Ministry Leaders
One of our ministry's main goals is to take the best care possible of our members. In order to help meet that goal, our ministry is arranged into small groups that meet twice a month for fellowship, learning, evangelism, special activities, etc. Below is a list of our current Small Group Leaders. Below the list is a lesson prepared by Craig Morgan describing in detail our scriptural reasoning behind forming these small groups. Please note that the Small Group Leaders can be reached at a single email distribution list: ml@acocatcobb.org
House of Heroes
Daughters of Sarah
One Heartbeat
F.O.C.U.S.
New Christians
Helping Hands
Applying Our Purpose
You have heard me express more than once my understanding in the manifold purpose God has for the church. We have come to know that the church was purchased by the blood of Jesus, that HE is the Chief Cornerstone and the church is built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets (see Eph 2:13, 19-22). The purpose of the church is found, unearthed [if you will] in the treasured storehouses of Holy Scripture. Our journey or trek in the scripture, which we began in December last year and concluded in March, revealed and/or re-introduced us to the purpose God has for the church. That purpose is summarized in two statements made by our Lord, Jesus Christ.
The first of the two statements is found Matt 22:37-40, Jesus quoted from Deuteronomy and Leviticus. This is what HE said, "'YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND.' "This is the great and foremost commandment.”The second is like it, 'YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.' "On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets." The greatest commandment is to Love God and the second greatest commandment is to love your neighbor as you would love yourself, everything taught in the Law and the Prophets originates from these two commandments. If you participated in our exercise to 'Discover Our Purpose', you would have personal confirmation [that] the 'Great Commandment' recapitulates all that we are taught to do and be in scripture. Therefore, it is a logical conclusion to identify [that] the church exists to love God and love others as you would love yourself. By application we realize the purpose of the church is to worship God and celebrate HIS presence and loving others is expressing God's love through works of service or ministry.
The second statement made by Jesus that reveals the purpose of the church is found in Matt 28:18-20 and is affectionately referenced as the 'Great Commission'. Matt 28:18-20, reads as follows; 'And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, "All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth.”Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age." Jesus commissioned (delegated authority) the church to teach all nations the good news of God's grace. The aim of this command is make disciples, however there are three present participles contained in this command; going, baptizing and teaching. The Lord is instructing the church that the command to make disciples will be realized, fulfilled or accomplished by engaging in all three activities. Disciples of Jesus are made by going. In simple terms the church must commit itself to strategic and deliberate activity that will result in being with people in order to teach them the message of the gospel. These activities should include but are not limited too; neighborhood Bible study discussion groups, one-on-one Bible studies with friends, family or co-workers, casual invitations to worship services as you go about the daily routine of your life and conversations full of grace seasoned with salt with individuals in your current circle of influence. The opportunities are limitless, when you perceive your life as a door of favorable advantage for others to know Jesus. Disciples of Jesus are made by baptizing. We know that baptism is for the remission of sin and to receive the gift of the Holy Spirit, Acts 2:38. We also know that baptism represents a new birth. When a person is baptized like a new born baby [they’re] being born into God’s family. Baptism signifies fellowship, the participation and sharing in God's bountiful grace and salvation. The church is the family of God, it is the body of Christ and those whom God has saved are a part of it. (Rom 12:5, 1 Cor 12:27, Col 1:18) Disciples of Jesus are made by teaching. The Lord intends for the church to disciple (educate, train, prepare, teach and mature) its members. The church must have a strategic and deliberate plan that will assist each member in attaining to the full measure of Christ, Eph 4:13. The Great Commission causes us to identify the purpose of the church is evangelism, fellowship and discipleship.
It is our understanding that there are five pieces or purposes of the church. Purpose #1 is love God; this is expressed in worship and celebration of God's presence. Purpose #2 is loving your neighbor as yourself; God's love is expressed through acts of service or ministry. Purpose #3 is make disciples, evangelism, proclaiming Jesus; the good news of God's grace is God's mission for the church. Purpose #4, baptizing, the church is the body of Christ, the family of God. Being a Christian means you belong to the fellowship of believers, Acts 2:42-47. Purpose #5, is teaching them to obey, discipleship. Discipleship is the process of helping an individual to become more like Christ in their thoughts, feelings, and actions. We, for our part, proclaim him; we warn, confront and teach everyone in all wisdom; so that we may present everyone as having reached the goal, united with the Messiah. Col 1:28 CJB We have summarized the purpose into a single statement: We are here to praise God with all of our being as we proclaim Jesus and provide for the needs of all people, bringing them to participate in God's family where they will be prepared for a glorious existence in Him.
The purpose statement was unveiled in March. As I have previously communicated, our purpose statement will be more than a slogan. It will, like a rudder to ship, guide our course making us wise in the midst of temptation, distractions and confusion regarding direction for the church. The purpose statement has been developed in order to keep us on the course God has laid out for us. Now that we have written a statement that is rooted in God's purpose for the church, we must organize the church (ourselves) around this statement. The question now is how we organize ourselves around [our] purpose statement, so that we become what we have stated.
Building on Purpose
In order to organize the ministry around the purpose statement we will begin to engage in planned and intended activity that will assure we are becoming a purpose driven church. It is critical that we are selective about our activities. It is possible to employ certain activities that may have an appearance of bringing us closer to our stated objectives or goals, but are nothing more than aimless activity. Time is all we have. I am sure you would agree with me, we have spent (wasted) enough time, in the past, involved in action that didn't bring us closer to accomplishing a desired task or target. The Apostle Paul was strategic and deliberate as he lived out God's purpose for his life. 'So I run with purpose in every step. I am not just shadowboxing.' 1Co 9:26, NLT There will be some things we begin to do differently and other things we continue to do with a refined focus. There is a popular saying, 'Everything begins with leadership'. Building on purpose will begin with leadership.
Leadership with Purpose
It will be very difficult if not impossible to become a purpose driven church without purpose driven leadership. Take another look at our purpose statement: We are here to praise God with all of our being as we proclaim Jesus and provide for the needs of all people, bringing them to participate in God's family where they will be prepared for a glorious existence in Him. Once again, how do we organize/structure the ministry in a fashion that places us in a position to serve God's purpose? The answer is leadership. Recently, we expanded the grassroots leadership structure of the church. Previously, there were 10 'family group leaders'. Currently the membership of the congregation is in excess of 230 members. Of course that means the average size of the 'family group' was 23 disciples. Now understand the application of our purpose statement sets a very clear expectation for our leaders. The 'family group leader' is expected to help each member of the family group, serve God's purpose in their life. It is a bit unrealistic to expect the 'family group leader' to actively, effectively and efficiently engage 23 disciples (in some cases more) and have the necessary time to practically manage, their own family, career and life. This is a burden too heavy to bear. May God continue to bless and favor those brothers and sisters that willingly gave their time and energy in this act of service. For some time now I have been praying that God would move in the hearts of our members, inspiring them to worship, by offering themselves as a living sacrifice, using the gifts God has apportioned to them in accordance with their specific measure of faith. (Rom 12:1-8, Eph 4:7) I have been encouraged as God has inspired so many of you to respond to HIS mercy and goodness and offer yourselves in service to HIS purpose. As a result we now have more than 3 times the number of leaders. Now with 36 leaders we have been able to reduce the size of the groups from 23 to an average size of 8. The smaller group grants the leader a better opportunity to help each disciple in serving and realizing God's purpose for their life.
Less is More
A smaller group is easier to manage and allows for the members to develop more intimate relationships. The smaller groups places the ministry in a better position to carry out the purpose God has ordained for the church, for example take one aspect of our purpose statement; 'provide for the needs of all people...' with less people there will be more intimacy in relationships (more love) and greater sensitivity to needs, therefore the group members will be more responsive to one another. This will provide for more opportunities to serve, thus enhancing the depth of the fellowship and increase occasions for imitating Christ. The smaller group will also be more conducive for genuine conversation and healthy accountability. We will be able to actively follow the direction provided by Heb 3:12-13, See to it, brother, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called Today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin's deceitfulness. As you consider the implications of putting into practice the instruction from Heb 3:12-13, you may begin to realize there is another favorable advantage to smaller groups, which positions the ministry to be a purpose driven church. The latter portion of our purpose statement reads; where they will be prepared for a glorious existence in Him. The small groups position us for discipleship. Discipleship is the process of being taught to obey all things, Matt 28:20. If you aren't in a small group, make every effort to be a part of one. I don't want you to be out of position and miss the blessing of being active in a small group. You may contact me or one of the leaders listed above.
Ministry Leaders
As we organize or structure ourselves to our purpose we have; expanded our grassroots leadership from 10 family group leaders to 36 small group leaders, the addition of more leaders has allowed us to make the groups smaller (less is more) and thirdly our small group leaders will be called 'Ministry Leaders'. Some may begin to ask, 'Why the change?' Language is important. Language is communication of thoughts and feelings through a system of arbitrary signals, such as voice sounds, gestures, or written symbols; such a system including its rules for combining its components, such as words [The American Heritage Dictionary]. Words convey meanings and ideas. Words have the ability, the power to influence/change one's thoughts, thinking and vision. Words will ultimately determine the thoughts of your heart [I have hidden Your word in my heart, that I might not sin against You.-Psa 119:11 NLT] Your heart determines your steps, your behavior [Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life.-Pro 4:23 NLT]. Applying our purpose involves more than changing behavior, it also includes changing our thinking, the way we perceive ourselves and what we believe about what the LORD sees when he looks upon us. I am convinced that one can not actually change their thinking, vision and effectively their behavior without changing their language. That being said, we are changing the language from Family Group Leaders to Ministry Leaders. The language or terminology of Ministry Leader will effectively change our vision (thinking) of the role leadership and assist us in the application of God's purpose for the church.
All are called to Ministry
Jesus commanded, “Love your neighbor as Yourself”. This is the second part of our purpose and we know that God's love for the world will be expressed through acts of service or ministry. Jesus also said, "But so shall it not be among you: but whosoever will be great among you, shall be your minister: And whosoever of you will be the chiefest, shall be servant of all. For even the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many".-Mar 10:43-45 KJV The term minister, means servant or attendant. Jesus was calling the disciples to be attentive to needs and to lay their lives down in service. God created you for ministry ordaining your life for service before he laid the foundation of the universe, For we are God's masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things He planned for us long ago. - Eph 2:10 NLT Christ has also distributed gifts in the church, for the equipping of the saints in order to carry out or execute this purpose of ministry. And He personally gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers, for the training of the saints in the work of ministry, to build up the body of Christ, until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of God's Son, growing into a mature man with a stature measured by Christ's fullness. - Eph 4:11-13 HCSB God has called, created, gifted and through the church trains you for ministry. For this reason will call our small group leaders, Ministry Leaders. Their specific calling for work of service is leading the small group. The term Ministry Leader will not be exclusive to small group leaders. There will be other ministries that will not be directly associated with small group dynamics, but require leadership nonetheless. These are only the beginning steps in the process of applying our purpose. Some of the other steps will involve refining our focus and practice of evangelism and discipleship. The refining process is probably not what you think-more to come.
Bless the Lord, He has given us all blessings in Christ Jesus-the salvation of our souls, the rich inheritance in the saints, and the unshakable hope of our calling. God’s calling is indeed a high calling, however he has provided us with everything we need to accomplish and serve HIS great purpose. Father, we will work tireless to do your will, we ask that you favor us with your presence, increase our influence and bless the work of our hands-to you be the glory in the church, in Jesus name, AMEN!
- Craig Morgan
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