6 KEY CHOICES

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6 KEY CHOICES

• Life over Death
• Community over Isolation
• Fun over Drudgery
• Bold over Mild
• Frontier over Fortress
• Now over Later

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1. LIFE OVER DEATH

• Maintenance ministry is warping us!
• Reframe ones pastoral task!
• Your job is to lead a living movement amid the
  larger context of your church.
• Make a list of the bright-eyed people. Grow the
  list.

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Congregational Life Cycle

• Prime

• Maturity

• Adolescence

• Aristocracy

• Infancy

• Bureaucracy

• Birth

Death
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YOUR CHURCH

• Where is your church on the congregational life
  cycle?
• Imagine that somehow your church was renewed?
  What would the new reality look like? Describe
  it in detail.
• What do you believe it will take to renew the
  life cycle, to move back to the front side of the
  curve?

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2. COMMUNITY OVER ISOLATION

• Creating opportunity for more intimate
  interaction inside the church.
• Working the geographic or demographic parish.
• Keeping a pulse on community in all that we plan
  and do.

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Get out of the building!

• Go Prayer Walking in your Mission Field.
• Chaplain opportunities Fire Dept, Police,
  School, Funeral Home, Self-help group
• Services in public venues
• Develop a local community of friends beyond the
  church.
• Meeting folks for lunch encourage them to bring
  a friend along.
• Have you been to jail lately?

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3. FUN OVER DRUDGERY

• The fun should start in worship
• It should continue outside
• It carries on around coffee with a Bible open
• It keeps on showing up even at choir rehearsal
  and finance committee!
• Capital fund raising??
• Inviting volunteers

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4. FRONTIER OVER FORTRESS

• Talk to your neighbor how do you know if your
  building is a fortress?
• Buildings are liabilities as well as assets.
• What do I do if my church is a museum?
• Is our mission statement helpful?

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5. BOLD OVER MILD

• In 1820, the Methodists vs. the Episcopalians.
• In our day, look at the winning politicians,
  coffee brands and religious movements
• Give them Jesus and the Spirit in worship.
• Find a social issue that resonates and speak up.
  
• Dare to innovate!

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6. NOW OVER LATER

• Theme of urgency in Jesus parables
• We have only a brief time window to make the
  difference God sent us here to make.
• There is no guarantee that the next church or the
  next year will be any easier.
• What will you do?

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APOSTLES

• Clear personal experience of the Risen Christ.
• Strong draw beyond the church to the wider
  culture/community.
• Clear, simple sense of mission, that results in
  personal sacrifice
• Effective inviting others along where they are
  headed.

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WHO NEEDS TO BE IN THE CONVERSATION?

• Pastor
• Choir director/music leader
• Matriarch/patriarch
• The youngest active adult leader
• The spiritual Yoda
• Person closest to the money
• The bright-eyed people

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TIPS AND TACTICS

• Remember to look for bright eyed people.
• Sell the problems.
• Keep a positive spirit. Model calm.
• Dont rush to Armagedden.
• Be prepared for your people to one-up you. Thank
  them.