When asked this question, I immediately thought of our purpose statement: We exist ³to glorify Christ by making more disciples for Jesus Christ.²
That¹s a nice, tidy purpose statement. So how are we doing? Pretty well, and not so well. Implicit in our statement is the idea of winning people to Christ. You can¹t disciple them until you win them. We do a fair job of showing people their need of Christ and leading them to a personal trust in Him.
We next work at getting the new converts baptized and started down the road to discipleship with a ³101 Class² for new believers. We talk about church membership during this class, as well.
The next part of our strategy is the part we need to fine tune. I am not satisfied with the maturation process of our new believers/church members that prepares them for leadership and launches them into ministry. In fact, this is part of our strategic planning for 2006 – how do we mature believers and get them involved in ministry? If we can fine tune that process, we will make an even more significant impact on our “Jerusalem.”
