EQUIP Courses this Fall

     

  

         This fall we are changing gears in our EQUIP ministry.  Wednesday nights we have offered a variety of Bible studies and classes for adults.  These have been great opportunities for those that have sought personal and spiritual growth.  As we move forward, our pastoral staff has felt that we need to be more strategic and focused with the options we offer on Wednesday night.  Our desire is that our course options for adults be aligned with our overall church purpose, vision and strategy.  

 Calvary's purpose statement is the following:

Calvary Baptist Church exists to glorify God by loving Him with all our being and by loving people in the power of the Holy Spirit that they might become Christ followers. 

That's our reason for existing, our purpose for being.  Our vision is that as we live our purpose, we will:

... be a community of Christ followers who love God with all [our] being and are sent into [our] world by Jesus Christ in the power of the Holy Spirit to love others and to encourage them to follow Christ in the same way, resulting in the multiplication of missional communities.

We call this our "vision statement."  If we reduce it this vision statement to its smallest expression, we come up with three primary aspects:

1. Love God (personal)
2. Love People (relational)
3. Live His Mission (missional)

These purpose and vision statements are based on primarily two Bible passages: Mark 12:30-31 and Matthew 28:18-20.  We call these texts "The Great Commandment" and "The Great Commission" respectively.

           The bottom line is that our church is about making disciples who make disciples.  Our purpose and vision statement do not use the word "disciples" because it seems to mean different things to different peoples.  So we have opted for the term "Christ followers" but we mean "disciples" by it.  For us, everything we do as a church: worship, group ministry, teaching, community ministry, missions mobilization, etc., etc., should glorify God and contribute to disciple-making (these two are mutually inclusive).  The discussions we need to have are "What do we mean by disciples?"  "What does a disciple look like?"  "How do we make disciples?"

          Thus, when we think about our EQUIP ministry on Wednesday nights, we realize the following:

1. We need to "equip" leaders to understand, share and implement this vision;
2. We want to "equip" families to make disciples at home.  We want families to know that adult, student and children ministries exist to support families in making disciples but these ministries can never replace the role of dads and moms in this task.
3. We want to "equip" those who are desiring to grow as disciples and to make other disciples.  

That is why this fall we have selected the following courses:

We hope you will take advantage of these opportunities to be equipped as Christ followers and to join God in His mission.

          On August 28 we will have an orientation in the parlor at 6:30.  This will be an opportunity to meet the course leaders and to hear an introductory word about each of the courses.  We hope that will be helpful to you as you decide which course to take.  The first session of each course will be on September 4 at 6:30 in the indicated venues.

           We are blessed to have Pastor Rolando Aguirre lead our EQUIP ministry.  The Spanish counter part to EQUIP is called Instituto de Capacitación Calvary (Calvary Equip Institute).  The name might be slightly different but the objective is the same: our Wednesday course offerings for adults are meant to equip believers, members and leaders to be disciples and to serve as God has called each of them.

We are thankful for the rest of the pastoral staff and for Pastor Ed Gilpin who have agreed to lead these four courses for our adults in Calvary's English Language Ministry.

           As you know a fifth EQUIP option will be the Perspectives course which will be offered on the Calvary campus.  You may choose between the Monday night (6:30 to 9:30) or the Tuesday morning (9 to 12) option.  If you choose to take Perspectives, we recommend you do so in lieu of a Wednesday night course because of the time commitment they each require.  There is a significant financial cost for the Perspectives course and there are some partial scholarships available.  For more information, please contact Pastor Chad.

           You are a leader!  If you are not already committed to something else on Wednesday night or to taking Perspectives, I hope to see you there!