These ARE the days

Why do we call it Family Ministry? Well, we operate from the conviction that parents and churches should seek a partnership. This partnership should challenge and equip families to engage their faith together rather than abdicating it to a program-driven philosophy. Sometimes, an unintentional consequence of a program-driven philosophy at church is the disengagement of the parents role. In other words, it doesn't matter if our kids spend 1 hour or 5 hours in weekly church programming because what happens at home is more important than what happens at church.

We will direct our Family Ministry programming with a LESS IS MORE approach. We will produce one anchor Family Ministry environment per week for every age range. Our expectation for these environments is excellence and they will include; Memorable Experiences, Relevant Teaching and Intentional Relationships between small group leaders and every kid. We will hang our hats on environments that Engage the Family Unit and leverage Small Group Leaders. Parents will be equipped with weekly resources to drill down on the biblical truths that their kids are learning about at church. We think it's all about the family so that's why we call it Family Ministry!!

Our mission is to lead people into a growing relationship with Jesus Christ. Our vision is to launch a Culturally Relevant Church that unchurched people love to attend, that moves people into Small Groups and that Engages Families. During these days, the people of Longleaf Church are hanging on to this vision as we build a solid foundation to launch a revolutionary church like this. It's not easy and it's not fast but it sure is worth it.

Our Road Trip to Southside Church today was inspiring. It occurred to me that while Southside represents where we want to be, these are actually the days of Longleaf Church that we will most remember. These are the days when people will rise up and pour themselves out to be a part of something larger than themselves. These are the days when people are praying for God to do God sized things. These are the days when people will launch a church of small groups that will grow exponentially beyond what we can imagine. These are the days that we are building the church where our neighbors and our children will come to know the love of Jesus. These are the days when we are living on the edge and choosing to pioneer because the gospel of Jesus Christ is not about a program or a building, it's about a passionate movement of people. Sign me up for that!