Core Values

Posted by: Go Mission
Church:
Date: September 16th, 2011

EMMC Core Values

Theology Committee 2011

Posted by: Lil Goertzen
Church:
Date: September 15th, 2011

The Theology Committee met for the first time September 13 and 14/11 at the Go Mission! offices in Winnipeg. They represent all six Regions and a wide spectrum of experience and background. Their first assignment from General Board is to assist with developing the Core Values and the draft Mission Statement.

Posted in: Discipleship Resources, People, Preachers, and Teachers,

preaching – a “third way”

Posted by: len hjalmarson
Church: Aylmer, Ontario Aylmer
Date: July 13th, 2011

Scot McKnight advocates a genuine “third way” to spiritual formation that moves beyond a Sunday focus.

“A genuine Third Way will get beyond the Sunday morning sermon as the primary form of spiritual formation and education in a local church, and neither Belcher (Deep Church) nor Pagitt (Preaching Re-Imagined) seem to approach preaching through the lens of a larger formational program with clearly defined outcomes. A genuine Third Way will form a well-rounded and adaptable formation program that guides all sermons, all teaching, and all activities in the church. Sermons will be seen as one part of the formational ministry of the church. In other words, Third Way preaching is rooted in the overall outcomes of the church.

“If you want to read a book that will rock the pastor’s and church’s world, but which is very clear and will make all kinds of suggestions, I recommend Maryellen Weimer: Learner-Centered Teaching: Five Key Changes to Practice. I have been suggesting for some time that the biggest shift will come in churches when they take education (especially for adults) seriously. We can tweak sermons and Sunday services all we want, but the only real substantive shift will occur when a larger vision for formation and education are shaped by outcomes.

“What is most needed is a complete spiritual formation approach to the entire church and for each person; outcomes need to be formulated by the leaders and the church so that the whole approach is embraced. Within the overall approach to realizing outcomes, which I would say are loving God, loving others and a life of holiness, sermons play a role and sometimes an important one. But serious formative changes occur when the individual and the group participate in, activate, and integrate what is being taught. (By the way, that last sentence requires pages of discussion.) And these formative changes take place within a set of outcomes. And, perhaps most importantly, they take place with spiritual directors, pastors, teachers and friends who come alongside to help a person.”