| I came across the following picture a few weeks ago and had to laugh because I can relate to the characters in the picture; maybe you can relate to them as well. |  |
I can’t tell you how many times that I have struggled with something in my life rather than let God take control of the situation. You see, I know that God has prepared me for every situation that I will face; he has given me a rope, a wagon and wheels. The problem I normally run into is that I think I can figure out a solution to problems I face using my own strength, talents, and abilities instead of looking to God for answers.
Something the staff has been talking about lately is that there is really very little that we can do as individuals to grow God’s Kingdom. In fact Jesus said in Mark 4:26-28 that “the Kingdom of God is like a man that scatters seed on the ground. Night and day, whether he sleeps or gets up, the seed sprouts and grows, though he does not know how. All by itself the soil produces grain – first the stalk, then the head, then the full kernel in the head.” Do you see what it says in verse 28? It says that things grow all by themselves. That means that as a Christian I really have two responsibilities: the first is to scatter seed and the second is to try to provide good growing conditions.
Because we want God to bless the various ministries at Bridgeview church, the Deacon Board and Pastoral Staff made the decision to assess the quality of the soil at Bridgeview. For this reason we have just begun the Natural Church Development (NDC) assessment process. The primary reason that we decided to use this assessment is that it has been used in over 50,000 churches in 70 countries. The research team was able to use the information gathered in these churches to determine that healthy churches have the following eight characteristics: Empowering Leadership, Gift-Based Ministry, Passionate Spirituality, Effective Structures, Inspiring Worship Services, Holistic Small Groups, Need-Oriented Evangelism, and Loving Relationships. Right now the plan is to share the results of the assessment during the next town hall meeting in June.
Ultimately our vision at Bridgeview is to see people respond to what God is saying when God says to do it. We believe that this assessment will help us be more responsive to what God is saying because we are focusing on developing a culture that will encourage spiritual growth and development. That is a real fancy way of saying that our ministry philosophy has changed to look like the picture below. Please let me know if you have questions about the assessment process or if you would like be involved in discussing how the results will improve the ministry efforts at Bridgeview Church.
