“I never knew you” - Mat 7:23; Mat 25:12; Luke 13:22-30
Know the Lord - John 17:3; 1Cor 8:1-3; 1John 2:3; 1John 4:7-8;
Love the Lord - 1Cor 8:1-3
Love your brothers and sisters - 1John 4:7-8;
Obey the Lord - 1John 2:1-6
Boast in the Lord. - Jer 9:23-24; 1Cor 1:31; 2Cor 10:17
Partner with him in exercising kindness, justice, and righteousness
Know him in action (walking with him) - doing the work of his Kingdom.
Gen 5:18-24; Amos 3:3; Heb 11:1-6
You can’t know without doing.
Knowing your ministry
Don't wait for a complete outline of your future ministry.
You'll discover your ministry as you start using your gifts.
Discuss the way I figured out what my ministry was.
Join the Work
Your Kingdom come, your will be done - Mat 6:9-15
Workers in the vineyard - Mat 20:1-16
Expect results
Whoever has will be given more . . . Mat 25:24-30
God wants to operate supernaturally through you
Just like you expect money when you visit some of your relatives
Believe you receive - Mark 11:20-25
Give your life away
Keep what you have by giving it away
Give and it will be given to you - Luke 6:38
Whoever wants to save his life . . . - Luke 9:23-25
We must multiply ourselves and teach others to do the same.
Identify areas where you have gained victory and pull others into it.
“Judge not lest you be judged” - Mat 7:1-6; Luke 6:37
Discipleship - 2Tim 2:2
Ministry Systems Dynamics
Reinforcing Feedback
Vicious Cycles
Backsliding
Virtuous Cycles
Sanctification
overflow of giving - 2Cor 9:6-15
sowing seed
Balancing Processes
faucet/eye/hand system filling a glass of water
Balancing Processes With Delay
thermostat
shower temperature control
Limits To Growth
Church grows to point where intimacy is lost
Shifting The Burden
Drug addiction
Sexual addictions
Television addictions
Escalation
arguments
arms race
Tragedy Of The Commons
multiple flocks on a singlle field
environmental pollution
Success To The Successful
Growth and Underinvestment
attendance falls off due to crowding before new space is achieved
Accidental Adversaries
Employee / Company example
employees are rewarded for political gamesmanship
company is rewarded for pursuit of growth rather than development
Traditional Church and the Arts
Traditional Church and other Areas of Gifting
Fixes That Fail
EGC Questions
Question 1
We don't ask:"How will WE get a building in the South End?"
We ask: How can OUR COMMUNITY provide a BUILDING for us?"
Question 2
We don't ask: "How do WE plant CHURCHES?"
We ask: "How does THE CITY plant CHURCHES?"
Question 3
We don't ask: "How do WE stop CRIME?"
We ask" "How does the CITY stop its OWN CRIME?"
Question 4
We don't ask: "How does EGC do EVANGELISM?"
We ask: "How does the CITY do EVANGELISM?"
Question 5
We don't ask: "How do WE set up an urban training school for uban ethnic ministry leaders?"
We ask: "How do urban ethnic ministry LEADERS work with a seminary to SET UP their OWN urban training school?"
Question 6
We don't ask: "How can WE get more urban ethnic students into Christian schools?"
We ask: "How can urban ethnic STUDENTS recruit their OWN PEOPLE to Christian schools?"
Question 7
We don't ask questions THAT PRODUCE: short-term, counterproductive ends
We ask QUESTIONS THAT PRODUCE: long-term multiply-productive ends
Question 8
We don't ask QUESTIONS that: make us design OUR organization to DO a task
We ask QUESTIONS that: force us to find how the SOCIAL REALITY we are working in will become the PRIMARY DOER of the task
Twelve Steps
1. We admitted we were powerless over alcohol—that our lives had become unmanageable.
2. Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.
3. Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him.
4. Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.
5. Admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.
6. Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character.
7. Humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings.
8. Made a list of all persons we had harmed, and became willing to make amends to them all.
9. Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.
10. Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it.
11. Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God as we understood Him, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out.
12. Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to alcoholics, and to practice these principles in all our affairs.
Culture & World View
Culture
The complex structuring of customs (and their underlying assumptions) by which people govern their lives.
It is how we relate to our selves (with biological, mental, psychological, and spiritual components) and our environment (with physical and social components).
People both create and follow culture (culture is like a roadway).
People follow cultural forms out of habit.
People change cultural elements for various reasons.
Creativity
Improper instruction
Worldview
Worldview Functions - patterns in terms of which people do the following:
Explain aspects of life according to socially approved ways of seeing REALITY;
Where did the universe come from and what is its basic nature?
How did people, animals, plants, etc. get here and what should we expect from them?
Evaluate all aspects of life in socially approved ways;
esthetics - what is visually or aurally pleasing
ethics - what is moral or imoral
economics - what should be more expensive or less expensive
human character - what behavior is proper or improper, admirable or worthy of criticism
Validate common perceptions and behavior;
Assign commitment priorities that help people identify what people and other aspects of life to pledge allegiance to;
Interpret things in ways that are consistent with those of the rest of the society;
Pursue life in a reasonably integrated fashion;
Adapt to internal and external pressure for change.
Worldview Universals
Categorization - all people classify, categorize, and think according to the logic of their worldview;
Person-Group - all people relate to the various persons and groups in their lives on the basis of their worldview assumptions concerning how they should relate to them;
Causality - all people explain and relate to the various things in life that cause other things on the basis of their worldview assumptions;
Time-Event - all people structure the time and event aspects of their lives on the basis of their worldview assumptions;
Space-Material - all people conceive of and arrange their relationships with space and material objects on the basis of their worldview assumptions.
Five Views of God's relationship to culture:
God is a product of culture
God is opposed to culture
God endorses at least one culture (Hebrew?, British?, French?, American?, Ehtiopian?)
God is above culture and unconcerned
God is above culture and working through it
Discussion Question: How do you view culture?
Discussion Questions / Topics
Reflect on Jer 31:31-34; Jer 9:23-24; 1Cor 1:31; 2Cor 10:17
What does "knowing the LORD" mean to you?
Is "knowing the LORD" something that you boast about? Why or why not?
How well do you understand the LORD? What are his priorities? Are you doing the things that are most important to him?
Reflect on Gen 5:18-24; Amos 3:3; Heb 11:1-6
Do you seek the Lord earnestly? In what ways do you prioritize God?
What does "walking with the Lord" mean in your life? Do you let him take you to the places where he wants you to go?
Reflect on Mat 16:13-28
Considering vs. 21-23, do you have in mind the things of God or of men?
In what ways have you denied yourself to follow Jesus?
The Romans forced Jesus to carry his cross through the city as a mark of shame prior to his execution. In what ways have you taken up your cross?
What parts of your life are you holding on to for yourself?
In what ways have you given your life away for Jesus?
Reflect on Mat 6:1-6, Mat 6:16-18 (continued from last week)
Do you go to church to look good to other people in general?
Do you go to church to look good to other church goers?
What aspects of your church life do other people complement you on? How does this affect you?
Reflect on Ex 23:19; Ex 34:26; Num 18:26-32; Prov 3:9-10; Ezek 44:30; Mal 1:6-14 (continued from last week)
Are you giving God your best time for prayer?
Are you giving God your first and your best financially?
How does the quality of your service to God compare with your work on the job or in school? Is God getting your best in this area?
How do your relationships with your life group members compare with your other relationships? Is God getting your best in this area?
What are you going to do about this? Will you let your life group members hold you accountable in this area?
Works Activities For This Week's Life Group Meetings (repeated from last week)
Review the current prayer partnerships in your life group.
Make sure that everyone has someone to pray with on a weekly basis.
These can be long-term assignments or your can rotate them.
If you rotate them, the assignments should last at least one month.
Review the list of people you are praying for in your life group.
Make sure that everyone knows who to pray for and how to pray for them.
Make sure that the people who need salvation are getting prayed for every day by the members of the group.
Review each person on the list of people you are reaching out to.
Has anyone invited him/her to lunch/dinner or some other informal activity along with at least one other life group member?
Has anyone invited him/her to a life group fun event?
Has anyone invited him/her to a life group meeting?
