Monday and Tuesday were spent in Grantham, PA at the Brethren in Christ New Pastor’s Orientation Seminar. It was a wonderful time filled with brand new – and renewed – denominational connections, distinctive historical and theological lessons, and bold visions for the denomination’s future. My wife and I are already pretty familiar with the history and theology of the church, so our personal highlight reel is mostly composed of items belonging to the ‘new connection’ and ‘future vision’ categories.
We met a lot of really great people from across the denomination. The highlight was meeting some folk from The Meeting House (Canada) and talking church with them between sessions. It was equally interesting to talk health care with these folk. Canada has a universal health-care plan; the United States does not, obviously. This reality was very relevant during the session concerning pastoral health care plans and funds. Interesting …
The biggest highlight of the gathering was the “Listening Forward: Emerging Vision Themes 2010-2020″ session. The future vision of the BIC leadership team is big, to say the least. The following nine-point compilation represents aspects of the future vision of the church. It will be interesting to see if we can join together and make this vision a reality as we move forward collectively. This is a bold, adventurous, and challenging vision for our church. Kudos to the BIC leadership for their obvious forward and courageous thinking. Note: I will be concentrating on a few of these vision points in future posts here @ Tribe. Vision point 8.7. is huge, and will probably be the first point I focus upon.
1. Build a Community of Christ Followers
1.1. Committed to Biblical truth, with Christ at the center, interpreted within the context of Christian community.
1.2. Seeking an intimate, dynamic, relationship with Jesus through the empowering presence of the Holy Spirit, both individually and collectively.
1.3. Intent on obedience and holy living, that puts into practice the life teachings of Jesus Christ.
2. Pursue Church Multiplication
2.1. Actively and lovingly witness to all people.
2.2. Create space for new people by multiplying groups, services, sites, and churches.
2.3. Be open to church models such as satellite, multi-site and house churches.
2.4. Give attention to church planting in strategic areas.
2.5. Plant churches in diverse cultural/ethnic communities.
3. Strengthen Existing Congregations
3.1. Assist existing churches in becoming healthy, missional, and growing.
3.2. Provide resources on leadership, healthy organizations, conflict resolution, healthy relationships, and personal discipleship.
3.3. Help congregations discover the best available resources for churches.
3.4. Promote stewardship to inspire increased generosity.
4. Raise and Strengthen Leaders
4.1. Embrace younger, emerging leaders.
4.2. Develop a better process of incorporating leaders new to the BIC.
4.3. Streamline our approach to credentialing.
4.4. Empower more women in leadership to assume leadership roles.
4.5. Clarify what it means to be an effective leader.
4.6. Sustain a good history of quality leaders locally and denominationally.
5. Increase Our Global Impact
5.1. Strengthen our global missions emphasis in local congregations.
5.2. Birth church-planting movements especially among Muslim-majority cultures.
5.3. Engage the Hispanic community in outreach among least-reached.
5.4. Facilitate an increase in cross-cultural sending capacity of sister conferences.
5.5. Strengthen the international BIC network.
6. Capitalize On Current Cultural Trends
6.1. Celebrate the convergence of our core values and theological perspectives with cultural trends, such as peace, reconciliation, community, discipleship, a focus on Jesus, simple living, obedience, holy living and personal renewal.
6.2. Recognize that many cultural trends speak to our strengths as a church:
6.2.1. Increased interest in spirituality.
6.2.2. Heightened awareness of our need to be stewards of the environment.
6.2.3. A growing desire to belong to community.
6.2.4. A desire to meet human need in a holistic way with local and global compassion initiatives.
6.2.5. An emerging generation that gives priority to relationships, authenticity, and community.
7. Proclaim and Practice a Holistic Gospel
7.1. Teach a holistic, compassionate response to a human need.
7.2. Seek ways to live the Gospel and to minister compassionately.
7.3. Encourage congregations to serve others, locally, regionally, bi-nationally and globally at points of need.
7.4. Commit to a strong emphasis on ministries of compassion around the world.
8. Embrace Culturally-relevant Communication
8.1. Use broad and diverse approaches in communication.
8.2. Embrace various forms of technology available.
8.3. Use relevant language and forms.
8.4. Be sensitive to the diversity that exists.
8.5. Seek ways to communicate to various “ages and stages” within the church.
8.6. Find creative ways to communicate beyond the church into the culture.
8.7. Consider a denominational name change.
9. Create Flexible, Mission-driven Structures
9.1. Continue to welcome and embrace others from outside the denomination.
9.2. Celebrate a new identity as a “mosaic” more than a “melting pot.”
9.3. Develop and/or affirm new ways to maintain and practice community.
9.4. Cultivate purposeful, partnering relationships at and among multiple levels – locally, regionally, bi-nationally and globally.
9.5. Be open to and desire spiritual renewal.
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