Pursuing the Full Kingdom Potential of Your Congregation

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Pursuing the Full Kingdom Potential of Your
Congregation

• Presented by
• George Bullard
• The Columbia Partnership
• GBullard_at_TheColumbiaPartnership.org
  www.TheColumbiaPartnership.org

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Pursuing the Full Kingdom Potential of Your
Congregation

• Vision
• Plus
• Intentionality

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Pursuing the Full Kingdom Potential of Your
Congregation

• An introduction to a strategic framework for
  helping congregations reach their full kingdom
  potential.

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Pursuing the Full Kingdom Potential of Your
Congregation

• What are the current signs of health and strength
  in your congregation on which you can build an
  excellent, effective future?

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Pursuing the Full Kingdom Potential of Your
Congregation

• Gapology
• It is not about closing the gap!

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Pursuing the Full Kingdom Potential of Your
Congregation

• Church Growth
• Church Health
• Church Faithfulness
• Church Success
• Church Transformation
• Missional Church

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Pursuing the Full Kingdom Potential of Your
Congregation

• for we walk by faith, not by sight
• 2 Corinthians 57 NASB

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Pursuing the Full Kingdom Potential of Your
Congregation

• Is this congregation reaching its full kingdom
  potential?
• Nesmith Congregation
• A Small Rural Church

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Pursuing the Full Kingdom Potential of Your
Congregation

• Is your congregation reaching its full kingdom
  potential?
• Or, is your congregation simply trying to close
  the gap, fix problems, be faithful, experience
  success, show growth, or push outward in missions?

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Pursuing the Full Kingdom Potential of Your
Congregation

• If your congregation is seeking to reach its full
  kingdom potential, what evidence do you see of
  its transformation and fulfillment of Gods
  vision?

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Pursuing the Full Kingdom Potential of Your
Congregation

• The Merlin Factor

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Pursuing the Full Kingdom Potential of Your
Congregation

• The Merlin Factor is the capacity to discern,
  discover, and develop the potential of the
  present from the point of view of the future.

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Pursuing the Full Kingdom Potential of Your
Congregation

• It is the gift and skill to enlist people
  throughout your congregation as advocates who
  listen, speak, and act on behalf of a progressive
  understanding of Gods future.

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Pursuing the Full Kingdom Potential of Your
Congregation

• It is an absolute commitment to a spiritual
  strategic journey that increases existing
  possibilities geometrically to empower
  world-shattering transformation in response to
  the pulling of God towards the full kingdom
  potential of your congregation.

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Pursuing the Full Kingdom Potential of Your
Congregation

• Congregational Issues for Generative Dialogue

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Pursuing the Full Kingdom Potential of Your
Congregation

• Visionary Leadership
• Our congregation has a strong, clear, and
  passionate sense of our identity involving
  mission and purpose who we are, our core values
  what we believe or highly value, our vision
  where we are headed, and our spiritual
  strategic journey how we are getting there.

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Pursuing the Full Kingdom Potential of Your
Congregation

• Relationship Experiences
• Our congregation is doing well at attracting
  people to a Christ-centric faith journey
  evangelism, and at helping people who are
  connected with our congregation to be on an
  intentional and maturing Christ-centric faith
  journey discipleship development.

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Pursuing the Full Kingdom Potential of Your
Congregation

• Relationship Experiences
• Among the results of the faith journey is a
  deepening spirituality, the development of
  numerous new leaders, and a willingness by many
  people to get actively involved in congregational
  leadership and places of ministry service within
  and beyond the congregation lay mobilization.

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Pursuing the Full Kingdom Potential of Your
Congregation

• Programmatic Emphases
• Our congregation has outstanding programs,
  ministries, and activities for which we are well
  known throughout our congregation, and our
  community or target groups. Our programs,
  ministries, and activities seem to be growing in
  size and quality, and meeting real needs.

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Pursuing the Full Kingdom Potential of Your
Congregation

• Accountable Management
• Our congregation has excellent, flexible
  management systems that empower the future
  direction of our congregation rather than seek to
  control. Decision-making is open and responsive.
  Finances are healthy. The management systems are
  supportive of visionary leadership.

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Pursuing the Full Kingdom Potential of Your
Congregation

• Congregational Vitality or Passivity
• Congregations who focus more on Vision and
  Relationships than they do on Programs and
  Management are growing younger and more vital
  every day.

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Pursuing the Full Kingdom Potential of Your
Congregation

• Congregational Vitality or Passivity
• Congregations who focus more on Programs and
  Management than they do on Vision and
  Relationships are growing older and more passive
  every day.

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Pursuing the Full Kingdom Potential of Your
Congregation

• Congregational Vitality or Passivity
• Congregations who focus on Vision and
  Relationships are walking by faith.
• Congregations who focus on Programs and
  Management are walking by sight.

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Pursuing the Full Kingdom Potential of Your
Congregation

• Contextual Relevance
• Our congregation is demographically similar to
  its geographic community or the target groups it
  has served. Little or not gap is developing
  between our congregation and the people we serve.
  We are reflective of those we serve in gender,
  age, race, ethnicity, culture, socioeconomics,
  and lifestyle.

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Pursuing the Full Kingdom Potential of Your
Congregation

• Concentric Circles of People
• Pastoral Leadership
• Passion
• Position
• Participation
• Passivity
• Perpetual Care
• Potential

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Pursuing the Full Kingdom Potential of Your
Congregation

• Pastoral Leadership
• Our pastor has a genuine commitment to transition
  and change for our congregation leading to
  continual transformation. Our pastor is highly
  respected and supported as the provider of
  initiating leadership and vision casting as we
  seek to move in the direction of our full kingdom
  potential.

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Pursuing the Full Kingdom Potential of Your
Congregation

• People of Passion
• I can name at least 7 people or 7
  percentwhichever is higherof the average number
  of active, attending adults who have a positive
  and passionate sense of urgency for transition
  and change leading to transformation. They have
  the spiritual and strategic leadership needed to
  initiate and champion transformation.

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Pursuing the Full Kingdom Potential of Your
Congregation

• People of Position
• Our key leaders have a genuine commitment to
  transition and change leading to transformation.
  By position and power they are competent and
  committed to lead our congregation to fulfill its
  full kingdom potential. Our congregation respects
  them and will support their leadership.

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Pursuing the Full Kingdom Potential of Your
Congregation

• Church Growth
• Our congregation has grown in membership and
  weekly worship attendance during the past five to
  ten years by a minimum of 10 to 15 percent.

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Pursuing the Full Kingdom Potential of Your
Congregation

• Communication and Conflict
• Our congregation has clear, open, healthy
  communication channels that allow the
  congregation to identify and deal with any issues
  that might disrupt the sense of fellowship and
  unity, and perhaps produce unhealthy conflict.

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Pursuing the Full Kingdom Potential of Your
Congregation

• Congregational Life Cycle
• Where is your congregation today on the
  congregational life cycle.
• What is your congregation willing to do to move
  forward on the congregational life cycle?

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Pursuing the Full Kingdom Potential of Your
Congregation

• A Spiritual Strategic Journey

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Pursuing the Full Kingdom Potential of Your
Congregation

• A spiritual strategic journey is spiritual . . .
• . . . in that it assumes total reliance on God as
  individuals and congregations. It assumes that
  unless the journey is of God, it is for nothing.

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Pursuing the Full Kingdom Potential of Your
Congregation

• A spiritual strategic journey is strategic . . .
• . . . in that it focuses on those goals and
  actions that will make the most significant
  difference in a congregations ability to serve
  in the midst of Gods kingdom.

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Pursuing the Full Kingdom Potential of Your
Congregation

• A spiritual strategic journey is a journey . . .
• . . . in that it is ongoing. Philippians 312-16
  talks about the journey of Christians as being
  something that is never completed.

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Pursuing the Full Kingdom Potential of Your
Congregation

• Yet it is a journey into which we live at the
  level of maturity we have achieved today, knowing
  we will achieve a higher or deeper level of
  maturity tomorrow.
• We never go back. We always press forward to
  Gods high calling.

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Pursuing the Full Kingdom Potential of Your
Congregation

• What will the ministry of your congregation be
  like on October 31, 2017, the 500th anniversary
  of Martin Luther nailing the 95 theses to the
  Wittenburg door?

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Pursuing the Full Kingdom Potential of Your
Congregation

• What, though seemingly impossible today, if it
  could happen, would transcend the current depth
  of your congregations ministry, and radically
  transform its ability to serve in the midst of
  Gods kingdom?

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Pursuing the Full Kingdom Potential of Your
Congregation

• What is the future story of your congregation,
  inspired by God, into which you must live to
  approach the full kingdom potential of your
  congregation?

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Pursuing the Full Kingdom Potential of Your
Congregation

• Pursuing a Spiritual Strategic Journey
• Phase One Organize and Orient, then Launch 100
  Days of Discernment.
• Phase Two Retreat and Storytelling.
• Phase Three Begin Living Into Your Future Story.

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Pursuing the Full Kingdom Potential of Your
Congregation

• Phase One
• Identify and bring together the Enduring
  Visionary Leadership Community.
• Orient them to the SSJ Process.
• Launch the 100 Days of Discernment.

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Pursuing the Full Kingdom Potential of Your
Congregation

• Phase Two
• Conduct a retreat of the Enduring Visionary
  Leadership Community.
• Compose your Future Story.
• Engage in Future Storytelling with the
  Congregation.

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Pursuing the Full Kingdom Potential of Your
Congregation

• Phase Three
• Develop a Future Story Fulfillment Map.
• Live into your Future Story.
• Regularly celebrate the fulfillment of your
  Future Story and update it as the journey becomes
  clearer and you can see farther.

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Pursuing the Full Kingdom Potential of Your
Congregation

• 100 Days of Discernment
• Empowerment Through Share and Prayer Triplets
• Three people gather ten times for up to 100
  minutes over 100 days.
• They focus on the signs of health and strength
  and the spiritual strategic issues facing the
  congregation.

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Pursuing the Full Kingdom Potential of Your
Congregation

• Future Storytelling
• Develop three scenarios of the future of your
  congregation.
• Choose one around which to write the future story
  for your congregation.
• Write the future story anticipating
  congregational vitality on October 31, 2017.

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Pursuing the Full Kingdom Potential of Your
Congregation

• Living Into the Future Story
• The story is not the destination nor the end of
  the journey. Living into the story is an ongoing
  journey.
• Being the best possible congregation in your
  context with a clear vision of your full Kingdom
  potential is the ongoing journey.

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Pursuing the Full Kingdom Potential of Your
Congregation

• Living Into the Future Story
• Making obvious progress toward your current and
  ever-clearer vision of your full Kingdom
  potential is the ongoing journey.

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Pursuing the Full Kingdom Potential of Your
Congregation

• Next Steps
• As a result of what you have learned today, what
  are the steps you need to take over the
  next 30, 60, and 90
  days?