New churches are more adept at making disciples than established churches (Malphurs 137). This simple fact emphasizes the importance of competent, equipped church planters in the field. Our textbook includes a self-assessment for this reason, as it is helpful in identifying areas of growth or weaknesses that I would need to focus on. Perhaps, the most important way to start the process of evaluating a potential church planter is through a formal assessment procedure. First, the assessment revealed areas of strength that were affirmed. Predominantly, these are spiritual gifts and personality strengths. I have had a lot of time for self-examination in these areas because I am forty-six years old and my previous vocation was being a business …show more content…
31). My second highest scores included leadership and apostleship. Let’s take a look at a few of these gifts individually as they apply to the importance to Kingdom expanding work through church planting. I have always thought of faith as God’s will that a person act on God’s promises with resolute belief in His ability to fulfill His plan or design. People need this foundation to inspire others within a new church to do the same. That is, to act in absolute confidence in His ability to overcome the many obstacles that will inevitably confront the plant. This attitude must be demonstrated and is vital to advancing the cause of the church when others might be afraid to do so. Ultimately, trust in God’s provision is vital to …show more content…
3 also mentions temperament as a key qualification for a leader and Malphurs included an indicator test that measures whether a person is a doer, influencer, relator, or thinker. He further defines temperament as, “one’s unique, God-given (inborn) style of behavior” (p. 32). Honestly, my first look at the results surprised me. My strengths were listed as being an extrovert, intuition, feeling, and perception. These don’t match up, in my mind, to leadership traits. However, Malphurs indicates that church planters are often people persons and persuaders, so I do have the correct temperament, but might need some help in the leadership
The fourth component of faith is that we need to understand that faith can act as fear, fascination, or both of these qualities at the same time. The fifth component of faith is that doubt is a major product that will always exist with faith. The last component of faith is that we need a community in order to have a “language of faith”. In Flannery O’Connor’s short story
The Clifton StrengthsFinder assessment with a fun experience that provided very useful information about myself. The questions were interesting and thought provoking. However, the time limit on each question meant that most responses were my first instinct or gut response. I think the time limit keeps a person from over thinking the questions and makes them respond with an answer that is true to who they are. I agree with the five strongest areas identified in my assessment which were strategic, futuristic, learner, command, and ideation (Clifton, Anderson, & Schreiner, 2006)
I was excited to take the Gallup Strengths Finder assessment. Although I am more reserved and shy, I typically find myself placed in leadership positions. I am always surprised when people refer to me as a leader but family members and close friends have made me more aware of this personality characteristic. I really enjoyed taking the Gallup Strength Finder assessment and I can see why this would be an assessment growing in popularity across the globe. When I finished the assessment, my results showed that my strengths, from first to last, are developer, empathy, input, connectedness, and restorative.
In Dynamics of Faith, Paul Tillich redefines faith as the dynamic state of being ultimately concerned about some object that is perceived as being “ultimate.” An ultimate concern demands everything, even including ones most valuable possessions and their moral values, but in return promises everything including total fulfillment, salvation, etc. He goes on to explain symbols of faith, their meaning and their characteristics.
If you were to take a survey on views of faith, you would come up with a million different definitions. To me, faith is taking risks in situations where there is no fear of the outcome. Faith is confidence, sureness, and bravery. If you have no faith, then you have no reason to go out in the world and survive. Faith is also a positive mindset and energy you embody. According to the book, “What is Faith?”, the author, Terrence W. Tilley feels that faith is a relationship between the one who has faith and the irreducible energizing source of meaning and center of value in one’s life. In the definition, “One” means the object of faith and the relationship between them. He takes the concept of faith from a late writer, David Foster Wallace, to key point his argument in the book. Wallace’s concept was that we don’t understand what faith is and how faith shapes the course of our lives. Tilley supports his claim by discussing the common misunderstandings of faith.
“Truth is information which has been clearly proved, or affirmed, or verified… standing firm no matter whether it yields returns or not,” Václav Havel states on his views of truth. Part of faith is trusting in God and standing firm in the faith and church, yet learning about what you affirm when talking about faith. The truth of faith can be confusing and hard to understand in varying points of the Christian faith. Typically, these confusions occur when the truth of faith does not line up with events, actions, or thoughts about what you wanted to believe the nature of the truth of faith is. My belief paper talked about how its hard to always trust that God is there in the hard times as the path you are going on isn’t always what you want, but by relying on God, things can turn around. By trusting in God, the path becomes present. In order to trust in God, one must have a foundation in full faith in the church, trinity, and sacraments.
churches asked the question, “What do I need to work on to improve my functioning within the
It is apparent that the issues are similar at Willow Creek and New Hope, as both have experienced great growth. They are addressing these issues by adding additional services and by assignment of small groups or small ministries to meet their congregation's needs. They have been successful in addressing the issue based on each church's individual needs. Willow Creek has added services to accommodate the service seekers or the un-churched. New Hope attempts to match congregation member's needs through joining auxiliaries or other ministries of the church.
In the book The New Guidebook for Pastors, James W. Bryant and Mac Brunson do a magnificent job of identifying and explaining the practical nuts and bolts that make a successful pastorate and a fruitful church.
I found this assessment extremely useful since it helped me see my weaknesses and strengths clearer. Knowing what my strengths and weaknesses are helps me know what sort of emotions or habits I need to be careful of and what qualities I can improve and/or
Mead, Loren B. The Once and Future Church Reinventing the Congregation for a New Mission Frontier . The Alban Institute, Inc., 1991. Kindle eBook file.
Young, D. S. (1999). Servant Leadership for Church Renewal: Sheperds By the Living Springs. Scottdale: Herald Press.
Part I. Strengths Personal Profile System Two strengths I learned during my Self Awareness assessment were being a good listener and showing loyalty. I really try to be a good listener in all situations. I like to hear the whole story or complete process, whatever it may be. I am cautious about making decisions without having all the details.
The most important quality that differentiates a leader from other people is the ability to think strategically. Vision is the most important aspect that drives a leader’s strategy. It is all about where you want to be. Other qualities include Decision making, problem solving, time management, self-motivation, emotional intelligence and many more. Once we know the type of leadership, it is easy to find what leadership skills we have and which we need to develop which is explained in the book “Leadership: Theory, application, skill development (5th ed.) by Lussier and Achua.” Also, Keirsey Style Sorter personality type helps to knowing our temperament type, and work on our weakness and to emerge out as a good leader.
To obtain such faith God instituted the office of preaching, giving the gospel and the sacraments. Through these, as through means, he gives the Holy Spirit who produces faith, where and when he wills, in those who hear the gospel. It teaches that we have a gracious God, not through our own merit but through Christ’s merit, when we so believe.