In my last post "Timeline of an Outreach", I'd mentioned one of the areas we wanted to focus on was training of those in the church. Here is a portion of the post:
"As we came into 2011, we wanted to push forward as a church in 2 particular areas. The first area was "to equip the saints for work of ministry" (Eph 4:12) which is essentially training already committed members of the church to minister more effectively to build up the body of Christ. This goal is obviously focused toward training within the community of the church."
For the past 5 weeks, we have been trying to do just that by meeting on Tuesday nights from 7-9pm for ministry training. There are many different forms a ministry training could take, so I wanted to give a picture of what we are doing and why.
The key verse for the structure of the training comes from 1 Timothy 4:16 (NIV)
Watch your life and doctrine closely. Persevere in them, because if you do, you will save both yourself and your hearers.
Paul points out 2 basic areas of focus for being a person that is able to save both oneself and the others around them: what you believe and how you live. Both are important.
We've taken this verse to give direction on how to focus our efforts on Tuesdays. The first half of a Tuesday night consists of diving into the bible on a doctrinal issue of the gospel. The second half of a Tuesday night consists of looking at a life issue and how we can live according to the will of God. Many times we've tried to have corresponding life issues that relate to the doctrine being studied.
The overall message we've been looking at on the doctrine side has been the different aspects of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Essentially, what Christ accomplished in his life, death, and resurrection for those that believe. The life side of the night then flows from the knowledge that Christ is with us and for us 100% and we can and should live for him and his kingdom.
The topics for the weeks are:
Doctrine / Life
Sinfulness of Man / Usefulness of the Word
Christ's Sufficiency / Repentance and Confession
Christ's Forgiveness / Forgiving Others
Justification and Righteousness / Serving and Giving
New Creatures in Christ / Being Set Apart from the World
True and False Converts / Evangelism
Sanctification / Working Hard for God's Glory
Security and Apostasy / Life of Faith
Faith and Works / Purity
Fear of the Lord / Exercising Freedom and Restraint
Humility
The ministry training is not geared toward a specific area of ministry such as small group leader, personal evangelism, or kids ministry, but is intended to give believers a greater knowledge of God and thus, love for God. Love for God that would drive us respond to Him in obedience. Love for God that would compel us to the area of ministry God has called us to. It is our hope that from this training and others to follow, God's people would be more equipped to do His work for His glory.
