Discipleship and Spiritual Formation Ministry Plan 2014

The Spiritual Ministry of Broadway Baptist Church seeks to form people into the image of Christ that they may better minister to and serve others. Our hope is to be a place where we can be fed through a combination of Bible study, prayer, shared worship, ministry to others, small group studies and fellowship. We hope to encourage and grow in time spent in worship and Sunday School as well as to challenge each other to grow beyond these two hours each week.

I. Foundations:

Sunday School, focusing on Biblical study, foundation, and support for one another. Classes should include a focus on outreach and in-reach: involving more church members and non-church members. Small Groups ranging in age and interest that promote spiritual growth, practice, and outreach. 

Currently we have small groups ranging from Biblical, to book studies, to the Reel Spirituality, and Companions in Christ groups. These groups will continue, with an added emphasis on understanding and sharing our stories of faith. 

Specific options: Sharing your faith with your family (through mapping your life of faith), sharing our faith through hymns, growing in our faith so that we may share it with others (new Companions in Christ group), sharing our faith through our works (missions and service opportunities throughout the year). 

ACCOMPLISHED: An "in home" small group was held at Matt and Jessica Washer's house for nine weeks of the spring and summer with ten participants.

Studies/Retreats for a variety of ages. 

The most popular retreat that currently happens for adults is the Women’s Retreat each fall. This past year, a GenNext retreat was added for young adults. In 2014 we hope to add, a College Retreat and church-wide day retreat to the Abbey at Gethsemene. 

ACCOMPLISHED: A College/Career retreat was held in May with eight participants.

ACCOMPLISHED: A GenNext retreat was held in October with nine participants.

UPDATE: The church-wide retreat to Gethsemene is being planned for a future date to accompany a study on Thomas Merton

II. Goals

A total of 4 small groups in the spring, 5 small groups in the fall, and 2 on-going small groups, with an average attendance of 10 per group. 

UPDATE: there were 4 small groups that met in the Spring and 3 small groups meeting in the Fall.   One Companions in Christ group, GenNext, and a book study group continue to meet on a regular basis.

Create 3 new Small Groups with emphases on telling our story of faith: 

Mapping and Scrapbooking our lives of faith – this group will meet weekly for 6 weeks making a timeline of their lives of faith, which they will turn into a scrapbook to be used as a tool to share their life of faith with others. Target participants: parents/grandparents. 

UPDATE: This groups met for 9 weeks with 10 participants and focused primarily on sharing their stories with one another.

Companions in Christ – this group will meet weekly for 28 weeks using the beginner Companions in Christ material to explore their own lives of faith and build a stronger foundation of spirituality from which to share. Target participants: all ages of adults who want to deepen their spirituality (those who have participated in shorter time frame small groups in the past). 

UPDATE: This group began September 7 with 11 participants and will continue into 2015.

Four Service oriented groups – recruiting those who regularly participate in Habitat, Extreme Build, and other ongoing service projects, giving them tools to use at each work session to serve as a guide to pray and think about the impact of faith with those they are serving. At the end of each work session, to gather members together and ask: Where have we seen God in our work today?

UPDATE: 1 new group began September 7 as a Sunday School class that will focus on service within the church as well as setting a goal of service projects once a quarter in the community.

III. Dreams: 

Re-vitalize Adult Sunday School classes in need of a boost with new material, new ideas for meeting space, and new yearly models of Sunday School. 

I would like to hold a “Small-Group Style” class in the summer months for classes who might want to combine or invite friends who do not regularly attending Sunday School, with a goal of a 10 person increase of summer Sunday school when compared to the summer of 2013. 

ACCOMPLISHED:  Summer Seminars were held from June - August, 3 separate seminars, two were "lecture" style one was "Small-Group" style.

Teacher training for Sunday School and Small Group leaders (as well as those who may be interested in the future). This may include attending a local seminar, or inviting an outside speaker to hold a workshop at the church. 

In order to accomplish this dream, I will need to work with several key leaders in our Adult Discipleship area and intentionally seek out new leadership within the congregation. This includes a goal of 60% of Adult Sunday School teachers attending some sort of leadership training. 

UPDATE: A Teacher Round Table discussion was held Saturday August 16 with 14 participants.  The topic was: How to ask good questions.

Spiritual Formation Dreams: 

For 25% of the adult segment of the congregation to be engaged in spiritual formation beyond Sunday School and Worship each week, measured by attendance in Small Groups. 

Explore the development of home-based small groups.