Sat in a room all day yesterday with friends and colleagues asking church consulting guru Dr. Ed Stetzer questions about church planting. This was round 2 with Ed. Click HERE for my summary of round 1.
Learned a lot, again. Here are some quick random notes from our discussion.
What is Every Nation?
We are a movement of churches that do church planting, campus ministry, and world missions together.
Elitism.
Question: How do we embrace and communicate our unique vision and values and not sound elitist? Answer: Organizational and individual humility.
Focus.
Over time, typical organizational pressure is to add to the mission and vision. Originally, Every Nation’s vision was church planting, campus ministry, and world missions. According to Ed, the more we wave these banners, the higher the commitment level. But, the more we add stuff, the more we become like everyone else and commitment wanes. The same applies to local churches. Forget trying every church growth flavor-of-the-month get-big-quick scheme. Figure out who you are supposed to be and stay focused.
Local vs. Global.
Question: How do we balance the needs of the local church with the needs of the worldwide vision? Answer: After much discussion, we are still trying to figure that one out.
What is “Apostolic Team” Leadership?
-A chorus not a voice.
-A group that makes decisions together not a group of individual decision-makers.
-A team that speaks apostolically not a group of apostles who speak independently.
***New post on my accidental missionary site: “Jesus Christ and the Superstars”
***HERE‘s the direct link to the Philippine Star article.