True Discipleship Session 3 – Unleashing the Vision

Why leaders fail at new initiatives Launching before bringing people into the vision Poor planning Not fairly assessing the difficulties they will face Thinking about it vs. Deciding to do it Copying another program or idea

7 Steps to Launching a New Vision in Your Church: 1.Settle the message 2.Recruit a vision team 3.Study YOUR congregation

Why study the congregation? To appreciate your church’s uniqueness so that the ministry remains true to your identity To identify where God has already been working in this area through your church To uncover weaknesses that may lead to challenges To understand if your church is willing to make this journey

How to study the congregation: Who are we? What do we believe? What do we do? How do we do what we do? What are our relationships like? What are we doing now?

Process the study How can we use our strengths and resources to make a difference? What challenges and obstacles might we face? What is the best way to communicate the vision with our people?

7 Steps to Launching a New Vision in Your Church: 1.Settle the message 2.Recruit a vision team 3.Study YOUR congregation 4.Study YOUR community

Why study the community? To help the church become a student of a community so that it can become its servant. To understand the forces that affect the lives of the people in the community. To discover how the community perceives the church. To find out what the tangible needs are in your area. To know how people in the community relate to each other. To learn what good things are already happening that you could join.

How to study the community- Observation – drive your community and take notes on all you see. Interviews – take a day for your team to talk to people in the community Other Organizations – Talk to government, schools, charities, and other ministries Discover the unseen – what spiritual strongholds are there and why? Create a map – Highlight all that you discovered into a map

Process the study Where is there opportunity for evangelism and outreach? How is God already working in the community and how can we help? How can we show the people of this community that God loves them and that we are for them? How does God want the Kingdom to arrive here and what is our part?

7 Steps to Launching a New Vision in Your Church: 5. Develop YOUR discipleship vision 6. Share the Vision 7. Implement the Vision

The Pastor’s job for implementing the vision- Embrace the Vision Empower the Leaders Equip the Ministry

True Discipleship Session 3 – Unleashing the Vision