Where we were

We started attending GCC in September of 1999. My memory about Bible classes from that time until September, 2006, is that there was an irregular pattern in the ministry. Sometimes we offered many, sometimes none, sometimes a few, sometimes they launched uniformly, sometimes they launched randomly - we were certainly flexible. We were consistently inconsistent.

Without a clear vision for the ministry, we had several great members who stepped up to offer their services at teaching. While that brought variety, it also brought confusion. The leaders all had their own busy lives as great leaders do! They set the launch date, the fee, the duration, and the format for "their class". While it is great that the leaders had a sense of ownership, we didn't offer a unified vision to help them feel connected to the ministry in which they were serving.

In September, 2006, we started offering Bible classes that launched with the same schedule as Turning Point groups. We are creating an expectation in our audience that we offer Bible classes. You can expect it. You can count on it. Winter, Summer, Fall. The first step - gain credibility. DWYSYWD. Do what you say you will do.

With the expectation filled that "we offer Bible classes", it was time to create a brand: View Point. I wrote about that process in this post. I'll tell you more next time about where we hope to go!

Comments

[Heather Zempel]

Looking forward to hearing more about this! Are there certain classes/Bible studies that you are intentionally launching? Or are you just letting leaders run with whatever topic/book/study they want to do?

[Jeff Boxell]

I'm also anxious to hear more about this, and the unifying vision that you cast for the viewpoint ministry. Do all classes use a curriculum? How is curriculum selected? And how do you choose your leaders?

[Kathy Guy]

I'll try to get a post up by Thursday that fills in more of the blanks.
To Heather's questions: we do still have some leaders running the topic they want to, but the point of this is to be intentional of what is being launched - hope to be there by Jan/08.
To Jeff's questions: We use a curriculum; currently the leaders select it with some direction from staff, but moving to M Waltz, pastor of connection doing more of the formation of curriculum (Jan, '08) and we choose leaders based on ability to teach using strong relational components.