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Your Next Steps
Initial suggestions for those who wish to influence their congregations by utilizing the book “Turning Controversy into Church Ministry” and its adjoining resources.
Whether you are a church member, a pastor, or a church leader, you can make a significant impact on your congregation by incorporating the below suggestions. Even if you are not aware of people in your church who struggle with unwanted same-sex attractions, taking these action steps can help your church improve its spiritual and communal health, and can make it more relevant to the community in which it is located. After you’ve explored our website, we suggest...
I. First steps, whether you are a pastor, church leader, or a church member:
- If you have not done so, read the book, Turning Controversy into Church Ministry: A Christlike Approach to Homosexuality ( see Author page ). Also review the resource section in the back of the book and the Additional Resources page on this website to consider further reading in areas of interest.
- Consider attending an Exodus-related conference. Bring as many church leaders with you as you can. Refer to the Exodus International website for more information.
- Work with your church leaders as much as possible as you develop this ministry. A church cannot be united in vision and purpose if its leaders are not taking the lead. Be patient with them. Encourage them to engage in the leadership training offered on this website. Trust that God is at work, even if things move much more slowly than you would like. Establish a prayer group and pray boldly and consistently for God’s will to be accomplished.
Next…
II. If you are the pastor:
- Show your church leaders the introductory DVD (see Purchase page), which includes two short trailers that describe the ministry and why it is important for your church.
- Invite your leadership team to journey through the five one-hour session small group DVD study. While this series is optional for leadership teams, it provides a good foundation for the next series (the leadership training series), and teams that have experienced the small group study will be better prepared to support or even to guide other small groups that use this material.
- Establish a time when your church leaders can go through the leadership training series. This series contains five one-hour sessions. These sessions can either be spread out over several meetings, or combined into a one-day training retreat. In the last of the leadership training sessions, your leaders will be launched into a time of analysis, and told to bring their conclusions back to a church implementation planning session, which should be a week or more after the completing of the training. This final planning session is normally about three hours in duration, and can be blended with meals, worship and prayer to create a one-day retreat if desired.
This may sound like a lot but it really is not. If a church leadership team simply sets aside one hour in each of its regular meetings ten different times (or five times if it doesn’t utilize the small group series), the leaders will catch a vision and will be set on a course to come together for the final three hour implementation session after which the ministry is ready to be launched.
I know how busy you and your leaders are. I’m a pastor, and I experience all of the pressures also. I could be tempted to give you a shortcut solution to leadership training. But without the foundation of true understanding of the issues and solutions, there can be no substantial ministry.
This Your Next Steps handout gives you a sense of how to move forward, but not the specifics. You can find full instructions and guidelines in the church implementation guide, available on this website.
III. If you are a church member who finds the pastor is unwilling to run with this program at this time:
- If your pastor is not ready to engage in the ministry as described above, seek the blessing of your pastor and church leaders to start a small group that will focus on this topic. Use the five-session small group series. If a small group completes the series and wants to learn more, take them through the leadership training series. But remind them that the goal is for them to bring vision and enthusiasm to the church leadership, and not to work around them.
- Once you’ve enjoyed the DVD resources, try again to convince your pastor and church leaders to engage in this ministry as described in part II above. If they are still not willing or able to guide this ministry for the sexually and relationally broken, seek their approval to continue building ministry. The church implementation guide and the resources on this website provide insights on how to establish support groups for loved ones who struggle with same-sex attractions, support groups for parents of children who have these struggles, and much more. Familiarize yourself with various options, pray for God’s leading, and move forward with the wisdom and confidence that God promises to provide (James 1:5-8).
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