Discussion Board 2
Core values of a church
- Core values are very important in church plant since they determine the final destination of the church. Core values must be implemented in order to produce cooperation ministry vision. It is important to understand that core values are rooted from best practices and function for the church plant to stand still and reflect a biblical ministry (Searcy, Nelson & Thomas, 2006 Pg18). In starting a church plant, there are important practices which must be included: Such practices and functions includes;
Choosing a target group
This simply involves moving out and selecting the group of people who will be served. Selecting a specific group will be much better in order to serve people in a comprehensible and a meaningful way. This selection can be done in terms of ethnicity, geography or else socioeconomics criteria and this practice will help to come up with people who have spiritual need(Searcy, Nelson & Thomas, 2006 Pg28).
Capable leaders
In church plant, capable and competent leaders will pray a significant role in defining the church’s mission and its role as a biblical ministry. Leaders must be in the frontline to unify members, set a vision and work hard to reach the mission. They should integrate in the target culture and ensure that every person is comfortable and gets the spiritual food(Searcy, Nelson & Thomas, 2006 Pg33).
Build a team
In church plan, there must be a unique team for the purpose of leading the church members and helping them to grow more spiritually by evangelizing. The team should be in frontline to ensure that other members accomplish values as well as the visions of the church (Aubrey, 2011 pg55). They have a primary purpose of implementing high standards, offer quality discipline and use their gifts to empower the local team. It is their responsibility to develop spiritual skills which will help them to become administrative assistant and more important empower and aid ministry.
- The core values, best practices as well as the functions require strategies to ensure that they are fully implemented in church ministry. To ensure that everything moves well, first of all it is important to put into practice the language learning. Due to culture differences, it is important to value the Christian subculture in order to understand the different values and aspirations. Leaders must be proficient will all languages for them to be in a position to communicate effectively, teach and coach, understand the customs as well as the expressions (Aubrey, 2011 pg55). Secondly, to ensure that practices are well implemented in the church ministry, it is important to focus on history and culture. This will help the leaders in setting a reading plan through having collective experience. History will help the church ministry with common values as well as collective consciousness and these will help to form a powerful foundation of the ministry.
- Third scenario
As a church planter in Las Vegas, I would not allow membership for anyone working in the gaming industry. My principles are rooted from the biblical perspectives and as I focus my church plant on historical background, I understand that there is bridge which exists between church ministry and gaming industry. An important thing that I would like to put into concern in this issue is parenting. For many years, video games are something which has been a challenge to Christian parents (Thomas 2008, pg 81). This means that video games will affect my followers (children and adults). Video games affect mentality, social life and spiritual growth. As I quote, Ephesians 5:11”Don't participate in the fruitless works of darkness, but instead expose them”. It is clear that every person who calls himself a Christian should utilize his time on fruitful things which will help him to grow more spiritually. Christians should not follow the popular culture but instead they should focus on Jesus Christ in order to avoid bad things which are contributed by popular culture such as rebellion, violence, Satanism and more (Thomas 2008, pg72). Video games create an entry to demonic torment by creating positive attitude to aggression, violence, suicidal thoughts and more. As Christians, we should hate the satanic tools and preach the love of Christ. As a church planter, those who engage themselves in gaming industry are not supposed to be accounted as my members, simply because the video game will weaken their faith because of concentrating on worldly issues (Thomas 2008, pg78).
- Church Planting Strategies - The Program & Purpose Driven Strategies
https://download.liberty.edu/courses/vty5s.mp4
Church structure
Church planter should allow the leaders to make decisions in order to come up with a unique structure. Other important thing is that leaders are supposed to create other teams such women ministry, children ministry and others and empower these groups and this is one way of unifying people. In this part, the leaders should put effort in preaching the gospel by creating programs such as “come and see”. This involves conducting music, crusades and more and all these activities are set to attract followers (Dr. Brown, 1) way to form a church structure is through “go show and tell’. This involves moving out in the community to preach the love of Christ, built trustworthiness and compassion and telling them about the Christian life.
Traditional structure
It is important to focus on traditional programs such as youth programs, children programs, and choir programs among more. This will help in evaluation of the organization. Establishing these groups will make everything possible by ensuring that each group is spiritually fit and they require whatever they need. These different departments will help the leaders to identify the members who have special gifts and they can be in a position to give them the opportunity to utilize their gifts and this is one way of reaching the church mission (Dr. Brown, 1)
Reference
Searcy, Nelson and Kerrick Thomas. Launch: Starting a New Church from Scratch. Ventura: Regal Books, 2006. ISBN: 9780801018251. (READ CHAPTERS 1 - 4 ). 3, 18, 33, 57
Dr. William Brown, Church Planting Strategies - The Program & Purpose Driven Strategies
Malphurs Aubrey, ( 2011). The Nuts and Bolts of Church Planting: A Guide for Starting Any Kind of
Church. 55
Comiskey Joel Thomas (2008), Planting Churches That Reproduce: Starting a Network of Simple
Churches 72
