A Call to Pray Together (notes from Wed night)

Pray Mt 9:36-38 passionately & regularly.

3 prayers for us to pray together:

1. God raise up gathers & bringers among us.
2. God open our eyes to the sins, idols, hurts, struggles, & needs of the people in the city around us.
3. God teach us how to communicate Jesus Christ to the people in our city (Teach how to apply the Gospel to #2).

210 in 2010 (Wed Night Notes Pt.2)

7 Things You Can Do When We Gather Together Each Sunday
(my notes from Wednesday night, July 8, 2009).
1) Pray:

• We need men and women who are praying for our Sunday gatherings. Pray for our volunteers, our teachers, our visitors, our attitudes and actions, our singing, our music, our prayers, our giving, our listening to and response to God’s Word, and so on.
• Pray that every one present will adore & praise God, confess sin, give thanks for God’s grace, and talk to God about their needs.
• Pray for conviction of sin, repentance, and the joy of changed lives.
• Ask God to do a great work in the heart of our church, every time we gather together.

“Remember that men and women are not converted, finally, by [our] sagacity, oratory, theological brilliance or homilectical skill. God in his mercy may use all these and many more gifts. But only God is able to bring people to himself. That is ample incentive to prayer” (Carson, Gagging of God, 513).

2) Participate:

• Sing when we sing, pray when we pray, read when we read, listen, fellowship, enjoy church.

• Key: respond to the message: search your heart and apply God’s Word.

3) Interact:

• Talk to people, sit together, pray for one another.
• Find and spend time with our guests.

4) Practice the 3 Minute Rule.

• Ed Stetzer describes this rule, each “member must talk to someone they don’t know for three minutes following the end of worship” (Planting New Churches in a Postmodern Age, 100).

5) Be a “Seat Shepherd.”

• Seat shepherds “sit in a specific area each week to connect guests with nearby members to make them feel welcome” (Ibid.).

6) Be Here & Be in the Service.

• Make weekly participation at our church a priority. Be here as much as possible.

7) Speak Positively about What God Is Doing at Our Church to Everyone.

• Keep complaints and concerns and questions private.
  
• First, go to the leader of the particular ministry, then come to the pastor(s), and then if you still have a concern or complaint or question, bring it to the church.

210 in 2010 (Wed Night Notes Pt.1)

These are my notes from Wed night (7/1/09).

210 in 2010

Discuss 2 Questions:

1. How do we get there?

2. What do we do well as a church?

Start where we are: (1) Sunday School & (2) Our Sunday Gathering (did not get to #2)

(1) Sunday School

1. Pray for the healthy growth of our church.

2. Make a list

• Anyone you know who would enjoy our church or simply does not participate at a local church
• In-reach: members who don’t participate (not active).
• Out-reach: friends, family, work associates, classmates, anyone you come into contact with on a regular basis.

3. Make it your class goal to contact/visit/connect to everyone on the list before Labor Day.

• 210 is our numerical goal: You work out the details as a group.
• Suggestions: work with deacon’s and deacon’s wives: the list.

4. Participate in a small group. Make it your goal to be here as much as possible.

5. Talk positively about our church to friends, family, work associates.

• Twitter, facebook, text, communicate what God is doing here @ABBC

We did not have time to discuss our Sunday gathering. I will post those notes after we have discussed them as a group.