Hi Friends and Colleagues,
"How's your church doing?" For those of us who are lead pastors or solo pastors, this can be an intimidating question. If you're like me, it's probably never going as well as you would like. Maybe I'm just hard on myself, but I know the backstage stuff of the church. I know how many people think:
- the music is too loud, or
- the student ministry is not doing enough, or
- the pastor's a little boring.
It can get worse when I think through certain scriptures:
"This is to my Father's glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples" (John 15:8), or
"If your gift is...to lead, do it diligently" (Romans 12:8).
As pastors we are called to lead God's church skillfully, diligently, making the most of every opportunity in these evil days. As stewards of the mission of Christ, we want to see the kingdom of God advance. But it doesn't always go as well as we had hoped when we graduated from seminary.
If you have been trying to figure out what's next for your church and what's next in your ongoing training, I want to offer you an opportunity to sharpen your tools and grow more effective in your pastoral ministry. In September NextGen Churches will launch another season of the Strategic Cluster. I don't know of any other workshop, conference or training strategy that offers what the Strategic Cluster does.
In the Strategic Cluster you will join a small group of motivated pastors on a monthly journey of growth. One day each month the cluster will gather with me as we walk through several significant aspects of church leadership. In addition to that group session, each member of the cluster will also meet monthly with a personal, pastoral coach from our NextGen peers. These sessions are constructive, practical and totally focused on the issues at hand for you.
In a few weeks, we'll announce start-up dates, costs and how to sign up. Meanwhile, pray about your participation in the Strategic Cluster. Talk to your board and ask them to set aside some funds to make it happen. Neither you nor your church will be disappointed.
Let's bear much fruit together.
Grace,
Brad Franklin
Transitional Director, Next Generation Churches
