Does your church have a clear vision for carrying out Christ’s mission?
How is God at work in your life? In the lives of your people? In your community? Do you know where you are today, where you need to go in the immediate future and how to get there? These can be tough questions to answer, even overwhelming at times. But there is a way out of the confusion, a pathway for you to follow to discover the life changing answers . It is called The Retool Kit Pathway© and it is designed to help you become a vital, Christ centered, community focused church that will transform lives for eternity.
We start with the essential bottom line: What is the mission of the local church? We don’t need to debate that or even come up with something new and different because Jesus made it clear:
Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age. (Matthew 28:19-20)
But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. (Acts 1:8)
Our mission is clear, but it is not always the focus of the life of our church. So we need to make it personal and unique for our congregation. Which brings us to the next question: What will it take for our church to fulfill this mission?
We call it mobilization! A mobilized church is one which has a shared vision and effective strategies for impacting it’s community and the world by reproducing disciples, leaders and congregations.
Your church probably experienced that when it was started. And perhaps, depending on the age of your church, it has been experienced more than once. The truth of the matter is that every local Church has a Life Cycle.
Those who study churches and how they function agree that, just as humans go through life cycles, churches go through life cycles. The best fruit-bearing (both in conversions and life transformation) occurs in the growth and maturity stages. As time passes, many churches move into the maintenance mode without even realizing it. We get set in our ways, established in our traditions, and fuzzy about the vision that originally motivated us. Our direction gets vague. Momentum slows. We devote more resources to keeping things going, and to being faithful to what we did in the past, and how we did it. And fruit-bearing gets less priority when results are measured more in terms of maintaining the organization.
But sliding into maintenance, decline and eventual death is avoidable. Renewing or “retooling” for new growth and fruit-bearing can happen when a church and its leadership humbly and prayerfully commit themselves to it. The Retool Kit Pathway© is a solid, biblical process designed to help a church through the steps of renewal. It is not a one-size-fits-all church growth program. Instead, it is a two-year, guided pathway to becoming a healthier church as leaders discover how Christ wants their church to uniquely follow Him more closely.
The Retool Kit Pathway© was developed utilizing biblical principles and patterns of church health and growth (check out the FAQ tab). It offers a comprehensive process to consider three major aspects of church life:
- How your church leaders and members relate to God and each other (as a Community),
- How your leaders and congregation envision the unique task (Cause) which God has given to them, and
- How your church organizes itself as a body (Corporation) to carry out God’s vision as effectively as possible.
The ReTool Kit Pathway© includes:
- Biblically-based learning experiences to keep you anchored in God’s Word,
- The support of an experienced coach
- Multiple leadership retreats
- A Natural Church Development profile
- The use of insightful books and proven diagnostic tools
Click on the video below for a brief introduction to The Retool Kit Pathway©. Then check out some of the impact of the Pathway on the Church Stories tab. Download the Overview and share it with your leadership. Then Contact Us and we’ll be glad to answer your questions and help you get on the right path.
(Click here for a printed overview of The Retool Kit Pathway©)
