Berean Bible Church:
An open forum on our future
March 28, 2004
Our Basic Mission
- Our basic task is to lead people to faith in Jesus Christ and to help them grow as his followers together.
- This basic core of what the church is about should not change from year to year.
What We Value
1. Centered in Christ
2. Founded on the Bible
3. Powered by Prayer
4. Oriented to People
5. Intentional in Evangelism
6. Dedicated to Spiritual Growth
7. Relevant to the Culture.
Acts 2:41-47 - How does one "belong" to a church with 3000 other people?
How do you "get in" and "get involved"?
"When it comes to church growth, [resisters] pursue the Bonsai Method. You may recall the movie 'The Karate Kid.' Master karate instructor Mr. Miyagi was always busy pruning, shaping, and trimming miniature bonsai trees. The idea was to keep it as small as you could without killing it. In the church world, while the Bonsai Method of keeping it as small as you can without killing it may seem easier at first, in the long run it leads to stagnation and mediocrity." (then death!). (Dave Stone, "Pressure Cooker," Rev. Magazine, May/Jun 2002, p. 44.)
Berean Bible Church: Now More Than Ever
A Place To Belong
Reaching out through evangelism.
Helping people connect with other believers.
A Place To Grow
Growing in Christ in relationship with others.
Teaching, worship, prayer, love for others . . .
A Place To Serve
Making a difference by using your gifts.
Making a difference by helping others belong, grow, and serve
A Place To Belong
- We must tell people about Jesus and/or invite them into the church (worship gathering, small group, or other event).
- We need greeters to answer questions, engage people in conversation, and introduce newcomers to existing attenders.
- For those who want to stick around . . .
We need a repeating pathway to help newcomers get acclimated to Christ and the church, and to help them get connected with others.
- A pathway for "newbies." On Dish Network, channel 101 helps you get oriented to what is going on - a channel for "newbies."
- I like an organization / restaurant / business that says, "Have you been here before? If not, here is what you can expect." People need to know what to expect in new environments.
For example, "The Berean Fast Track," "Fresh Start," "A New Beginning."
Such a pathway will include:
Pizza with the Pastor (initial orientation).
Short-term seminars:
Discovering Berean - who we are, what we do, and what we believe.
How to grow in Christ.
How to study the Bible.
How to get connected with others.
How to share your faith.
How to discover and use your spiritual gifts.* (See connection to "a place to serve" below.)
A Place To Grow
- What does it take for someone to grow in their faith? Are there basic requirements or is growth something we just "hope" will happen?
- What do we offer to help people grow in their faith?
- The "pathway" will offer teaching on how to grow in Christ - this is where we start to grow, together.
- We need help from a few others in order to grow.
Small groups / connection opportunities.
One-on-one discipleship.
2 Timothy 2:2 - You are either learning from someone or else you should be mentoring someone - both is best.
Worship and teaching services.
A Place To Serve
- How to discover and use your spiritual gifts.* (See pathway above.)
- The best place to discover your gift and use it regularly is in a small group.
- When people serve by using their gifts, they help the church accomplish its mission.
- The main area of service is to help others belong and help others grow.
Your involvement affects "the bottom line" of reaching out to unbelievers and helping believers grow.
It is "reproductive." We should be reproducing (giving birth to) believers, small groups, and new churches.
"In his book The emerging house church networks, Larry Kreider reports that Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, USA, examined the link between the age of a church and its evangelistic effectiveness. A church planted over 10 years ago needs - viewed statistically - the effort of 85 Christians to lead one person to Christ. A church between 4 and 7 years old needs only 7 people, and a church planted less than three years ago needs only three people to lead one person to Christ. The obvious conclusion: the younger the church, the easier it is to win new people for Christ." (Larry Kreider, in Pastors.com email, 12-12-01).
Each One Builds On The Other
3. Serving ...........................
2. Growing .......................................
1. Belonging ...................................................
You never stop belonging, growing, and serving.
Ideas for Belonging
- An enhanced Sunday morning experience - greeters, clear information, a place for prayer and response.
- A "pathway" to get up-to-speed and plugged in.
- A Saturday evening worship service to reach new people.
- People and small groups trained and mobilized to share their faith.
Ideas for Growing
- Small groups for everyone. Various times, places, focal points.
- Regular short-term, topic-oriented, repeatable classes and seminars
God and your financial life.
What the Bible teaches about . . .
Marriage and family life
Books of the Bible
- One-on-one discipleship relationships
Growing is vitally important for evangelism. Ultimately, it is people who have transformed by the gospel, people who grow in Christ, that will help us be most effective in reaching out to the lost. Brian McLaren wrote in his book, The Church on the Other Side (p. 31), "Yes, I am aware of 'power evangelism,' 'power encounters,' 'laughing revivals,' and the rest. They have their place, but isn't the power we really long to see not just a matter of shaking a person's limbs or emotions or vocal apparatus but rather the power to shake our selfishness, pettiness, prejudice, laziness and fear? I am waiting for a power encounter that results not just in tongues-speaking but in sustained tithing, not just in hankering for physical healing but in sustained effort for racial healing, not just in emotional manifestations but in better art and better ecology and more neighborly people. They would be miraculous enough for me at this point."
Serving - Ideas
- Involvement in a small group.
Learn your gift and use it.
The small group should be a service and outreach team.
Small groups could be / should be growing, inviting new people (even unbelievers), training new leaders and multiplying.
The next generation of spiritual leaders in the church should come from small group leaders.
- A "human resources" department.
Help people discover their gifts and where they fit best.
Help ministries find people to serve.
copyright, 2004, Stanley Baker
www.stanbaker.org
