Last Saturday (9-17-16), the Shift Coaching Network began its journey with leadership teams from several courageous congregations. Participating teams in this Shift Network are:
- Beulaville (Harbor District)
- Evansdale (Capital District)
- Kenansville (Harbor District)
- Mt. Moriah (Harbor District)
- Perkins (Beacon District)
- St. Luke – Goldsboro (Capital District)
- Roberdell (Gateway District)
- Sharon (Beacon District)
It was an exciting day of worship, prayer, and engagement with God’s Spirit and one another. Through the sharing, laughter, story-telling, learning, and communal connection, the leadership teams began the exploration of their desired missional outcomes for their own local settings. We considered establishing missional goals based on our congregational strengths, our assets, the needs of our communities, and God’s desire and vision as relevant to our settings.
Key considerations of our gathering were:
- What are the key things we must do SO THAT our mission & outcomes are advanced?
- How can our current ministry practices be improved SO THAT they better embody our mission?
- How do we ensure that what we are doing stays connected to our mission?
Participants enthusiastically engaged the day. Many offered such comments as:
- the process gave us encouragement for missional outcomes
- we are beginning to see a cornerstone from which we can build
- SHIFT is giving us a constructive way to go forward and then be effective
and, perhaps most important,
- throughout the day, I really felt God’s Spirit
As we move forward, we will continue in our exploration, framing, and responding to these important questions, SO THAT we become more effective in living as disciples of Jesus, more effective in being the hands and feet of Christ in our communities, and more effective in bringing others into this discipleship journey of life, hope, and salvation.
