Horizon, Pilgrimage, Journey, Engage
By Dave Eisley, Pastor, Community
Healthy churches have a firm grasp on God’s unique call and placement in His harvest field. The following modules of the LifeFlow process of Church Development help congregations to strengthen this “grasp” and grow in important aspects of church health by identifying Biblical concepts to learn and to apply.
HORIZON: What are your Values? Your Vision? Your Mission? These are much more than organizational buzzwords, they are absolutely essential to the work of Church Development! The Horizon Module of the LifeFlow process focuses on helping the local Church develop a plan to love God, love people and make disciples as you go, rooted in Biblical principles. Values are those measured, non-negotiable truths at the core of the life of the congregation. Vision is the unique view of God’s preferred future for the life of the congregation going forward. Mission is derived from a congregation’s core values and vision for that which the Lord wants to do through their ministry together. When prayerfully considered, these aid the church in building a structure and strategy by which to accomplish great things – in alignment with God’s plan.
PILGRIMAGE: When we say we “make disciples”, what does that really mean in the life of a local church? In the LifeFlow process, making disciples the way Jesus did is at the very center of what we want to help churches accomplish. In the Pilgrimage module, the Pastor and leadership of the local church are equipped to understand and to build a procedure for making individual disciples, and a process to implement Biblical disciple-making church wide, with the goal of seeing people come to maturity in Christ.
JOURNEY: Does your church have a plan to develop those who are to be the future leaders of the congregation? When mature disciples of Jesus are developing their walk with Him, many of them are ready and eager to take the “next step.” The Journey module helps the local church to take these budding leaders, and continue their discipleship by focusing on the “fields that are ripe for harvest.” Helping maturing disciples to understand who they are in Christ, how God has uniquely shaped them to serve Him, and what role the Lord is calling them to take responsibility for in His harvest field is central to this home-grown leadership development process.
ENGAGE: Why has God placed “your” church in its current location? What does the church do to reach out into the community? These questions have everything to do with the goal of the Church Development process! The Engage module, the last in the LifeFlow process, takes into consideration all of the Biblical principles taught and the unique local application of them to answer these questions. The aim of the church moves from not only those in the pews, but also to those who are “outside” and need Jesus. The congregation will truly see what God is doing in the community around them, and partner with Him to be instruments of His love and grace. And people are reached, become disciples, grow in Christian maturity, and reach still others for Christ, growing and multiplying His Church!
