Introduction to Chapter 9 • Churchwide Program
The best way to encourage the sustained, consistent efforts of individuals and small groups to commit themselves to the Word of God is to provide a churchwide framework.
We're not talking about wholesale, overnight change that demands razing everything in favor of building something completely new. It's more about enhancing the goals and efforts of ministries that probably already exist within your church or addressing a gap you're probably well aware of. Just about every traditional church activity has a component of emphasizing the importance of the Bible. It may not have occurred to you that all those different emphases can be leveraged, even coordinated to have a multiplying effect for individuals, ministries, and the local church as a whole.
God has blessed your church with people, gifts, and goals to impact its immediate surroundings for the kingdom of God. The coordinated dedication to hear God speak through His Word is not a replacement of those gifts and goals but a concerted effort to use them more effectively.