Yesterday, we braved some very cold temps to have our men’s discipleship group meeting on Cejl Street. Thankfully, we had heat in the room where we meet! Last time we did not and it was a bit distracting. Anyway… this morning was special in that my colleague, Joe Silby, was there with us. Joe and his family just got back to Brno from a state side assignment a few days ago. It was great to have him with us! We also had three Roma men and my friend Pavel K. who assists me in translating these sessions.
This session we talked about discovering and casting vision in the church. I used the verse, Proverbs 29:18, as a focal passage. This is a very timely subject within our ministry right now because of certain things which have come up lately within the hearts and minds of the people of the church. I do not want this to sound like a negative commentary but we seem to be in a place where people are sort of foundering on the sea of life with no firm direction to head in. Honestly, this can happen in any church. Often it happens when there is confusion about who should or should not be in leadership positions and if there is not a clear and stated goal for the church and its ministry. The main topics which we discussed were:
- developing unity / harmony in the church and conflict resolution (Ephesians 4:2-4)
- the importance of using dedicated Bible study and prayer in the discovery process (Philippians 4:5-7)
- showing respect for the leadership and counsel of those who God has positioned in places of authority in the church (Romans 13:1-3)
- seeking to fulfill the five Biblical purposes of the church: worship, fellowship, discipleship, ministry and evangelism (multiple verses)
As usual, we had very discussion of these topics and at the end, I challenged the men to seriously put an effort into doing these things by setting an example for others to follow.
