Seasons of Service

Understanding and recognizing the seasons of service will help grow a healthy community focused on achieving its vision.

Season of Service

Understanding and recognizing the seasons of service will help grow a healthy community focused on achieving its vision.

Helping people listen to Spirit, self, and others is core to our understanding of what makes for a healthy community.

Listening while going about the everyday tasks of living, learning, laboring, and launching.

Some communities focus on only one or two of the seasons, neglecting the others. The goal is to grow in each area. To see and celebrate how they work together to move you toward healthy growth.

LIVE:

It is possible to become too busy to enjoy life or the people God has brought into your life. In a world focused on deadlines, constant improvement, and continual growth we must learn what it means to simply live. When Jesus said, “I have come that you may have life to the full” he was talking about our being, not amassing a great fortune, or growing great programs to gain the praise of men.

LEARN:

Learning is a lifelong challenge, and we must strive to be continually growing in our understanding and experience of God, ourselves, and others. Even as we take great steps forward in our knowledge of the Spirit we have only begun to “scratch the surface” of who the Alpha and Omega truly is. As we continue to grow and mature, we uncover deeper truths about ourselves, our relationships, and the world around us. Opening ourselves to experiencing life with those who are “not like us” we see God’s handiwork revealed in magnificent ways.

LABOR:

Working toward a common goal builds community. It gives people the opportunity to exercise the gifts and talents given them by God to help the community grow and serve others. Coming together and uniting to accomplish a common task as simple as cleaning a yard or as complex as starting a homeless shelter demands teamwork. As we work together, we see a picture of what it must be as Father, Son, and Spirit work together to redeem and restore creation.

LAUNCH:

New initiatives that grow out of living, learning, listening, and laboring together are launched. Every launch should be viewed as temporary. After a trial period, the launch will be reviewed. Reviewed to see if it is meeting the stated goals and continues to be a wise use of resources. Clear and measurable standards for review will be set before the launch and we should expect adjustments to be made after the evaluation.

LISTEN:

Listening is key. Listening to the Spirit, ourselves, and others. Learning to listen for the Spirit’s leading, guiding, and directing for individuals, and our community. Listening to ourselves sounds easy but is no simple task. Honestly acknowledging the feelings and emotions we are having is the first step to sharing openly with those in our community. We must listen to each other, truly hearing what the other is saying. Only as we hear the heartbeat of those around us can we begin to serve them well. Listening to others as we evaluate the effectiveness of programs launched will allow us to adapt our efforts to serve those in our community.