Mid-Week Discussion October 11 and 18
1. If the definition of the word “church” literally means “called out ones,” what is the implication of who we are to BE, and what we are to DO?
2. What heaviness or burden or responsibility do you sense if the church is to serve as the ongoing manifestation of Christ himself on earth, being called his body, which is an idea of profound significance throughout the New Testament?
3. What you say is the very singular mission of the church? (The churches mission, given by Jesus himself, is to reach out to a deeply fallen world and call it back to God).
4. In what ways is King’s Grant Baptist Church living up to its marching orders? Or is it deficient in some way?
5. Is it possible to be engaged in the mission of Christ without being engaged in the church?
6. How do you respond to someone who says the church is too concerned with money and power, too involved in politics and too focused on rules?
7. How is the word “equip” much larger than just getting a task done? (The word means to work with the hands to produce something useful or beautiful). How does that apply to followers of Jesus?
8. How have you learned to discover your spiritual giftedness and passions for ministry? What have you discovered?
9. In what ways do your spiritual gifts surface in the context of community, and on ministry teams?
10. What are some current areas of ministry where you think the church could offer specialized training?
11. How do you respond to Greg Ogden’s observation? “My conviction is that we can only replicate ourselves in the areas for which we have a passion and calling. We don’t need to be, nor can we be, effective along all the fronts of equipping ministry.” (This leads to a reality that the pastor’s fundamental role is to be an equipper, to make one what one ought to be.)
12. To understand the leadership pipeline, we must understand various leadership responsibilities. Where do you fit in this pipeline?
a. Lead yourself (being a group)
b. Lead others (lead a group or team)
c. Lead leaders (shepherd or coach a group of leaders)
d. Lead ministries (direct a ministry area)
13. In what ways does a leadership pipeline provide clarity? Succession planning? Effective coaching? Ministry expansion?
14. In what ways are we much more together in Christ than if we insisted on seeing ourselves as just loosely associated individuals?
15. Where is the breakdown at King’s Grant when people visit here, they lean in, but can’t seem to make connections or get involved?
16. If you were to develop a process for getting involved in the life of the church, what would it look like?
17. What problems do you see when we hand off people’s contact information to others who may not make the best use of that information? How do people tend to fall through the cracks?
18. How can a ministry be effective or successful if the team members do not take ownership? What does ownership look like?
19. What does it look like for church members to make intentional connections? How is that different from accidental connections?
20. If you were to develop a “worship plus two” approach, what would you design? (worship gathering, small group growing, ministry going).
21. How do we help people to understand that the Christian life, and church life, is much more than attending a weekly worship service?
22. Tell of a time when relational connections impacted you, and how those connections added value to who you are.
23. How do we find more volunteers to develop into leaders?
24. In what ways are we actively teaching people to view their lives beyond the walls of the church as places that hold opportunities for service?
25. In what ways are we affirming and celebrating the ministries of our people beyond the walls of the church?