Mid-Week Discussion September 13 and 20 – ON “WE ARE A COMMUNITY”
1. Think about your personal church history and the role of the pastor. Has it been more of a roll of Shepherd or of Equipper? Explain, and share some stories.
2. Is it realistic to expect the pastor(s) to be all things to all men? In what way does that bottleneck the ministry of the local church?
3. Explain why it is easier to start a church that embraces a certain culture, than it is to change an existing church to embrace that same culture.
4. In what ways is our church culture different from the culture of our community around us, even the culture of the churches around us?
5. Why do churches desire to retain their own culture rather than do whatever it takes to reach people outside of the church? Where do you see this situation at Kings Grant?
6. Why does the “field of dreams” and model, “if you build it they will come,” not work in today’s society?
7. Is it possible for a congregation to discover “why we do the things the way we do” and for people on the outside, it looks like we have an inward focus?
8. Describe the difference between mission and methods. (Our mission is always the same, while our methods will change as needed to be more effective in carrying out our mission).
9. In what ways has the church expected pastoral leadership to do the work of ministry rather than equip the members for the work of ministry? (aspirational values versus actual values).
10. What are the ways at King’s Grant where people exit through the back doors? How can we prevent this from happening? In what ways have we not closed the back door, but simply lengthened the hallway?
11. Have you ever been a part of a church that utilized a “full-court press” regarding guests and assimilation? How affective was that? What do you see regarding King’s Grant? In what ways have we evolved in our process to, “dated hard, married quick, then ignored.”
12. When was a time when you were enlisted for service yet lacked training or preparation to fulfill the task? How can the church remedy the situation?
13. While King’s Grant members say they want to grow, and would love to have young people in the church, what are the barriers that prevent us from fulfilling that vision?
14. What are ways in which we can define reality in regard to our congregation? Are we willing to ask the hard questions? Are we willing to except the responses, and make needed changes?
15. In looking at the life cycles of a church, where do you see King’s Grant? How do you see a little bit of ourselves in each of the stages? Do we fit better in the category of sustained health? Maintenance? Preservation? Or life-support?
16. In what ways do you see the vision of mend and restore, establish and lay a foundation, and prepare and train working at King’s Grant?
17. How can a church best fix whatever is broken, and bring the congregation into proper alignment? (Vision casting and focusing upon the mission).
18. Since evangelism the way it was done in the past does not appear to be effective today, what are some ways that we must rethink evangelism?
19. How would you describe evangelism as an event versus evangelism as an experience or process?
20. How would you describe the evangelism methods described in Acts 2 versus Acts 17? Which method would work best at King’s Grant?
21. How would you explain “the curse of knowledge” when it comes to evangelism and the American church?
22. As we attempt to go deeper with Christ, how do we engage in spiritual conversation with a biblically illiterate neighbor?
23. In what ways has the church embraced lukewarm Christianity?
24. How do we transform an audience of consumers into an army of sold out followers of Jesus?
25. In what ways do we speak a different language than today’s younger generation? How do we translate church language or spiritual truth into something relevant to generation Z?
26. How do we do evangelism with people (or a generation) who do not believe they need saving?
27. In what way is urgency the key to leadership development and mobilizing members toward living on mission with Christ?
28. In what ways have we as a church embraced the idea that worship happens in our building rather than happening during the week, by living out the faith that we embrace?