OCTOBER
Please join me in making disciples:
F is for following.
F is for fishing … learning how to fish.
F is for fellowship … gathering people together to love one another.
I … is for Interesting. What do people find interesting?
I … is for Ideas. The best ideas from directly from Jesus. The letters in red.
I … is for Instructions. Our task is to obey the instructions, the commands of Jesus, and teach them to others.
S … is for sanctifying. Go through the rite of passage, Going on to perfection.
S … is for serving. Job, Volunteer, and Neighborhood.
S … is for submitting to the setting. What is needed here?
H … is for Harvest Laborer. People are ready; do you see them?
H … is for Hello. Using the prayer tool to build a network of influence inside and outside of the congregation.
H … is for Helper. Be a Paraclete – come alongside, mentor, help people to grow to the next stage.
Being a disciple maker.
Seeking and saving the lost.
In this quarter we will also deal with problems that come up in making disciples.
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02-Oct-2022 10.1 OCTOBER
Being a disciple maker.
Seeking and saving the lost.
10.2 John 4 … ripe for harvest.
Census attendance. Presser and Stinson:
10.3 Side Doors
10.4 Wilma – Prayer Tool Theater
10.5 Strachan Theorem
Wilma theater. Being known as “the bible lady.” Gladwell neighborhood.
09-Oct-2022 Homework- Week 1
16-Oct-2022 Homework- Week 2
23-Oct-2022 Homework- Week 3
30-Oct-2022 Homework- Week 4
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Strachan Theorem.
Reading #1. The Strachan Theorem: In the mid 1950s the Latin American Mission, worried about the failure of churches to grow, studied three diverse movements that were rapidly growing in their context: Communism, Jehovah’s Witnesses, and Pentecostals. With the message and values of each group so different, the commonalities would reveal what was causing growth. “Each had successfully mobilized their entire constituency in continuous outreach. Latin American Mission put their findings together in a concise statement, the so-called Strachan Theorem: the successful expansion of any movement is in direct proportion to its success in mobilizing and occupying its total membership in constant propagation of its beliefs.”
Reflection Question: Would it be better if everyone in your church was making disciples?
Reading #2. The Harvest Worker corner … is empty. No one hangs out here. Why?
Harvest workers are “fishing for people” as Jesus called it – they are out fishing. The transition to spiritual maturity involves moving from an exciting but comparatively shallow ministry in mission to many people to calm, deeply nurturing relationships with just a few people who have names. These people with names are our disciples.
2.1 When a person discovers their gifts, and becomes responsible in using it, serving God becomes somewhat like a career. Frequently you will find harvest workers busy in the other corners, helping people by using their gifts. Reflection Question: Which corner are you drawn to in order to use your gifts?
2.2 Harvest workers are sometimes busy developing “side doors” – entry points into activities into one of the Four Corners from the outside. Reflection Question: Why would this be an advantage? What would be a good side door for your church to open up?
2.3 Harvest workers are often outside in the community, using the Prayer Tool (This is the topic of Module 4.) to develop relationships of spiritual influence. At the right time, they will invite that person to come with them to church. (This is the topic of Module 5.) Reflection Question: Natural Church Development research indicates that the average Christian has 8.5 conversations in a typical week with a non-Christian. Who were yours in the past week?
2.4 Harvest workers are monitoring and mentoring their people as they transition from one room to the next. Reflection Question: What would be the sign that would tell you that someone is ready to graduate to the next room of the Four Cornered Room?
2.5 – Sadly, the main reason that this corner is empty is that people don’t move into it. They do not graduate from missional service into personal disciple making.
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John 4 … ripe for harvest. Census attendance. Presser and Stinson:
In order to examine the possibility that survey-based rates of church attendance
were inflated, Hadaway, Marler, and Chaves (1993) compared attendance
counts to survey self-reports among Protestants in one Ohio county, and
Catholics in eighteen dioceses. Evidence of substantial overreporting was found.
Among Protestants, 19.6 percent attended church worship in Ashtabula
County, Ohio during a typical week in 1992 — compared to the 35.8 percent
who said they attended. Among Catholics in 18 dioceses around the nation,
attendance counts suggested ah attendance tate of 28 percent — compared to
the national tate of 51 percent reported by the Gallup Organization. In a subsequent
report, Chaves and Cavendish (1994) adjusted the count-based tate of
Roman Catholic attendance at mass to 26.7 percent, using a larger number of
dioceses (48). From Testing the Attendance Gap in a Conservative Church by Penny Long Marler* Samford University and C. Kirk Hadaway United Church Board for Homeland Ministries http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.878.6993&rep=rep1&type=pdf