SHARING THE DREAM TEAM 2007 REPORT

 

Team Members:  Randy LaFond, Amy Schroeder, Mona Jhuremalani, Jen Almjeld, Dave Hollinger, John Helm, Carol Lenox, Gerry Kallenbach, Don Neifer, and Dale Schaefer.

 

Charge:  Through prayer, study and conversation deliberately seek God’s direction and guidance for the ministry in the immediate, and not so immediate, future of St. Mark's Lutheran Church, and to communicate any subsequent recommendations to the church council.  The five areas of ministry identified in Acts 2:42-47 would serve as a guiding principle.

 

Foundation:  Guidance from the 1st Century Christian Church provided the foundation.  “And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, and the breaking of bread and prayer.  And fear came upon every soul; and many signs and wonders were done through the apostles:  And all who believed were together and had all things in common; and they sold their possessions and goods and distributed them to all as any had need.  And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they partook of food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having favor with all the people.  And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.”  (Acts 2: 42-47)

 

The early church commitment seemed clearly to be along these lines:

            1)  A commitment to discipleship           (Acts 2:42)

            2)  A commitment to fellowship             (Acts 2:42, 44, 46)

            3)  A commitment to worship                (Acts 2:42, 43, 44)

            4)  A commitment to evangelism            (Acts 2:45-47)

            5)  A commitment to outreach   (Acts 2:45-47)

 

So, the process began for the team seeking God’s direction and guidance to identify which one(s) of these areas of ministry St. Mark’s might best focus on in the next several months.

 

Chronology:  The team began meeting in March 2007.

 

·        March 2007 – Got acquainted; overview of foundation and task

 

·        April 18, 2007 – Met for the Trinity Prayer (three hours of prayer, listening for God’s guidance and direction)

 

·        April 24, 2007 – Team met with guests Pastor Scott Estep and Chris Dilbone as they shared their experiences with “House Church;”  Team members volunteered (2 each) to take a specific area and study/research in the life of St. Mark’s:

-         Discipleship – Gerry and Carol

-         Fellowship – Dave and Amy

-         Worship – Randy and Mona

-         Evangelism – Jen and Dale

-         Ministry – John and Don

Surveys, congregational gatherings and personal conversation would be used by team members to seek input from the congregation.

 

·        May 16, 2007 – Congregation invited to participate in the Trinity Prayer (12 folks from the congregation participated.)

 

·        May 22, 2007 – Team met with guest Dr. Dave Roberts, Director of Lutheran Homes Society.  He led us through an extensive visioning process discussion. 

 

The team scheduled open meetings with the congregation for July 1, 15, and 22.  An average of 8-12 folks visited with different team members each of those Sundays to share hopes, dreams and concerns.

 

Some observations from those meetings:

-           Small percentage of congregation participated in the “dream sharing” or information session

-           Folks didn’t seem to catch the “dream idea” – dealt much better with smaller more concrete ideas – Example, more responses to evangelism survey than dream sheets

-           Where’s the right balance between being a social agency and a spiritual agency?

-           Seems to be a hunger to be connected to one another in a personal way.

 

Some ideas to consider:

-                     Alpha – Simple Bible studies

-                     Opportunities for church wide fellowship; festival worship events, meals, etc.

-                     Basics of Evangelism

-                     Christianity 101 (Christianity or Lutheranism for Dummies sort of approach)

-                     Effective communication

-                     Visible youth involvement in the life of the congregation

-                     Address family issues like finances, time demands, fractured families, what is a family?

 

·        June 5-6, 2007 – Pastor Dale took a two day retreat to listen and discern God’s will and direction.  Read the books of Acts out loud.  Some observation:

-         Began with the Prayer of Abandonment

-         Penetrating power of Scriptures when read aloud

-         No wonder Peter wasn’t liked in the religious community – he never apologized for Jesus or the Word

-         How do we in the church today get out of our comfort zone, and have courage and really follow the Holy Spirit?

-         Prayer, prayer, prayer – that’s what the Apostles seemed to devote themselves to.

-         Not a one-person show;  Peter, Paul, Silas, Barnabas, Priscilla, Aquila, Timothy, Apollos

 

·        July 29, 2007 – Team met to review individual areas of research and study, and to review and consolidate information from congregational meetings.

 

·        August 29, 2007 – Team met for another Trinity Prayer meeting – three hours again listening for God’s guidance and direction.

 

·        October 2, 2007 – Team met to begin drawing conclusions from study, prayer, input, conversations, etc.  Focus was to discuss which area(s) – worship, evangelism, discipleship, ministry, fellowship – should be the focus for St. Mark’s during the next 12-24 months.  The clear consensus of the team was that the immediate focus/emphasis should be “Discipleship” – “effectively nurturing the congregation in the Word of God” (more detailed definition follows later in this report).

 

·        October 23, 2007 – Team met and fine-tuned the focus and recommendations to church council planning to offer complete report to Council at its December meeting.

 

Recommendation 1:  In response to the gathered information and guidance of the Holy Spirit, the Team recommends that for 2008 and at least a portion of 2009 St. Mark’s designate significant resources and energy focusing on the area of discipleship; moving St. Mark’s to a disciple making congregation.  Believing the church reaches its apex when each person is doing his/her part, hear again Paul’s words, “speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into Him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by every joint with which it is supplied, when each part is working properly, makes bodily growth and builds itself in love.”  (Ephesians 4: 15-16)

            Moving to a disciple-making congregation will in effect decentralize the church and move ministry from a select few to the heart and mind and soul of each disciple.  Here is a potential definition:

 

Discipleship – the intentional training of disciples of Jesus Christ, with accountability, on the basis of loving relationships.

 

-                     Intentional:  Like Jesus, we must have a planned strategy.

-                     Training:  This word implies a prescribed course of study and a process folks go through with specific goals in mind.

-                     With accountability:  Because we all need help in keeping our commitments to God and each other, the church can provide a variety of means to hold its people accountable.

-                     Basis of loving relationships:  All successful ministries are based on healthy relationships.  Community building will be a high priority in a discipleship church.

 

Discipleship is not an event, it is a process!  No system can make a disciple because discipleship requires that a person’s will be activated by the Holy Spirit.  The church has the responsibility to provide the clear vision and the vehicles that encourage Christians into mature discipleship.

 

Recommendation 2:  In order for St. Mark's Lutheran Church to become a disciple-making church, we recommend the development of a comprehensive program to establish a small group / cell group / house group,*1 etc. ministry to enable all disciples to feel connected, needed, loved, and fed – spiritually, emotionally and intellectually.  This will enable St. Mark’s not only to survive, but to thrive as a healthy productive congregation that is a church of small / cell / house groups, not a church that does small/ cell / house groups.  This should provide steady growth for SMLC*2.

 

Recommendation 3:  Additional staff person should be considered who has demonstrated gifts and a passion for:

-                     Ability to identify and train small / cell / house group leaders

-                     Ability to develop, implement a plan to take St. Mark’s to a church of small / cell / house groups

 

1          * Specific name of the group is yet to be determined.

 

2          * Natural barriers to church growth seem to come into play at specific times

in the life of a congregation.  Statistics indicate the barriers are at about 200, 400, 600 in worship attendance.  St. Mark’s has negotiated through the first couple of barriers and if we are to push through the 600 barrier, this will likely be the right next step.

 

Possible Methods or Strategies for Implementation:

This gets at how to get folks engaged.  Let’s look at Jesus’ example:

 

1)      “Come and see” John 1:39 (Timeframe ~ 2-4 months).  During the early stages of Jesus’ ministry he just wanted people to observe who he was and what he did.  He answered a lot of questions about what it meant to follow him, but at that stage the goal seemed to be observations.

This is a time for people to be really invitational.  “Come and see” what happens at a worship service, a softball game, a Bible study, a youth night, a support group meeting, a Wednesday Night Live meal, an Advent service, a large festival worship event, motor ministry, men’s group, etc.

 

2)      “Follow me” Mark 1: 17 (Timeframe ~ 3-6 months).  Here many folks were growing in their spiritual maturity and had learned personal disciplines of prayer and commitment.   The followers were gradually learning the critical transition from convert to fully devoted followers.

Here folks begin to attach themselves to a group or some other part of the work of the church for the purpose of  “going deeper” spirituality, seeking a more intimate walk with the Savior.

 

3)      “Come and be” Mark 3:14 (Timeframe ~ 3-6 months).  By the time many were following Jesus, he found it necessary to select twelve to be with him.  These were people who didn’t only believe things about him, but believed in him.  They were encouraged to develop their own ministry opportunities.  It seemed to happen this way:  1) I do and you watch; 2) We do together; 3) You do and I’ll applaud (affirm); and 4) You do and have someone else watch.

This is where leadership skills are observed, gifts and needs are matched, ministry is empowered, multiplied and decentralized, all by the power of the Holy Spirit.

 

4)      “Remain in me and go” John 15, Matthew 28: 19-20 (Timeframe ~ Ongoing).

In his final words to his disciples, Jesus gave them lesson on leadership, love, confidence, prayer and obedience.  “Abide in me and you will bear much fruit.  Apart from me you can do nothing” (John 15:5).  Having trained his disciples, he left the future of the church in their hands, and so, appropriately, we now find the future of the church in our hands.

 

If this recommendation in total or in part is adopted by the church / or congregation council, it would seem wise to appoint / select an implementation team that would shepherd the process, along with a strong leader.

Thanks for the privilege of serving through the Sharing the Dream Team.

 

Resources Consulted

God’s Word in Scripture                                                          The Dream Manager – Matthew Kelly

Leadership from the Other Side – Bill Easum                 Power Surge – Michael Foss

The Day of Small Beginnings – Multiple contributors      Spiritual Entrepreneurs – Michael Slaughter   Leading on Purpose – Eric Burtness

The Disciple Making Church – Bill Hull

The Disciple’s Joy – Michael Foss