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Pillar 12. Manage Well

(planner/administrator/organizer)

a. FMC is committed to taking our next steps towards Christ together in planning, administration, and organization

b. FMC ensures that all business is wired tight; it has integrity, is transparent, is auditable, is effective, and is efficient

c. FMC plans the work and then works the plan; all FMC events are first-class and well-run

d. FMC must operate on a strategic timespan of discretion that allows for strategic ministry to unfold

e. FMC protects against time inconsistency, good idea fairies, & the tyranny of uninformed & reactionary responses

f. FMC establishes firewalls between the long run (5 + years), medium run (1-5 years), and short run (1 year)

g. FMC innovations and ministry efforts must be incorporated within this operating framework to receive resources

h. FMC’s physical plant is organized & designed with a purpose; FMC minimizes waste & engages in creative destruction

"So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you."
Rom 12: 1-2 (The Message)
"And they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. And awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles. And all who believed were together and had all things in common. And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need. And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved."
Acts 2:42-47
"For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned. For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another. Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, in proportion to our faith; if service, in our serving; the one who teaches, in his teaching; the one who exhorts, in his exhortation; the one who contributes, in generosity; the one who leads, with zeal; the one who does acts of mercy, with cheerfulness."
Rom 12:3-8
"Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it. And God has appointed in the church first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healing, helping, administrating, and various kinds of tongues. Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles? Do all possess gifts of healing? Do all speak with tongues? Do all interpret? But earnestly desire the higher gifts."
1 Cor 12: 27-31
"And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love."
Eph 4: 11-16
"When I send Artemas or Tychicus to you, make every effort to come to me at Nicopolis, for I have decided to spend the winter there. Diligently help Zenas the lawyer and Apollos on their way so that nothing is lacking for them. Our people must also learn to engage in good deeds to meet pressing needs, so that they will not be unfruitful."
Titus 3:12-14
"But all things must be done properly and in an orderly manner."
1 Cor 14:40
"Then the king promoted Daniel and gave him many great gifts, and he made him ruler over the whole province of Babylon and chief prefect over all the wise men of Babylon."
Daniel 2:48
"Now at this time while the disciples were increasing in number, a complaint arose on the part of the Hellenistic Jews against the native Hebrews, because their widows were being overlooked in the daily serving of food. So the twelve summoned the congregation of the disciples and said, “It is not desirable for us to neglect the word of God in order to serve tables. Therefore, brethren, select from among you seven men of good reputation, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we may put in charge of this task"
Acts 6:1-7
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Reformed [ECO] Theological Tenets

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3. “Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body [is] joined and knit together.” (Eph. 4:15, 16.) The Christian Church is the congregation of the brethren in which Jesus Christ acts presently as the Lord in Word and Sacrament through the Holy Spirit. As the Church of pardoned sinners, it has to testify in the midst of a sinful world, with its faith as with its obedience, with its message as with its order, that it is solely his property, and that it lives and wants to live solely from his comfort and from his direction in the expectation of his appearance. We reject the false doctrine, as though the church were permitted to abandon the form of its message and order to its own pleasure or to changes in prevailing ideological and political convictions.

Recommended Books

Venues to Implement this Pillar

1. Provide management and organization to FMC expressions

2. Assist the Deacons by running a future FMC event

3. Volunteer at the Center to assist with management and organization

4. Volunteer at the church to assist Marcy and Rick with the management and oversight of specific initiatives and events such as kids programs, decorating the church during holidays, and specific infrastructure improvement projects.

Platforms & Exercises to Develop this Pillar

  • Using an excel spreadsheet, develop a task list for the church spring cleanup day
  • Develop a business plan for an expression that desires to teach woodworking to novices while building spiritual muscle.
  • Develop a business plan for high school student outreach as part of our Young Life partnership.
  • Conduct a functional analysis for a new pavilion.
  • Create a concept plan for outdoor worship services on Saturday Nights in the Summer.
  • Establish Long Run, Medium Run, and Short Run tasks for FMC to reach the Tri-State Region and beyond, making fully devoted followers of Jesus.
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