Adults
Adult Ministries Team Staff ( 8 / 31 / 2016 ) Samantha Heetderks , Bruce Huseby , Jakob Jackson , Elaine Lohroff , Mike Looney , Donna Ross , Sue Schroeder , Mason Sherrill , Susan Sorensen , Jim Stortz , Karen VanHolstyn , Judi Warner , John Zimmerman
A highlight of this past year has been the inception of the team concept . The purpose was to bring synergy among ministries to produce a total effect that was greater than the individual elements . For the adult ministry team , this meant bringing together leaders of our Adult Sunday Classes , Community Groups , Men ’ s and Women ’ s Ministries , Senior Adults , Young Adults and Special Needs . That is much of the church and the task seemed overwhelming !
Many of the early months were devoted to prayer to seek God ’ s leading as we planned for the future . We learned about each other ’ s ministries and how we could work more closely together . We realized we needed a common goal . What is the purpose of Adult Ministries ? What is our mission ?
The Lord led us to Eph . 4:11-16 , “ So Christ himself gave the apostles , the prophets , the evangelists , the pastors and teachers , to equip his people for works of service , so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature , attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ . Then we will no longer be infants , tossed back and forth by the waves , and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming . Instead , speaking the truth in love , we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head , that is , Christ . From him the whole body , joined and held together by every supporting ligament , grows and builds itself up in love , as each part does its work .”
We then began to ask this question — How are we to equip the saints for works of service ? — with the hope of seeking a greater understanding of how to more intentionally mature the Body . We identified our team mission as “ unified equipping of the saints ( God ’ s people at all stages , abilities and disabilities ) resulting in mature believers living out the model Jesus gave us through His ministry ( moving saints to become disciples who make disciples ) and using their gifts for the glory of God to build up the Church .”
We weren ’ t looking to start another program but to help the adults of all ages and stages live more intentionally as followers of Christ . As we prayed through this , it became apparent that a good place to collaborate with this mission was to incorporate what God was showing us into our 2016-17 Monday Night Bible Study . As we continued to pray God raised up a team of teachers from our Adult Ministry Team . We felt the study should be changed from a directed approach to one that used inductive Bible study tools , a process of discovering God ’ s Truth . NBS2go graciously allowed us to use and modify their materials for these purposes . We chose the F . A . I . T . H . acronym with a title for the study of “ Faith to Follow : Live Intentionally Viewing Eternity .” Our desire is that those who attend , whether new believers or those who are mature in the faith , will come to know fully what it means to follow Jesus and will impact those who God has placed in their lives .
We are still on this journey and asking the Lord to direct our steps as we consider how this impacts all we are doing here at Calvary . It has been a slow process in which God is still showing us how to be more effective in ministry so that all are built up and become mature , attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ .
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