VIM
VIM is a conversation with pastors and leaders –rooted in an idea from Dallas Willard – “that change requires VIM” – Vision, Intention and Means. We review these and other core vitality components with your pastor(s) and leaders. This conversation provides an overview and invitation to discern if you have the VIM to lead the church forward and engage the vitality process in pursuit of missional health and vitality as a congregation.
Veritas
Veritas: Telling the Truth about Congregational Vitality is a workshop designed for everyone in the church over the age of fourteen. We will discover together the 10 Healthy Missional Markers as well as the four types of established churches. We will then look at “next steps.” The purpose of the workshop is to help churches understand their current reality and remind people that God is in the resurrection business. Veritas is a great way to get the conversation going and/or to take it to the next level. Whatever your current state of health, take heart! Jesus loves your church. His desire is that your church be fully awake and alive in the Spirit, engaged in mission.
Vitality Team
The purpose of the Vitality Team is to gain input that will inform elected leadership about the attitudes and actions of people since the Veritas experience; assist the church in discerning God’s spiritual strategic direction; and recommend possibilities for the future of the church. There are 10 suggested task to assist the team in their work. The Vitality Team is a reporting, recommending and referring body, not a decision making body.
EPIC
Veritas provided the language. EPIC: Empowering People, Inspiring Change provides the how-to. As a follow-up workshop, EPIC talks about the spirituality, chemistry, and strategy of leading healthy missional change, and equips leaders with the necessary tools. EPIC also explores the inner life of the leader and how to be a non-anxious presence while leading through the turbulent waters of change. EPIC does not tell churches what to change, but how to change — and how to change in a way that is civil, compassionate, and Christ-honoring.
Service of Consecration
A Service of Consecration we feel is an important step in the journey of becoming a healthy missional church. It represents one more opportunity for the congregation to give themselves completely to God and to his vision for the church. “Have thine own way Lord, have thine own way,” as the old hymn goes. Every great movement of God is preceded by a time of brokenness, confession and consecration. To consecrate means “to set apart for God’s sacred use.”
Pulse
Pulse is a vitality assessment tool centered on the 10 Healthy Missional Markers for Covenant Churches. Pulse provides a deeper diagnostic using Veritas language. It also measures the vision, intention, and means of the local church. Analysis of attendance and financial records of the church is also presented. Pulse is a survey that can be taken by every attendee of the church and is available online.
Dream Again
Dream Again is an Appreciative Inquiry Approach to Ministry Planning. Dream Again provides the congregation an opportunity to both affirm what is and has worked well at the church and through Appreciative Inquiry consider how past, present realities inform/inspire ministry planning and goal setting for the congregation’s shared future.
