All Church Meeting Notes 2-08-09

Attraction v Promotion

Underlying issues
We talk about easily seen issues, but we don’t talk about the underlying factors. Who are we? Where did we come from?

Five Points
We have a purpose (individually and corporately)
We have a purpose to love God and join Him
We accomplish this purpose better together
We will find satisfaction while working toward our purpose
We have no promise of tomorrow

Winning/Building/Equipping: We need to bring people to Christ, build our body, and equip people to be ambassadors of Christ.

Do the three C’s work better? Communion/Community/Co-Creativity: Come together and realize that this is not an individual task. Understand that God is still active and has a purpose for us and this world.

“Cornerstone isn’t here for Cornerstone’s sake”

“Why send a doctor to a healthy person—it’s about Him and His Kingdom.” We should be reaching out to the people who need and are ready to know Christ.

“Are we equipping people to go ‘out there?’”

‘It’ is about the other six days—think Nascar...Sunday morning is the pits.

“What does it look like to be an ambassador of Christ? How do you reach a group of people who haven’t heard of Christ...who do not know Him?” Should we focus on the Sermon on the Mount and learn how to answer these questions...how to be Christ-like? Live 1 John 2:6

Should we look at the idea of Christian sponsors? “Every man needs a Barnabas and a Timothy.” (Read Timothy 2:2).

Christianity Today Article

John Doty recommended this article by Richard Foster (author of Celebration of Discipline) saying it may give our congregation some insight into some of the topics of our discussions.

Ananias

In this message we learn about Ananias and his journey as a disciple of Christ. Ananias

All-Church Meeting 1/25

Who Are We?

We understand how we fit together as a body
John Doty: Look at what you’ve got
Everyone is here for a reason
We are the results of outreach
We’re primarily a church of young adults who know God
What kind of people do we attract? What kind of people should we attract? How do we attract these people?
undergrads
graduate students
young families
young couples
young single people
middle-aged families
older families/couples
other?
What are we good at? Let us stick to it!
Do we have a “Dare me to worship” attitude
Do we come to church only for ourselves?

What Can We Do? What questions we should ask?
How do we make Cornerstone a place that people want to call their home church?
This concern keeps coming up
How do we balance attacking v not approaching newcomers
How do we decide who does and doesn’t want to remain anonymous?
Spread ourselves throughout to church to give newcomers more opportunities to intermingle with us
Come to church with a passion for all things happening at the church...personal excitement
What other types of worship could we try?
How do we follow up on meeting people?
Change our mission statement: We are a welcoming church full of friendships. We are here to strengthen our relationship with God and knowledge of the Bible.
Give each other feedback
It is crucial that you let us know what isn’t working for you. A song, an attitude, something that is missing...
Comments for music team: Constructive criticism
Prayer before worship...Don’t rush in
Connect Bible verses to songs
Which key result areas should we focus on, if any? How and why?

Cornerstone, on track?

In reflecting upon our discussion about the health of Cornerstone and discerning God’s guidance for the church, I was reminded of the importance of prior guidance. Identifying where God has guided in the past can be important in discerning his guidance in the present.

As I looked back over some key things related to Cornerstone, I came across this quote from Peter Drucker:
“It’s just human propensity to start in a clearly defined direction then to veer off the path somehow and wind up not doing what you originally started to do… (and not do that one thing well).”

I also was reminded that an airplane 1º off at takeoff will be 10 miles off course after 100 miles of flight. Both of these reminded me of the importance of being on track and staying on track!

Here are some of the key items in God’s guidance of Cornerstone over the years:

1) We have a purpose. I realize that seems incomplete as it stands. But it is important to recognize the truth and power of that statement. It does not say I have a purpose (although that is indeed the case). It says we have a purpose.

2) Our Purpose is to glorify God by loving him and joining him in what he is doing. What God is doing is changing the world by touching lives in Pullman. He is doing this by making disciples (fully committed followers of Jesus Christ).

3) Our purpose is best accomplished as a body/team (we have a purpose).

4) In working toward our purpose we will discover satisfaction.

5) We have no promise of tomorrow.

You may or may not agree with these five points and each one could be expanded upon. They may not be for every church. Yet I believe these are key points for Cornerstone Community Church.

In order to stay on track we need to keep in mind the following:

Our motive—love God and people (our passion) The Great Commandment
Our mission—make disciples of Jesus Christ (our purpose) The Great Commission
Our method—live as Jesus lived (our practice) The Great Example

The result, hopefully, will be a healthy body of believers obeying the great commandment, functioning according to giftedness and joining God in accomplishing the great commission.

A healthy body has a balance of these three “M’s” which may be expressed in a variety of ways. One that I like because of its simplicity is this: winning, building and equipping. Winning has to do with introducing people to the Kingdom of God and the gospel of Jesus Christ. Building relates to helping believers grow in their relationship with Christ and others. Equipping involves the training necessary to be ambassadors of Jesus Christ and the Kingdom of God in the 21st century.

There has been quite a bit of study regarding church health in the last decade and it has been noted that the church in North America is struggling greatly. A reason for this is the tendency for churches to lack balance in these three areas. One researcher has called this the “87% problem.” In his research, out of 100 churches surveyed, 87 focused exclusively on building believers and not at all on winning or equipping. The result is that they are out of balance and thus not healthy.

Balance in this case does not mean an even split in thirds, but an intentional and prayerful integration of all three areas in the life of the church: sometimes focusing on one area or another as needed. It is a dynamic process that ebbs and flows much like nutrition, exercise and sleep which are needed for personal health. It is not that each one has to be happening every day, but that over time each one is evident in proper measure.

In light of this, my sense is that in the past 18-24 months Cornerstone might have slipped out of balance. We may have moved towards being part of the 87% problem and need to regain a healthy balance of winning and equipping along with building. Give this some prayerful thought. Talk about it with your small group and then join us on Sunday, February 8 for an all church conversation regarding this topic. See you then! Blessings, Nils