Making disciples part of the fundamentals

By Phil Peters
Team Leader, Region 2

Hav­ing a 15-year-old student driver in your household brings clarity to the rules of the road. It means paying more attention than usual to the fundamentals. That’s a good thing.

Regardless of our experi­ence, attention to funda­mentals is essential in all dis­ciplines. When a college football team begins spring practice it’s an opportunity to focus on the basics. For years, I’ve seen churches full of experi­enced members who know how to do church, yet we have few maturing disci­ples.

Without question, we are always in process, always a work in progress. Just as attention to the fundamentals sharpens the veteran baseball player, attention to fundamental practices of faith sharpen and grow the Christ follower.

What is fundamental for the church? Making dis­ciples. Jesus left us with the command that as we go we should make disciples. I recently sat with church planters in a retreat setting and was en­couraged by the stories they shared of disciple making in the culture. I heard stories of transformed life as people have embraced Jesus and dramatically changed their lifestyles to conform to Christ.

As you evaluate activi­ties in your life and in your church, how do those activi­ties help you accomplish the fundamental task of making disciples?

Region 1 team fostering urban focus

By Ron Shepard
Team Leader, NWBC Region 1

Prayer and training events are forming new partner­ships in NWBC Region 1. When people within a church, or churches in a local area, join in united, prayerful and biblical ministry, God resources that ministry. His­tory reveals God can be counted on when his people, the church, do their part.

As a result of “Great Commission Initiative” training, we have surveyed about 30 communities in the Puget Sound metro area. Our regional staff continue going with pastors and church members in to communi­ties where we have not been before.

As a result of Natural Church Development training, 14 coaches have been trained to work with churches to improve church health. Gifts to the Cooperative Program and to associations are making this possible.

Changes are coming in the area of young adult/collegiate ministry. The Purple Door (a ministry facility near UW Seattle) will be used as a launching point to develop a network of campus based groups designed to become young adult-focused church­es, on multiple college cam­puses.

We are beginning to see new momentum in the larger cities. Church planting efforts are taking place in Tacoma and Seattle. Several regional staff members are making radical missionary commitments to become catalysts in the cities, not just around the cities.

Contrary to what some believe, the people in Seattle and Tacoma are open to and hungry for true spiritual­ity. The lean economy and uncertain national political climate have opened the eyes of many urban residents. Cities are known for many things, in­cluding their ability to meet needs without much divine consultation. It appears that more are realizing that they cannot trust in the cities alone. A clear gospel witness is needed and, in my opinion, wanted.

Region 3 Team helping churches with Vision Weekends

“Where there is no vision the people perish.”

The Region 3 team serving churches in the Portland metro area, from Mt Hood to the Coast, has put together a process called Vision Weekend to assist churches needing to take a fresh look at their mission and ministries.

What’s involved?

Preparation: We help you do some reflection and gather information through surveys, assessments, interviews, discussions and gathering the history of the church. We spend Friday night, most of the day Saturday and Sunday morning leading the church through the following process:

Look Back (History), Look Up, (God’s Mission), Look In, (Passion), Look Out (Community) and Look Forward (Vision).

To follow up, the Region 3 team will assist churches in developing clear assignments in order to put the vision in place. These are some of the following steps that are a part of the process of turning vision into reality: coaching, team-building, strategy training and development, presentation to the church body, implementation, evaluation and adjustment.

If you are interested and want to know more, contact our team:
Tom Vance: Tvance650@live.com
Millie Burkette: millieb@nwbaptist.org
Ken Harmon: kenharmon@hotmail.com
Rob Pengra: robpengra@hotmail.com
Wes Hughes: wes@nwbaptist.org

NWBC trying to get first step right

Northwest Baptist Convention staff turned one corner after the first of the year following completion of personal visits with leaders of each of the convention’s 420-plus affiliated congregation. The face-to-face conversations were among initial priorities of a reorganization of staff assignments, changing the way convention leaders related to churches and ministry leaders.

One of the next crucial steps emerging from all the dialogue is development of broad strategies and specific practices aimed at helping churches reach greater levels of health and growth in order to increase their community witness and start churches where there are such needs.

In hearing various members of each regional team and the resource staff based in Vancouver reflect on the last several months, one thing stands out clearly — these are men and women who clearly appreciate the need for personal and corporate spiritual renewal to undergird all that is done to help churches greater levels of impact.

Much of the focus is upon leaders of local churches, with the importance of a spiritual vitality in their lives highlighted as a priority. One regional team leader has rightly stated: “Ministry is about producing his result though his leaders, with the result of spiritual transformation among individuals and the corporate church.”

That the regional teams see spiritual matters as foundational comes as no surprise. But in a day where skill, technique and practice are often so highly promoted and emphasized, it’s important to affirm that reality in practice. That’s not to say those other elements are unimportant — they may, in fact, be more critical than ever — but it’s good to start with the right first step.

If there is a down side to such an emphasis, it’s in trying to characterize exactly what we mean by “spiritual” things. Certainly we have the Spirit to guides us as we examine Scripture to discern such meaning, but we in our Baptist tribe are notorious for dutiful participation in religious observances and thinking as a result that we’ve actually obeyed God’s call to make the world different.

We should also take care not think of the more practical matters as lacking “spiritual” aspects. Inherent in our assumptions about the importance of getting the spiritual part right is that it shows up in the lives of those around us.

Princeton professor and author Cornel West, who is in no danger of becoming a theological darling of Southern Baptists, has noted: “Justice is what love looks like in public.” To express God’s love and concern for what’s right in such a way in every community is a great aspiration for every congregation.