What Is Vocation For Reflection

Galindo analyzes that the fundamental “mission” of a congregation is the same as any other congregation that exists in any part of the world. He argues that though every congregation has a mission and a vision, at the same time, it shares a basic common mission. (43) This reminds me of my home church The First Church of Evanston and my Field Site, The Evanston Vineyard Church. Both churches have a common mission of welcoming people to the church, irrespective of their ethnic, cultural, racial, and economic and, gender backgrounds. The mission is to help people be received in the house of God with due and deserved Christian love so that they feel loved and welcomed. Both these churches encourage church attendees to attend the service and receive the Eucharist.

A church whose pastor and others in leadership have failed to put in place a proactive plan for discipleship for Believers is usually a “growing” church — growing stagnant, growing cold, growing spiritually immature Christians, and eventually, many growing closed. Patte said, “There is much at stake in accepting or rejecting the challenge of discipleship…” When a pastor or a church makes a conscious decision to make discipleship of Believers a primary focus in their

May 1, 2016, the Mt. Olive Baptist Church, located in Greenwood (S.C.) County will celebrate its 142nd church anniversary. Many years Mt. Olive have been a church that loved people, gave without limits and took great care of its members. The last five of those one hundred and forty-two years, I have been honored to serve as pastor of this great church. Although this is a great church, Mt. Olive and many churches like it are plagued with a disease that has slowly, but surely, causing the church to drift further away from God and fall deeper into the ways of the world. This epidemic is known as “tradition”. Churches that are bound by tradition and not led by the Holy Spirit will find themselves missing the mark of what God has called us to do. The bible is filled with instructions for the church, but as Christians and Disciples of Christ, Matthew 28 is the foundation upon which we should be operating on in the church as well as in our lives. The Great Commission challenges us to “go, teach and preach to all nations.” Traditional churches will allow church tradition to dictate biblical doctrine. It will allow the church to argue about who’s right instead of what’s right. Sadly, church success has been based on structure and finances rather than saving lost souls.

According to the author, people want to believe that the church is a place for healing. The churches are telling people they can heal, so they want to see it. The church has been telling them Christ is the answer to all their problems. In a practical way, do these people find the church a place of love and acceptances? “Do they find an environment that demonstrates God’s unconditional love and promotes personal healing? Too often, they do not.” (p. 11) It is wise and mature leadership in the church that can see the issues and mentor these new believers to healing and wholeness before “dumping” them in needed service roles.

Guided by our theme scripture, James, 1:22, “Don’t fool yourself into thinking that you are a listener when you are anything but, letting the Word go in one ear and out the other. Act on what you hear!” and in line with our church’s theme, In the Presence of Jesus, the Young Adult Ministry sought to engage in the work of living our faith.

Our changing church culture remains an incubator for change. Society is changing each day. Every facet of life is quickly changing. The moral fiber of a nation is being tested and is changing. The need for stability, or an anchor for life is desperately needed and sought. Church is the place that’s always offered stability in such times. It’s been the anchor for life that people need and desire. When that stable placed is shaken with change, people get restless. When no good reason is given for change, it can cause

It is important the church provide a safe place for millennial’s to grow their relationship with Christ. Biblically we do that through an Acts 2 model.

In the process of becoming more spiritual as I stated above, I have begun working more deeply on my prayer life. And through that process I have begun to follow the slogan “do as you mean.” I have observed the apathy in the American church, even in myself, and I want to be all in rather than half in or not at all. With that being said, I consider the authors concluding words some of the most important in the chapters that we assigned. He

As each stage builds life and careers most often a series of important moves take place. While these stages build you go from wondering if the goals you chosen where the right ones, stop at times to contemplate life as you move from level to level. Novice adults in ministry take several positive steps to meet their challenges head on. Taken in and studying the life of God as a model, especially His vision of the kingdom of God. Ministries need to allow their senses to grow and mature (Powers, Bruce P. Church Administration Hand-book. Nashville, TN.: Broadman & Holman, 1996.

Passionate spirituality is a balance of the Word of God, directed by the Holy Spirit, and focused on the world. These three elements lead to spiritual growth; which ultimately leads to Church growth (Schwarz, 2005, pp. 110-111). Every leader is responsible for the structure of the Church, and needs to develop their own effective structures that will help to grow the Church. “The effective structures need to fit their specific goals, the size of their Church, their history, and their denominational identity” (Schwarz, 2005, p. 112). Inspiring worship service is uplifting and life-transforming. It is a balance of liturgy, teaching and praise at high quality; which causes the Church to grow (Schwarz, 2005, pp. 114-115). “Balanced holistic small groups nurture the head, the hands and hearts of its participants”. “It is the very essence of the Church of Jesus Christ to provide places where believers can find this kind of intimate community” (Schwarz, 2005, p. 116). Need-oriented evangelism is successful in Church growth when “we implement prayer, caring for those in need, and sharing the gospel, but we have to invest our individual gifts in all three areas”

We live in a post-modern society and must come to grips with the fact that the world we are growing up in is different than what our parents grew up in. As a Christian family, our lives in church are different as well. Our generation is living in a fast paced world that quite honestly is hard to keep up with. We are in the digital age where information is shared at the speed of light. If the church is to be the answer to a post-Christian society then there needs to be changes made in the way church is viewed and accomplished. There are certain needs that have to be addressed in the church, exploring practices and beliefs, so that we disciple believers in our post Christian society. This can be the church’s greatest hour. The church needs to seek the answers today’s society is asking.

Each new generation faces its own unique set of challenges and opportunities revolving around the specific circumstances driving the culture of the era. Learning to identify these is vital to creating a leadership strategy that will reach both the ever changing makeup of today’s congregations, and the communities outside our front door. Each new challenge represents an opportunity for the church to establish its relevance and necessary position in the world around us. As it was pointed out in Bill Hybels book Courageous Leadership, the church is a special organization, one that is uniquely equipped to deal with matters of the soul. There are dozens of great organizations that are dedicated to helping in every facet of human calamity but the church is the only one that deals with the condition of the spirit and it is in this area that the church needs to concentrate its focus. This does not mean that the church cannot help in the matters of

As a pastor and prayerfully a provisional member, I am called to be set apart such that I can minister to the needs of the community as part of enabling this mission.

Reflection is part of life. According to a modern idiom in the dictionary "once bitten, twice shy"; it is the ability to reflect on the actions and reactions that enhance knowledge. Wise men are those who ponder over their actions and make necessary productive changes. Otherwise, if one keeps doing things the same way, all of the time; it is possible to keep getting the same result. (de Bary, 2003:3) However, theological reflection takes it to other levels, because the actions and reactions are based on critical thinking in line with the word of God.

These, and other respondents have had a hard time engaging with their church family. Some even went as far as to say “I was discouraged by my church to participate”.