1. The Church and its Calling Ownership and the Church
the local church as the agent of change
Rev. Gé Drayer
13 Octobre 2017

2. the local church as the agent of change
Introduction
2. A sort of Church History
0 – 400 Jesus and His work
400 – Church and the Pope
1500 – Holy Scripture and church doctrine
2000 onwards Jesus and His Kingdom??

3. the local church as the agent of change
Our common history and common problem
West: losing influence due to their focus on doctrine etc, making them in the era of secularisation irrelevant to the communities they live in
East: losing influence, due to state controled restrictions also focusing on scripture and its doctrine, making them after the Wende slowly but certainly irrelevant for the communities they live in

4. Peter church and change
Common problem: no longer as relevant as we would like to be
What do we do?
The first question:
do we realize the content our original calling?
The second question:
how could we adhere to our calling and be a blessing?

5. Oh man, look: there are people outside also,
We find it in
Matthew 28
also in Luke 24, Mark 16 & John 20
Focus on:
They – to make them disciples for Jesus
They – to make them faithful to obey His teachings
They – to receive life with Him

6. Conclusion 1:
the common overall goal is honoring our Lord
Conclusion 2:
doing that with all we have
Resume:
We have to show and to tell to ourselves and the world out there: our lord is King His reign has started and will be there forever! And those how believe will have life with Him…

7. GOD & HIS KINGDOM Which words come to your mind? And which images?

8. Margareth
Romans 14:17 For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit, because anyone who serves Christ in this way is pleasing to God and receives human approval
Conclusion: we have to work together openly, lovingly, wholeheartedly, passionately towards Gods Kingdom…
In that process it is very important to see what this means: Gods Kingdom, his righteousness, his peace and his joy.

9. Together bring the stick down with your indexfinger only

10. And we need to help each other and our congregations to understand that!
To understand also that we need to proclaim the gospel also with our lives, our deeds, our attitude!!

12. One of the most influential organizations in many fragile and/or conflict settings are faith organizations!

13. Raju Matthew 13: 24-33 and 47-48 What are the results in each parable?
What did cause that result?
What do the people do in each parable?
Does that influence the outcome?
Conclusion 1: God is responsible for the outcome… not you, not we!
Conclusion 2: He wants to use you, us!

14. Josef Matthew 5:13-16. What does Jesus means with ‘the world’?
What are the caraceristics of ‘the world’?
What does it mean ‘to be in the world’?
We use salt for…?
‘You are salt‘ – meaning?
How will we be ‘salt’?
How does that salt work and how does it loose its power?
Josef

15. Milton What is light actually? Where do we use it for?
‘You are light’ – meaning?
How do we are ‘light’ in the world?
Is your church ‘light in the world?
Read Jeremiah 29:1-7 and try to explain how Jeremiah wanted the people to be salt and light in their situation
What could you and your church learn from this study?

16. Marcus 6 vers 30 tot en met 44.
Who are the important players?
What do they do?
What are the needs of the people in this story?
What do they experience as a ‘need’?
What do they have as available resources?

17. Discuss the following questions with you neighbor:
Name the steps Jesus undertakes to do His miracle.
Where does Jesus address this story?
Where do the disciples focus on?
How are the means used to meet the need?

18. Other questions to discuss together:
Why does Jesus go through these different steps?
How could he have done this miracle differently?
What is the greatest need of the people in your area?
What can you/we learn from this special event?
Which resources do you/we have: what are our “5 loaves and 2 fishes“?
How would a miracle look like in your/our neighborhood or village?

19. 2 Kings 4:1-7
What is happening in this story?
Who are the acting people and what are they doing?
What is the problem and with what do they solve the problem?
How are these resources deployed?
What does this section teaches us about how our church could handle the needs of the people in our neighborhood/village?

20. Does this process actually work?
In lot’s of countries in the West and in Africa this African process works
But that does not give you a garantee that it will work with your church
If it works for your church it will have a transforming impact on both you and your church and the community

21. There are challenges and benefits
Time
Challenge to authority
Challenge for the church dependency and loss of confidence goes
It demands a good facilitator/coach

22. Benefits for the community: • self-reliance • self esteem • sustainable change • improved community relationships • physical changes: such as better health, sanitation, food security and incomes

23. And for the local church:
become a positive influence in community life
build relationships with people outside the church
identify and utilize their own resources more effectively
become an attractive and growing community
empower church ministers by giving them vision and inspiration, and strengthening their skills, knowledge and confidence
increase income: church members become wealthier contributing more

24. Your vision the be church for your area:Z
Where are you now, what is our present situation ?
Where you you want to be in 5 years from now?
What bumps do you expect?

25. Our journey… What do you need for luggage? Who should join?
What bumps do you expect?
Who is driving the bus?

26. 1. Envisioning the church
use Bible studies and activities to help the church have a vision for working with their community
3. Local church Initiative set up
a small initiative using the church’s own resources
2. Using our resources
look at the resources the church
has and how they can be used
in the Community
4. Learning and reflection look back
at the church initiative and celebrate
what went well and discuss
what could be improved on
in the future

30. the process.. Year 1 Year 2 The vision of church
Discovering the role of the church
Celebrate who we are
Collecting area information
Analyze the area
Make relations
Get into action
Evaluate
Year 1
Year 2