THE IMPORTANCE OF VACATION BIBLE SCHOOL

 BY STEVE DUNN

One of the most popular forms of outreach for a local church is that of the Vacation Bible School. With more and more working parents looking for meaningful experiences for their kids during the summer, the potential for VBS remains undiminished.  It is clearly the front door to the church that even secularized parents appear willing to open.

Some people within the church resent being used as a babysitting service  and even seed the soil negatively by expressing that thought within the church.

Resist that feeling.  It comes from hell and smells like smoke.  Do we think Jesus resented the people who came to him in crowds out of their unspiritual needs?  No, Matthew 9:38 says clearly, “He saw that they were harassed and helpless … he had compassion on them.”  He prayed for more harvesters.

VBS is important for these reasons—especially within an increasingly unchurched culture.  (1) People like Jesus but not the church.  It is a chance to let them the love and joy found in the real church. (2) It allows people to learn what’s in the Bible and find practical applications for life.  This may be the only time these children receive any Bible teaching (and God’s Word does not return to Him void.)  (3) This babysitting can be the first step in building redemptive relationships—building bridges to the Bridge.(4) VBS is not a tool of church growth—it is a resource for evangelism and discipleship. (5) VBS gets your people interacting with the community in practical ways. (6) VBS gives your people practical ministry experience as a team. (7) VBS says “children matter God” and they matter to us as a church.

(c) 2014 by Stephen L.Dunn

WHAT IS A DISCIPLE?

BY STEPHEN DUNN

About a year ago we made a fundamental shift in the language of the congregation that I serve as Lead Pastor. We began speaking of disciples instead of members.  The latter tends to be an exclusive and organizational word.  And thanks to Mastercard and other marketers, membership has come to connote privileges rather than responsibilities.

Disciple on the other hand is a more organic term and it infers lifestyle and learning.  A disciple has not arrived, they continue to become as they learn to think, act and be like the One of whom they are a disciple.  It was in a Finance Commission meeting where we were discussing how to get members to give their fair share, to measure up to the expectations and needs of the Church.  Tithing, of course, was part of this conversation.  It was then when one of our older members said, "This is not a membership issue, it's a discipleship issue." He went on to note that members think in terms of what is necessary to be in good standing. Disciples give. It is who they are.

Profound, isn't it?

It's more than semantics.  It is a religious world view.

Now at the church we teach discipleship and form groups of people on mission with Jesus.  We have Membership Orientations to describe the formal needs of the organization.

We also use this definition of disciple.

A DISCIPLE IS A PERSON WHO LIVES IN DAILY OBEDIENCE TO THE WILL AND PURPOSE OF GOD, COMMITTED TO BEARING FRUIT FOR THE KINGDOM.

This linguistic change is helping us make a cultural shift from membership to discipleship.  It is moving us beyond maintaining the organization to mobilizing for mission.

(C) 2012 by Stephen L Dunn

This was originally published on my blog IMMEASURABLY MORE  (Discipleship Version)

WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO MISSIONAL?

An outward-focused church is a missional community. The church, as a body, is living on mission with Jesus. But this is far more than a program, it is a lifestyle. And outward-focused churches are shaped by the Spirit to become a missional community made up of individuals living missionally. This video poses some important questions to be asking and reflecting upon as your congregation takes on a missional focus.

Come Explore the More from Jeff D. Johnson on Vimeo.

THIS IS DISCIPLING

ALAN HIRSCH ON DISCIPLESHIP

Alan Hirsch has some important thoughts about the dynamics of discipleship and the absolute necessity of churches in engaging in disciple-making.  I couldn't have said it better myself.