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FOUR KEY INITIATIVES that Address Real Concerns of Regional Church Leaders
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TRANSFORMING CHURCHES TOWARD
A MISSIONAL POSTURE
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As people who love the Lord Jesus Christ, we desperately need as North American people to view our culture from a missionary perspective? we need to be able to see what Jesus sees, to hear what Jesus hears, to touch what Jesus touches, and go where Jesus goes.
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The Challenge Today
The mission of the church is to discern, celebrate, and participate in God's redemptive mission in the world. The greatest challenge facing churches today is to live missionally - to develop missionary sensitivities, vision, and practices for engaging in God's mission. The many efforts churches are making to "keep up" or "survive" are futile if this fundamental challenge is not addressed. This missional reorientation represents a profound learning curve for most churches and a strategic challenge for most church leaders.
In light of this challenge, judicatory leaders seek to be a helpful resource to churches. But regional church budgets are being squeezed from many directions. Staff responsibilities and requests for service and support are on the rise. What is required are creative, cost effective and fruitful ways to leverage resources of time, staff experience and money for their most primary challenge of all - transforming churches toward a missional posture.
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Underlying Assumptions About Transforming Churches into a Missional Posture
The mission of the church is to be found in God's mission. God who is always doing "a new thing" (Isaiah 43:19) calls the church to discern, celebrate, and participate in God's mission.
- The church, therefore, is called to bring the good news of the kingdom into engagement with the deep yearnings and concrete challenges of its worldly context.
- To engage today's context with the good news requires the formation of a disciple community - the faithful body of Jesus Christ - to be a sign, foretaste, and instrument of the reign of God.
- In many churches this requires a radically new vision, new ways of thinking, and new patterns of behavior.
- Church leaders must become equipped with skills, support, and resources for leading the journey.
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A Partner in Ministry
The mission of the Center for Parish Development is to provide counsel and resources to facilitate the transformation of churches seeking to discern, celebrate, and participate more fully in God's mission. The Center Staff is eager to share its resources and experience to support regional leaders and teams who seek, who pray, and who work for the church's renewal as God's new creation community. "So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new!" (2 Cor.5:17)
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