FAMILY MOVIE NIGHT FRIDAY @ 630pm

Nothing is Impossible for God (Growing pains)

As a minister I have found that the idea of growth brings concerns, but why? The best example of this would be as a young skinny 12 year old i went through a summer where I grew 7 inches, you hear it right 7 INCHES! In one summer I became the most clumsy lanky and awkward kid, my joints all hurt and it took me a while to get used to and fill into my new size. Growing hurt but soon, I would fill into my body and there were great benefits of being big. I understand that many people enjoy feeling comfortable,especially when it comes to their roles in church or as an employee, or even as a parent or spouse; however in our efforts to stay comfortable we can become complacent. It is easy for us to see something in front of us that seemingly is too daunting for us to overcome, however today I want you to understand that there is nothing too big for God. This can be on many levels, as a Church thinking we can't grow because its too hard or too much work is an example of not having faith in God to work within us. As individuals, coming up with excuses of why we are not good enough to allow God to use you, or why you are not worthy of God's love and forgiveness, can keep you from reaching the relational and  . Ezekiel preached to dry bones and brought new life to his people by allowing God to use him for His glory, Ezekiel had faith in what God was calling him to do and he did it. Where are you at? Are you allowing past failures to keep you away from the future and present successes? Are you allowing the idea of future issues or stressors keep you from even trying to reach your potential? Watch this video clip from the movie "Facing the Giants" I hope that it helps you to be motivated to push harder to give your all and that you may see the Glory God has set for you and that nothing is impossible for God, especially if you give him everything. 

 

Missional Church VS Maintenance Church

I read this in someones blog and i thought it was pretty good, so for all my pastor friends out there check this out or just people in general. Now being the minister at Elk Grove Church of Christ I am striving to get our congregation to think more about how we can reach our community so that more people may know and understand the love that only comes from God.


Missional Church VS Maintenance Chuch


1. In measuring its effectiveness, the maintenance congregation asks, “How many visitors have we attracted?” The missional congregation asks, “How many members have we sent?”

2. When contemplating some form of change, the maintenance congregation says, “If this proves upsetting to any of our members, we won’t do it.” The missional congregation says, “If this will help us bless and touch someone outside of our faith community, we will take the risk and do it.”

3. When thinking about change, the majority of members in a maintenance congregation ask, “How will this affect me?” The majority of members in the missional congregation ask, “Will this help align our activities around the missio dei — the mission of God?”

4. When thinking of its vision for ministry, the maintenance congregation says, “We have to be faithful to our past.” The missional congregation says, “We have to be faithful to our future.”

5. The pastor in the maintenance congregation says to the newcomer, “I’d like to introduce you to some of our members.” In the missional congregation the members say, “We’d like to introduce you to our pastor.”

6. When confronted with a legitimate pastoral concern, the pastor in the maintenance congregation asks, “How can I meet this need?” The pastor in the missional congregation asks, “How can we meet this need?”

7. The maintenance congregation seeks to avoid conflict at any cost (but rarely succeeds). The missional congregation understands that conflict is the price of progress, and is willing to pay the price. It understands that it cannot take everyone with it. This causes some grief, but it does not keep it from doing what needs to be done.

8. The leadership style in the maintenance congregation is primarily managerial, where leaders try to keep everything in order and running smoothly. The leadership style in a missional congregation is primarily transformational, casting a vision of what can be, and marching off the map in order to bring the vision into reality.

9. The maintenance congregation is concerned with their congregation, its organizations and structure, its constitutions and committees. The missional congregation is concerned with the culture, with understanding how secular people think and what makes them tick. It tries to determine their needs and their points of accessibility to the Gospel.

10. When thinking about growth, the maintenance congregations asks, “How many Christians, who aren’t currently members, live within a twenty-minute drive of this church?” The missional congregation asks, “How many unreached people groups live within a twenty-minute drive of this church?”

11. The maintenance congregation looks at the community and asks, “How can we get these people to come to our church?” The missional congregation asks, “How can we go and be engaged with these people?”

12. The maintenance congregation thinks about how to save their congregation. The missional congregation thinks about how to plant new missional communities to extend the Kingdom of God.