Every follower of Jesus will be a reproducing follower of Jesus. And every church will be a reproducing church.
We will raise the temperature for life-on-life discipleship so it is normal for people to become reproducing followers of Jesus by owning their personal growth. Consumer-oriented Christians will, by design, not feel comfortable long-term.
2016Vision, Granger Community Church
No mistake about it. We’ve committed to intentionally, strategically be more overt in our discipleship strategy for and with our people. We've always been about making disciples. That's what the weekends are about; it's why we meet in groups; it's a vital part of serving together. What we intend to be more strategic about is clearly defined, shared curriculum that helps us construct a developing understanding of what it means to follow Jesus... what it means to be reproducing followers of Jesus.
While it may seem impossible to identify the single most foundational element of our vision (read the vision here), it’s tough to argue with the priority of seeing our people grounded and freed to be the Church where they are. The multiple expressions of “church” - together and individually - will find their core around the centrality of Jesus and his agenda for the world he loves. We must make disciples. Our Fall plan that follows flows out of this conviction.
Here’s what’s coming this Fall:
- Baptism: We’ll celebrate hundreds of people going public as followers of Jesus on the weekend of August 27 & 28. Our August series, Awakening, will focus on salvation, baptism and experiencing God personally.
- Ground-breaking: We’ll break ground for our new Commons on Sunday evening, August 28 at 6:00pm! It’ll be an event for the whole family, inviting everyone to help break ground (bring a spoon!) and be part of our first ever 360-degree all-church picture! Yahoo! We're believing this space will open our campus 7 days a week to our community. We hope hundreds, even thousands, may first encounter real, Jesus-centered, people-loving individuals in our cafe, bookstore and community space. We expect many of us will use this space for conversations that help us grow in our relationships with Jesus.
- Elkhart Site Retrofit: Between August and November we’ll be retrofitting our new site on E Bristol Street, getting ready to hold our first service there in early November. We're praying this ministry outpost will give us significant and unique reach into the community of Elkhart. We intend to love and serve our neighbors, reproducing ourselves and our church as the Body of Christ. (Read more from me here. Read more from The Elkhart Truth newspaper here.)
- A shift in our celebration of Communion: 25 years ago we programmed our weekend services around the assumption that people were tentative about their church experience. People were skeptical of “religion.” Spirituality was clouded by fallen TV evangelists and misperceptions of what “church” was supposed to be. Today, people largely desire the mystery and power of a spiritual connection with God. Church is expected to deliver an encounter with God that is moving and profound. Beginning in September we’ll move our observation of Communion to the weekend, helping thousands of people see God’s grace demonstrated and offered. August 3 will be our final First Wednesday.
For more on this shift watch or listen to Mark Beeson's message from this past weekend (choose "I Won't Let Go" from July 31st) on the right.
- All-church Discipleship Initiative: We will invite every student and adult to engage a semester of Experiencing God (this is a highly respected discipleship strategy written and taught by Henry Blackaby, Richard Blackaby and Claude King) this September through November. We’ll offer a Monday evening venue at our Granger campus with live teaching from our teaching pastors and interactive, conversational application. We will capture the teaching on video to resource other group venues – on site and in homes and other off-site gathering places.
- At Granger we’ll offer a weekday women’s venue as well as a weekday men’s venue, increasing the opportunity for people to connect with others for this discipling process. The teaching will be via video, captured from the live teaching of our pastors on the preceding Monday evening.
- With the exception of Financial Peace University this Fall, Experiencing God will be our only weekday/mid-week offering at the Granger campus.
- All our groups in Elkhart will engage this process in homes (We'll make future semesters of discipleship training available at our new location on East Bristol Street!).
- This material – book and workbook – is appropriate for both the long-time Christ-follower and those exploring their journey with God for the first time.
Are you ready? This is going to be a season of exponential growth for hundreds, hopefully thousands, of our people. I'm gearing up to be one of them. Hope you'll join me!
