Listening to Matt talk about God's activity in his life, his church and his community has sparked new fire in me. He spoke this afternoon at the AND Conference and spoke of the demands of missional ministry. A few nuggets from his time with us are below. This guy is on mission. Enjoy.
- There is a growing sense of restlessness in the laity of the church in America.
- I'm not ready to throw out the attractional model. It works.
- We had to redefine success at Austin Stone. Here's what we did.....
(1.) We changed the definition of success for our small groups. Nothing can foster deep authentic biblical community like getting "on mission" together. If we aimed for community, we got neither community, nor mission. But if we aimed for mission, we got mission and community too!
(2.) We changed how we trained and discipled our leaders. We taught them how to be self-feeders, rather than consumers.
(3.) We raised the bar, in their minds and in their hearts, about what God is able to do in and through them. The people in our church can do more than we've ever dreamed they can do. We've got to challenge them to that, call them to that, and give them a chance to do it! - Every time Jesus drew a crowd he'd run 'em off.
Acts 1:8 - You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.
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