Strengthening The Church Through Household Ministry
with grace and unity

uch guideAre you in an existing church and want to introduce a biblical vision that equips households for extraordinary ministry?

Maybe you would like to plant a new church with this vision but want to do so in a way that honors the full nature and purpose of the local church?

Here is a resource that is already helping church leaders and households to implement the biblical vision in a gracious, unifying, and God-glorifying way!

Introducing…The Uniting Church and Home Implementation Guide.

This Guide is the result of 10 years of experience working with church leaders and households across numerous denominations; including newly planted as well as fully, moderately, and lightly “traditional” churches.

The biblical focus, gracious and encouraging tone, commitment to Scripture and the unity of the local church will be a welcome support for church leaders, pastors, elders, deacons, households, youth leaders, children’s ministry leaders, men’s ministry leaders, women’s ministry and denominational leaders.

Results of implementing these Biblical Principles

uch guide • The Great Commission: Evangelism and Discipleship is being accomplished more effectively
• Relationships in the home and in the church are fostering real, heart-level transformation
• The Gospel of Jesus Christ is the primary focus of Church life
• The body of Christ is more inclusive as nuclear families, newly weds, singles, single parent families, youth,  children, seniors, and empty nesters are incorporated in ministry
• Spiritual leadership roles for households including husband, father, single mother, single
married man, or single unmarried woman are strengthened
• Strengthened relationships revitalize ministries in the home and in the church
• Elders are finding new freedom to pursue the ministry of the Word, prayer, and shepherding
• Church leaders, individuals, and households are finding ministry more fulfilling
• Households are ministering as units in the church and in their community
• The perpetual cycles of dysfunction in the home are being broken
• Youth are becoming more involved in ministry that strengthens their faith

Features

• Presented in a gracious, positive, biblical, balanced, and simple fashion using the easy-to-remember acronym, “GPS”.
uniting church and home• Simple, systematic presentation of the biblical vision originally presented in the book, Uniting Church and Home using the easy-to-remember acronym “GPS”.
+ Goal – Accomplishing the Great Commission: Evangelism and Discipleship over Generations
+ Process – Gospel-Integrated, Heart-Level Relationships
+ Structure – Household Relationships in the Church and the Home
• A comparison of three graphic representations of three ministry structures:
+ The Traditional Ministry Design (where most churches start their journey)
+ The Household Relationship Design (where churches want to go)
+ The Over-Corrective Design (what to avoid)
• Four approaches for implementing the vision
+ Incremental
+ Systematic
+ Fresh Start
+ Church Planting
• Each approach includes
+ Simple description
+ Advantages
+ Challenges
+ Real life examples (both good and poor)
• Four steps to implementing the vision
+ Church Leadership Study, Discussion, and Agreement
+ Communicating to the Congregation
+ Biblical basis for Ministry Relationships in the Home
+ Building Ministry Relationships in the Church Through Hospitality and Church-Wide Programs
• Summary pages after each waypoint describe:
+ Waypoints to evaluate progress
+ Signs of success
+ Signs of trouble
• You will learn:
+ The biggest mistake that a pastor can make in implementing this vision
+ The power for being a disciple of Christ that Paul presents over and over again in Scripture but that is often neglected, overlooked, forgotten, or replaced in many churches and homes
+ The ten commandments of implementation, plus a bonus
+ The crucial element for effective discipleship modeled in the Trinity
+ For real change to take place, what must discipleship be able to do?
+ Three skills that vitalize discipleship
+ 4 methods Satan tries to use to stop implementation
+ 5 rules for successful study, discussion, and agreement of the vision
+ 9 strategy points for presenting the vision to the whole church
+ 7 approaches to communicate the vision
+ 3 basic skills every head of household needs in order to build relationships in the home
+ How a broad view of family devotions is an excellent tool for building relationship in the home.

Resources Included in the Appendix, on DVD, or CD

• 2 Hours of Interviews with 5 church leaders who are each implementing the vision through one of the four implementation models
• 8 Sermons (and outlines) that one pastor used to introduce the vision to his congregation (MP3)
• A father shares his story of waking up to his role as a head of household (MP3)
• Head of household equipping questions (pdf) covering five topics:
+ Personal life with God
+ Overall leadership of household
+ Relationship with wife
+ Relationship with children
+ Relationship to the body of Christ and beyond
• An example of a church membership covenant (pdf)
• An example of one church’s vision, mission, and values booklet (pdf)
• An example of a promotional brochure for a household worship service (pdf)
• A summary of expectations for heads of households (pdf)
• An eldership assessment survey based on 1 Timothy 3:1-5 (pdf)
• A list of heads of households in 24 Bible passages that God has used and lessons we learn from each of them
• 8 points of encouragement for weary households
• Exhaustive Scripture index containing 325 passages from 44 books of the Bible used