by Jeff Tunnell
www.bigbearchristiancenter.org
Leading a group of people in a purposeful direction requires thought, prayer, planning and, forgive the redundancy, purpose. ‘What’ and ‘why’ are necessarily determined prior to ‘how’. What is our God-given purpose, and why is it important? When these answers are discovered and agreed upon at the leadership level, decisions about ‘how’ we will get to the desired end can be selected.
I was recently re-reading “The Connecting Churchâ€, by Randy Frazee in which he offers, “The first step you must take toward creating community and implementing your common purpose is to decide that the central mission of the church is to develop disciples.†This type of conclusion about purpose will narrow the activities and programs that are given priority all year long. Superfluous activities can be eliminated altogether when you define your purpose and discontinue trying to ‘do everything’ (often accomplishing less because of diluted capabilities and weakened resources).
Strong purposes provide directional insight. They assist us in seeing our weaknesses, which can lead us to resources outside of ourselves, such as coaching or reading or seminars.
I pray none of us will try to ‘go it alone’ this year. Let’s work together, strengthen one another and encourage our friends on this blog. Utilize the various JCG articles and recommendations as a regular resource to supplement your team. Sign all your leaders up for the blog and monthly newsletters. You can even follow Joel on Twitter.com
Comments?
Jeff
Dear Jeff,my understanding regarding the common purpose of the christian church is to lead the lost to Christ.The Gospel spoken and lived by true believers empowered by the Holy Spirit unites across all denominational lines.I believe it is essential in these perilous times to recognise how scripture instructs true believers to conduct themselves.Persecution is sure to follow any minister of the Gospel,who speaking the truth in love stays true to Gods word.The church of the latter days bears strong resemblance to the early church under Rome,and all we need to do is follow their example.There will surely be an outpouring of the Holy Spirit in these days,for those of us outside of the USA the parallels to Rome are highly visible.Pat Robertson commenting on Haiti today has incurred an amazing amount of hate mail,but there is solid evidence for his statements.We all need to stress the importance of reading and discerning the truth of Gods word,being prepared to share it with anyone anywhere.The vast majority of church business merely makes ones ear’s tickle,the Holy Spirit does not work well confined to a building.I follow Joel on twitter and have done for sometime,and I see great sincerity and compassion in the work,thankyou for the opportunity to respond,may God Bless your work and may we all pray for Haiti,our leaders and our world.
It seems that our common purpose should be to make disciples, as Frazee noted. Salvation is just the beginning of the christian walk. We must instruct others on why and how to instruct others about Jesus. It is important because is our only way to love (agapao) God and other people, despite our circumstances, personal problems and feelings or what other people think of us. Besides, Christ is the only solution to human perspectives, be it in Haiti, Taiwan, EU. By the way, how can someone “go it alone” in cell church? If someone does, it surely isn’t in cell church, a building community, latu sensu.