Tag Archives: Missional

01.01.13
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4 Words That Should Describe Your Student Ministry

4 words that should describe your student ministry blog postWell, another year has come and gone, and now is the time to refocus ourselves on our mission. God has been challenging me over the last 8 months to define our student ministry a different way. Usually, when we discuss a church or ministry, we define the ministry with terms such as contemporary, traditional, conservative, liberal, dead, old, happy, or progressive. I understand that pretty much all churches stylistically fall under these categories, but when people describe our ministry this year, I do not want them to describe it necessarily with these terms. I have felt led to transition our student ministry to be described with these 4 terms.

  1. Gospel-Centered- Now, I understand that this first one is technically two words, but it is so important. I desire this year to be Gospel Centered in all that we do as a student ministry. I want the Gospel to be at the core of why we do what we do. Not only does the Gospel have the power to save us, it has the power to sanctify us as well. 
  2. Intentional- I want to be intentional with the Gospel. I want to be intentional about relationships. I want to be intentional with my parents, leaders, and students. This word can just be a trend, but I want it to be real in our student ministry. Simply put, I want to do ministry on purpose! 
  3. Missional- I want every event and activity that we do to have purpose behind it. I am so far past doing events because we have always done them. No, I want events with purpose. If we do an event simply because we have always done it, and it has no purpose, you are not missional, call yourself traditional. I am fine with traditions as long as they have meaning and purpose behind them.
  4. Open- If you get the other 3 down, this one will follow. I want our student ministry open to the outcast of the community. I feel that if Jesus were in a church here, it would be the most culturally diverse church on the planet, because He is not a respecter of persons. I want our ministry to accept every race there is. I would like our church and student ministry to accept the poor, the middle class, as well as the rich. I want it to be open for the kids who are just plain weird. Jesus loves all equally, and I feel more than ever that we should as well.
07.07.12
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2 Things I learned from Jamaica Mission trip

As you all know, we went on our Jamaica trip this past week! It was a great week, and really changed my outlook on a lot of things. I wanted to share 2 things that God did in my life this past week in Jamaica:

  1. Be intentional- This word has been on my heart more than ever in my life here recently. As I spent time with Pastor Cletis Titus, Pastor Andrew Pryce, and their families, I learned rather quickly that they were intentional. They did life there in Jamaica on purpose. Everywhere they went, they made it a point to share the Gospel. They shared the Gospel in restaurants, department stores, and souvenir shops. They were in Jamaica geographically to share the Gospel. So this brought the question to my mind, why can’t I be in Winston-Salem/Lexington to share the Gospel? I lose sight of the purpose that missionaries have. We must be intentional with the Gospel everywhere that we go and everywhere that we live!
  2. Be missional- Now, the first thing that I learned goes hand in hand with this one, but I want to be missional. I want my life’s goal and purpose to be for the Gospel, and nothing else! If that is my purpose, everything else will fall into place. Take the mission of Jesus everywhere that we go!

These are the two main things that God showed me this past week in Jamaica! I hope that this will be a challenge to you as you try to reach your city with the Gospel!