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Live blogging Rick Warren at the Pastors Prayer Summitt
By Jeremy | January 29, 2008
PEOPLE GROWTH
Eph 4:14-15 (Ph) 2 Cor 13:9 (LB) There’s no such thing as a small church. Size doesn’t matter. What matters is church health. Healthy churches grow naturally. The wrong question: “How can my church grow?†The right question: “What is keeping my church from growing?†Anything that grows extremely fast is unhealthy. Cancer. What matters is consistency. You judge the health of a church not on its seating capacity, but its sending capacity. How many members are on the front line of ministry? Rick Warren ministry testimony. (Highlights here.) The 5 purposes (the Great Commandment and Great Commission) Not just interested in church growth. Interested in people growth. The sequence of spiritual growth: Help people (1) know Christ; (2) love Christ; (3) grow Christ; (4) serve Christ; (5) share Christ He wasn’t always interested in people growth Burned out after 1 year of pastoring. Took a 1 month sabbatical in the desert. Jesus said, “I will build my church if you build my people.â€ÂSpiritual Growth Myths
Myths ___________________________ Facts Growth is automatic. _______________ It is a choice. Growth is fast _____________________ A gradual process. By attending church. _______________ By developing habits. Can grow by yourself. ______________ Can’t grow without others. Measured by beliefs. _______________ Measured by both beliefs and behavior. How you act at church. _____________ How you act at home and work. You only believe the parts of the Bible that you do. “Faith without works is dead.†“Be doers of the Word.†(James) Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up. The mark of maturity is fruit. Mature plants bear fruit.Eight laws of spiritual growth
(Handout) 1. Spiritual growth is intentional. We grow by making commitments. We have to choose to grow. We are as close to God as we choose to be. If you feel far from God, it’s because you moved. Not him. Eph 4:13 (LB) Constantly turns up the heat on his disciples. You don’t start with high commitment. Start with low commitment and move gradually to high commitment. First recorded words of Jesus: Andrew asks, “Hey Lord, where are you going?†Jesus: “Come and see.†Moves from “Come and see,†to, “Eat my flesh and drink my blood.†Redefines the commitment of discipleship 7 or 8 times. In the third year of relationship with his disciples he said, “Take up your cross and follow me.†Saddleback’s necessary tools for spiritual maturity (a pathway for growth): A “Weekly Commitment Card.†An outline (message notes). The average American forgets 90-95% of everything we hear within 72 hours. The shortest pencil is longer than the longest memory. Train them to write it down. The “Four Covenantsâ€Â: Membership. Maturity. Ministry. Worship. Tithes. + “Originality is the art of concealing your source.†It’s “forgetting where you got it.†(www.saddlebackresources.com) + “If you want to be original or nothing, you’ll be both.†+ “The competition isn’t other churches. It’s the world, the flesh and the devil.†2% of the population can change the culture. 2. Spiritual growth is incremental. It’s a step-by-step process. No short-cuts. 2 Cor. 3:18 (Mes) Circles of commitment: We move them from the outside in, and from no commitment to full commitment. Diagram with 6 concentric circles (from outer to inner): + Community + Crowd + Congregation + Committed + Core + Commissioned Goal is to move a community to the crowd; then the crowd to a congregation (from attender to member); then the congregation to the committed (from audience to army; the habits for spiritual growth); from the committed to the core (the people who serve the ministry of the church); from the core to the commissioned (the ones you send out). + Membership class / covenant + Maturity class / covenant + Ministry class / covenant + Mission class / covenant Move people around the bases. The Saddleback Tool: “Life Development Class System†Systematic, sequential plans aren’t modern, they are pre-modern. The church has been teaching it 2,000 years through catechisms. 3. Spiritual growth is personal. No cookie cutter system. “We grow according to our shape.†2 Cor. 13:5 (NRSV) 4. Spiritual growth is practical. We grow by developing good habits. Develop the habits of Jesus. (Prayer, Bible study, fasting, giving, tithing, solitude, etc.) The church is the largest social service delivery system in the world, and the most credible. (More on this here.) 5. (Skipped) 6. (Skipped) 7. Church growth is seasonal. You grow in spurts. No one grows straight. Grow, level off; grow, level off; etc. God designed us to grow in spring and summer and lie dormant in fall and winter. In winter, we put down roots. Roots grow deep and strong in winter. Trees are barren and it’s cold outside. Therefore, adjust programs to seasons. Don’t push them all the time. Push hard on growth, then let off. Tool for growth season: Campaigns. Example, 40 days of purpose, family, peace, etc. Saddleback was built on campaigns. The difference between information and transformation. We must reinforce information 5 ways to see transformation: ears (hear), eyes (see/study), mouth (talk), hands (do), memorizing. 10% of the American church (31,000 churches) have done 40-Days of Purpose. NYC Leadership Center will launch in fall with 40-Days of Purpose as its first initiative. A rising tide raises all the boats. Launches on Saturday, Sept 20 @ CCC. 8. (Skipped)Topics: copgny, discipleship, faith, life, pastors prayer summit, rick warren, spiritual growth | 1 Comment »
January 29th, 2008 at 11:14 pm
Thanks man, all i need is a name badge. Where the prayer summitt being hosted?