we really want to be one? A disciple-making congregation is one that recognizes our faith is only one generation away from extinction. It also recognizes that being a follower of Jesus does not come naturally to many of us. There are a few things that we all have to learn, develop and grow into in order to sustain the momentum of faith in our lives. For us, as a congregation, we need to practice these fundamentals because our community needs to have a church like us that is…“Big Enough to Make a Difference, Small Enough to Care”.
In the spirit of “Spring Training” I’m calling these few things we need to focus on, “fundamentals”. Others who are a lot smarter than me call them “Quality Characteristics”. I’ve chosen to use a list that includes 8 fundamentals. These fundamentals (or characteristics) are listed on the banners that are flying in our sanctuary.
The truth is there wasn’t room on the banners to include all that I wanted about these fundamentals. Like a baseball team who practices throwing, hitting and running until it is a second nature; we also need to learn to do certain things in a way that becomes more natural for all of us. And so let’s add some adjectives to our fundamentals.
Then Sparky’s Top Ten list of the Eight Fundamentals of a Disciple Making Congregation would look like this….
Passionate Spirituality
Gift Based Ministry
Inspiring Worship
Loving Relationships
Need- Orientated Evangelism
Holistic Small groups
Empowering Leadership
Effective Organization
It would take a whole season (which is longer than the guy in front wants to talk) to go through all of these in one worship service and so on Sunday I’m going to choose two. One that we do well and one that Sparky might encourage us to work on. I’ll leave you to guess which two.
It’s going to be a great worship service as we welcome several new members. There are literally enough new members joining on Sunday to play all the positions of a baseball team including a relief pitcher. Maybe I should get Sparky to come and instead of Bruce Webster lining everyone up to introduce the new members, Sparky could ask them what their best position might be. Then he could introduce them that way. I can hear it now; going to the Social Action team… assigned offering envelope number 487 originally from Milwaukee, WI….. Ok maybe not, but it’ll be a great day together as we welcome these 10 new teammates. It’s an opportunity to practice what I hope will be inspiring worship. Or as Sparky might say, “Even if you can’t make it, you should come.”
Keep the Faith!
Pastor Dan
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