Today, we kick of our Fall Semester Thursday Leadership Lesson Series: Repair and Remodeling. When it comes to making disciples, creating community, and doing ministry, there is always some assembly required. In 1 Peter 2:5, we are told that we are living stones that God is building together into a spiritual temple. He works us and polishes us as a building material and then carefully fits us together with those around us to create a unique community of worship. We are also told that we are his spiritual priests. That means we are both his workmanship (the stones) and his workers (fellow builders in his construction project).
In the spring semester, we talked about the importance of laying a good foundation. In the summer, we talked about the importance of construction- building relationships and community. This semester, we are going to continue our discussion of building, but we are going to hit on some more difficult topics- identifying and addressing problems in construction. What do architects and engineers do when a building is not stable? Maybe a stone has some rough spots or jagged areas that make it unable to fit tightly with those around it. Sometimes the mortar is bad and there is no cohesiveness between the stones. What is the appropriate course of action if a structure doesn’t hold up well to the storms around it? Perhaps the structure has come to the end of its functional life and needs to be rebuilt.
There are lessons to be learned here for group life. How do you handle the EGRs (Extra Grace Requireds)? How do you rebuild after disaster strikes your group? How do you provide pastoral care in crisis? When is it appropriate to bring the wrecking ball to your group and start all over again?
It is easy to talk about laying a good foundation and principles of construction. It’s more difficult to recognize that there are problems in our construction and we need to bring correction, realignment, or even a complete change of plans. Repair and remodeling are hard tasks, but we cannot ignore them.
This Thursday Leadership Lesson series will focus on giving you the tools and resources you need to identify structural concerns, choose and appropriate course of action, and execute changes in Biblical and healthy ways. Some of the topics we will discuss include the following:
- Developing the Heart of a Shepherd
- Evaluating Your Leadership and Your Group
- Repair: Navigating Problems in Groups
- Repair: Providing Care in Groups
- Repair: The River/Healing
- Repair: Resources and Support for Leaders
- Remodeling: Leading Change
- Remodeling: Blowing Up Your Group
- Remodeling: Starting Over
- Remodeling: Stepping Down
If there are specific topics you would like to see addressed, please use the comment thread or shoot me an email.
[...] Introduction [...]
The Zone Gathering » Blog Archive » Repair and Remodeling: Review
December 6th, 2007