Summary of Chapter 9 • Churchwide Program
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.
- The first place to start is to publish a Scripture reading plan.
- Coordinate the pulpit ministry with the reading plan to encourage everyone to begin to follow along.
- Providing a more general overview of the entire week’s reading should be the focus of Adult Sunday School.
- Small groups are the venue where personal interaction, fellowship, and sharing of the Word takes place; the place where God’s Word really becomes personal.
- You’re already securing materials for Youth and Children's ministries; why not match the schedule and content of those materials with the reading plan?
- Everything’s probably not going to happen overnight all at the same time - publish a reading schedule, tie in the pulpit ministry and Sunday School, get small groups going, coordinating children’s and youth ministries; but at some point you’re going to need coordination and this is a burden you want lifted from the Pastor so he can concentrate on his ministry. You’re going to need a coordinator.
- This is a tremendous opportunity for you to identify, encourage, and train for higher service the people in your ministry that are currently more passive than active in their ministry participation. This is a ministry incubator.