My brother sent me an article from Tony Payne (Publishing Editor for Matthias Media) that went off like a bomb in my mind. Take five minutes and read it here.
Here’s a quote to wet your appetite:
“But what if our mental image of the congregation was not a network of departments or structures or ‘ministries’, but a list of people. That’s all. Just a list of people. And next to everyone’s name on the list was two things: to the right of their name, there was a spectrum or set of columns that showed where they were up to in their growth and maturity in Christ (from rank non-Christian outsider to fairly mature Christian), and a couple of ideas about what they needed to do next in order to grow (whether to hear the gospel, or grow in doctrinal understanding, or be trained in how to follow up someone else, or whatever). And to the left of their name was some initials—the person who was going to take responsibility for helping that person take that next step towards maturity in Christ.”
Coming back to Infocus – here are a few questions for discussion:
1) Are we too program-driven in our church ministries?
2) Would this approach be helpful if someone supported you in this way?
3) How do you quantify spiritual maturity?