Participating with Jesus in shepherding his flock is one of my greatest blessings.
By Marty Davey, Pastor, GCI Jacksonville
I was recently reflecting on Jesus being our good shepherd and was reminded of our role as “under-shepherds” participating with Christ as ministry leaders and pastors. Paul refers to the call to pastor as grace that has been given (Ephesians 4:7-11). It is a spiritual and supernatural grace, which means gift, given to specific believers to help the whole Body of Christ.
The word “pastors” here in Ephesians 4 is the Greek word “poimenas,” which means shepherd. A shepherd is one who leads, feeds, and protects the flock. This is the same Greek word that Jesus used in John 21 the second time he asked... Read the article
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Can first time visitors figure out our customs and liturgy?
By Tim Sitterley, Regional Director US West
I will never forget my first visit to a Catholic mass. Having grown up in WCG/GCI, I had no idea what to expect. What was up with people dipping their fingers in a water basin upon entering? The first time there was a call and response in the liturgy, and everyone responded loudly with the Kyrie Eleison (Lord have mercy), I almost jumped out of my skin. But after a couple of responses, I was ready, only to find out as I shouted “Kyrie Eleison,” that the response had now changed to Christe Eleison (Christ have mercy). People would kneel, and as I was kneeling, they stood back up. I was smart enough to stay in my seat during the... Read the article
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A healthy church is known and valued in their community. An essential step in making this happen, is finding a facility suited for your local needs.
Check out the June Church Hack for some helpful steps in finding a facility for your congregation. #gcichurchhacks
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The benefits of team-based learning through community of practice (COP) and team coaching.
By Glen A Weber, Central Region Support Rep and Coach
The first Hope Avenue training was held in early 2020. Some of us were asked to coach those who went through the training. For many, that was a six-month commitment, but in our Central Region, we have continued the coaching monthly for three years. Soon after I began coaching the Hope champions, the Love and Faith champions wanted to know why they weren’t being coached. So, we added separate calls for each group, even though their official training did not take place until much later. Once a month I have been honored to coach the pastors as a group, and in separate groups the Faith... Read the article
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When people are empowered to participate in an area of ministry that is a good fit for them, they often end up bringing something new or doing things better.
By Cara Garrity, Development Coordinator
Have you ever had the frustrating experience of finding the perfect outfit, but the event gets cancelled? Or maybe you trained really hard to make the soccer team, but all you do is sit on the bench. Or maybe your parents always lingered while you were doing chores to make sure you did it their way. It brings to mind that time old phrase “all dressed up with nowhere to go”.
We create similar frustrating experiences when we engage and equip people for ministry but then do not empower them to participate and lead in ministry.... Read the article
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Ordinary Time is a season of participation with Jesus in the building of his church.
By Jillian Morrison, Associate Pastor, Glendora, CA
GCI President, Greg Williams recently reminded us that Ordinary Time is the season to be attentive to the call of discipleship and disciple making. He encouraged us to use the season to focus more on what we are called to do and what we are called to be, as we participate with Christ.
Followers of Jesus go through this season with a posture of being sent and joining Jesus in disciple making. Followers of Jesus must also be mindful to honor God and our human limitations through restful rhythms.
Rest
Human beings were not made to work 24/7, but I think many of us wish we could.... Read the article
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Ordinary Time enables us to engage the “angels of the hour.”
By Tim Sitterley, US Regional Director, West.
I was having a conversation with a bright 9-year-old at church the other day. I asked her if she was excited that school would soon be over, and it would be summer vacation. Her smile turned down and I actually thought she was about to cry. It seems that she absolutely loves the busyness and activities of school, and the months of summer are nothing more to her than an eternity of boredom until school starts back up.
But that’s because time moves so slowly for a child. When you’re nine years old, one year constitutes one-ninth of your life. That’s a long time. When you reach my age, one year is a tiny fraction of your... Read the article
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Team Based – Pastor Led leadership avoids the pitfalls of vanity and believing the pastor is or has to be always right.
By Danny Zachariah, Pastor and Regional Director India Sub Continent
As our denomination continues to discuss healthy leadership, a phenomenon leaders should be wary of is, what I would call, the “Infallibility” syndrome. This is when a leader tends to rate his or her competence so highly that they manage to convince themselves that they are very unlikely to, or even worse, never, make mistakes. It is easy to default to our old pastor-centric model, in which we could continue to convince ourselves, “God called me to this post; therefore, I know what’s best.” Sometimes this syndrome is also fed by those who... Read the article
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A summary of the three Avenues
And now these three remain: faith, hope, and love. But the greatest of these is love (1 Corinthian 13:13).
Love: the calling on the ministry to engage their community with tangible acts that reflect the love of God. It must connect back to the life of the church.
Hope: the calling on the ministry to inspire and bring hope to the congregation on Sunday morning.
Faith: the calling on the ministry to create spaces where disciple-making and spiritual growth can be nurtured.
Love Avenue
Serving/loving the community with a purpose, connected back to the life of the church.
Serving in the areas of our giftedness, not just feel-good ministries.
Narrowing our focus to the... Read the article
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It is vital to have a clear focus for equipping.
By Cara Garrity, Development Coordinator
The 4 Es – engage, equip, empower, encourage – provide an intentional process to guide the development of the priesthood of all believers for participation in Jesus’ ministry.
Let’s take a closer look at equip. When we equip, we develop and multiply. The appropriate training is given to provide the knowledge and skills necessary to perform the assigned responsibilities. As this happens, people are developed and leaders are multiplied – eventually disciples, ministries, and churches are multiplied as well.
When you need to drive a nail into a piece of wood, do you reach for a screwdriver, a wrench, or a spoon? Probably not. They are... Read the article
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