1.3 - Meeting with the Elders

After the 1st Brining-in committee meeting, I tested the conclusions we had reached with those in leadership or people who are core "members". Those who I spoke to were very positive about the concept of a vision to reach the lost even though the vision is not yet articulated. This was very encouraging and exactly opposite to how congregants in typical churches would respond.

In a survey done in the states in over a 1000 churches:

1. 89% Of congregants said, "The church's purpose is to take care of my family's and my needs."
2. The remaining 11% of the congregants said, " The purpose of the church is to win the world for Jesus."

The pastors of the same churches were then surveyed and the results were exactly the opposite to what the congregations had said.

- Source "The Purpose Driven Church"

In mid-March I met with Robbie and shared basically what is documented in post 1.2 below. Robbie was very open to exploring the concept of a visioning process and suggested that the topic be discussed in the next elders meeting, which it was.

Observations and Outcomes of the meetings:

1. When discussing the topic of visioning, terminology is very important. There are differences between missions, visions, values, strategies, goals, plans etc, and we all seem to have different understanding of what the terminology means. This obviously can result in talking cross-purpose and step 2 in this process will address the key terminology so that we can all sing from the same hymn sheet (do we still use hymn sheets?)
2. Certain BBC practises which I thought were "holy cows" are in fact not so. (Holy cows are also not biblical!)
3. The elders were keen to start the process immediately and asked me to help facilitate it. This has resulted in the BLOG being created. I believe it is a useful tool to include as many of the leadership as possible, to allow the participants to have their say, to brainstorm effectively, to survey and collect information, and to create visibility and transparency.

Please Comment:

In response to the survey described in the Purpose Driven Church, what would you say is the purpose of the Church?