It was through the encouragement and support of my wife, Christian leaders and my good friend Lyndel Lee that I stayed on track to complete the journey to my Doctor of Ministry in Church Revitalization. I am grateful to the faculty at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary for responding to the need of churches in crisis by developing a doctoral program focused on church revival. William Henard was most instrumental in my development through his skilled pastoral hands and personal understanding of church revival.
This project would not have been possible without the support of the elders at Maywood Evangelical Free Church in Rockford, Illinois. I thank them for their steadfast commitment to God's Word and for serving as strong leaders of godly character. Their encouragement for me to grow in education and their confidence in my leadership to lead God's church is very humbling and honorable.
My wife, Adina, was my biggest supporter and prayer warrior throughout my schooling. During our marriage, Adina loved me, encouraged me, sacrificed for me and respected me as her husband and as a minister of the gospel.
INTRODUCTION
In fact, very few could actually identify the four components of the church's mission statement. The first delineation focused on only 80 church members who participated in explaining the church's vision, mission statement and explanation of the gospel. So what does it mean to live on a mission for the sake of the gospel.
He did everything to teach in the synagogues and preach the good news of the gospel of the kingdom. The proper response to the preached message of the gospel is "repentance for the forgiveness of sins" (Luke 24:47; Acts 2:38). At the same time, many lay people have no clear understanding of the terms vision or mission in the church.
Commissioned churches cultivate a culture of evangelism - the gospel permeates all aspects of the church and the church family understands that they must go and tell. It was important to find out why the church thought they existed in order to understand the ministries that existed. It also meant that the church must have a clear understanding of the biblical gospel in order to fulfill its vision.
This sermon was not the first time that the vision of the church was addressed or discussed publicly. The survey consisted of twenty-one questions.3 The survey was designed to measure the church's understanding of its current vision and mission statements. The mission statement explains how the church works toward achieving the vision of the church.
On the survey, the majority of the participants did not know and could not recite the church's vision statement. After the sermon series, the second VMS survey was sent out to evaluate the growth and understanding of the church's vision and mission statement. The intention was to show unity in the leadership and that the vision of the church would have an impact on the way we did the ministry.
It is currently pastors and elders who provide, drive and oversee the vision of the church.
Would Do Differently
I believe some of the surveys are minimally filled due to the business at this time of year. This would have enabled them to have greater buy-in to the church vision and a deeper understanding of the gospel effort. Seeing the mission of God throughout the Old and New Testaments was critical because it helped put the work of the church in proper perspective.
Some churches have intentionally and some unintentionally missed the calling God has given them to share the gospel with the world. I cannot assume that all people in this church are immersed in pure theology or that they are able to share the biblical gospel with others. It is my desire and desire that God's people in Maywood will always be able to testify to continued conversions as they faithfully and personally share the gospel with others.
Finally, this project helped me see the need to continue to stimulate and develop creative thinking about how to share the gospel message with our community. I cannot accept that just because the people at Maywood understand the gospel and can articulate that they share the gospel. Every ministry within the church should SD D DS AS a SA possess every component of the mission statement.
Please state what the gospel must consist of in order to be shared fully and correctly with a non-Christian. Please state what the gospel must consist of in order to be shared fully and correctly with a non-Christian. The gospel is the good news that God loved the world enough to give his only Son to die for our sin and in our place.
The gospel includes Jesus' death on the cross as a sin offering to satisfy God's righteous demands. The gospel is the good news that we who were once enemies with God have been reconciled by the blood of Christ, forgiven and accepted into God's family. Please state what the gospel should consist of in order to share it fully and.
The intent is to show that adapting a new church culture is in most cases necessary to achieve their communion with the gospel. The goals of the project work together to foster an outward-looking church that is forced to share the gospel with its immediate community.
