The following is PART TWO of an edited transcript of a presentation by Kay Kotan, Director of Equipping Vital Congregations, at the 2018 Susquehanna Annual Conference, Plenary 2. The video of her full presentation can be viewed at tinyurl.com/susumcAC2018video
Equipping Vital Congregations have developed a Tinderbox. A tinderbox is a toolbox for building fires.
There are five compartments or tools that are contained within our Equipping Vital Congregations Tinderbox:
- Consultation
- Coaching
- Small Group Resources and Curricula
- Workshops and General Tools
- New Places for New People
Consultation
Consultation is an experience for churches that lets you dive deeply into and evaluate your effectiveness in reaching new people. Consultation must first be bathed in prayer, and then you add the elements of continuous learning to prepare, laity involvement, accountability, coaching, and those “outside ears and eyes.” That is our new Tinderbox consultation process.We are in the midst of redeveloping and redeploying that consultation process so that it has an incredible impact on the churches that are taking part in it. But you don’t have to take my word for it.
Kay: Why was the consultation process right for your church?
Jan: Perhaps the best way that I can tell you is that I drive a Fiat. Recently I felt the steering wheel start to vibrate and if I let go of the steering wheel the car started veering to the right — I’m in a little car and I don’t want that to happen! I’m not a mechanic, and I didn’t know how to fix it, but I knew who could. The consultation process was a place and a resource that we could go to and get the help for the things that we knew, and things that we didn’t know.
Kay: we know that church transformation is hard work. So tell us a little bit about your journey.
Jan: Something that we had to understand is that we had to be vulnerable and honest with ourselves. We had to know who we were, and acknowledge who we weren’t. Then we had to realize that change was coming, and we had to be really clear about communicating that change so the church leaders and congregation could come along and work together for transformation.
Kay: So, Jan, every good process has fruitfulness. Tell us about that.
Jan: Wow, did we see a fire burn! Through this process, we have grown exponentially. It has been amazing what God has done. We have been able to align our vision and our ministry. We’ve been able to reach out to the community and not be inward-focused anymore — everything we do has the thought and heart for those who don’t know Christ yet.
It’s been a beautiful journey and all the hard work is so worth it. Our structure is nimble and flexible and it allows our people to be in ministry, not just talking about it.
Coaching
Coaching is different than mentoring, consulting, or counseling. Coaching helps you determine your current reality and then decide where your preferred future is — coaching closes the gap between the two.We’re in the midst of training a team of coaches to avail themselves for all the coaching needs in the Conference.
You might be thinking, ‘I’m pretty good at what I do. My church is healthy and growing. Why do I need a coach?’
Simply put, everyone needs a coach. Even the best of the best benefit from having a coach.
View two videos about the importance of coaching at tinyurl.com/yagevjop and tinyurl.com/y77xlhj4
We’re in the midst of putting together a list of recommended coaches that you can find on our website at equippingvitalcongregrations.com
Small Groups
Small groups offer that opportunity to grow in discipleship. Did you know that as part of the Susquehanna Conference you have access to a number of valuable and wonderful small group resources? An important part of the work you do all happens at the small group level, and we want to help you have all those resources so you can keep those fires burning well in your local churches.Some of the great resources available to you right now, at no cost, include:
Unpacking Your Faith Stories is a 4-part study to help you with evangelism. It will help you Discover, Catch, Share, and then Live your faith story. A 21st century modern way to do evangelism that won’t creep people out.
M3 - Moving from Maintenance to Missional. Moving your church from maintenance mode to missional mode. a look at the ten most common stumbling blocks that churches across the nation face in being effective and vital in reaching new people. It helps you evaluate what work you have to do.
Please take a look at our website at equippingvitalcongregations.com where you will find these resources and more. Like and follow us on Facebook at facebook.com/EquippingVitalCongregations for information and events you can take part in.
Workshops and General Tools
As you might know, starting, maintaining, and growing a fire isn’t always easy, nor is it automatic.Equipping Vital Congregations is pleased to offer many training opportunities and workshops throughout the year. We bring in a combination of outside speakers and in-conference practitioners to help teach you the best practices available. Together we learn how to better build, stoke, maintain and grow our fires.
Some of the workshops we offer are: (click on ‘LEARN’ on our website, then ‘Resources and Workshops’)
Simplified Accountable Structure - effective and efficient decision making (overview and full workshop viewable on the website)
Necessary 9 - nine things that effective pastors do differently than others, and as a bonus, two things effective churches do differently than others. A great evaluation tool for your church and congregation.
Gear Up! Nine Essential Processes for the Optimized Church - a smooth-running, disciple-making machine. What processes are running in your church and which need to be implemented or fine-tuned?
Navigate: Creating Discipleship Pathways. This will be an annual event. The first one focused on discipleship, the next one, in 2019, will focus on leadership.
Continuous learning opportunities being offered this fall include:
- M3
- Small Church Checkup
- IMPACT!
- Communities of Practice
New Places for New People
Anyone who loves to spend time in the great outdoors knows the thrill of starting a new fire. We have a lot of excitement around the next tool in our Tinderbox called New Places for New People.This tool is all about starting new faith communities... to be continued.
Watch for PART THREE, with more information about New Places for New People, in the next issue of Susquehanna LINK. View the full presentation at
tinyurl.com/susumcAC2018video
