Changing "mine" to "ours" to "His"

So we finally finished up the last of the Degree Completion Program that Sarah and I have been trying to survive for the last 19 months and I figured it was about time I get back to blogging on a regular or at least semi-regular basis.

For my first post DCP post I thought I would share some of my thoughts and struggles with transitioning my ministry into our ministry and ultimately into His ministry. I will probably address this more in a future post as this is still very much an ongoing thing right now, but in the mean time feel free to comment with your own thoughts, ideas and experiences.

I'll be honest, there is a certain amount of pride that has kept me from doing this sooner. As the person who started this ministry and ran it solo for so long, I feel a sense of ownership which makes it difficult to release the control necessary for others to lead.

And yet in all honesty this isn't the area I struggle with the most. My biggest struggle is in fact transitioning from a solo mindset to a team mindset. I'm just so used to doing everything on my own that when someone shows up and says "how can I help?" I'm at a loss. Not because there is nothing to do but because I just don't know how to break it up and break it down.

Finally a third block to this whole process is plain old fear. Fear that if I share my plans, passions and ideas, especially the raw unfinished ones that they will be torn apart in a hail of criticism.
The problem is that because of this my ministry remains as it's always been firmly within my grasp and no bigger than I can handle. If my ministry is going to grow, then it has to cease being my ministry. If the vision is to be realized I have to let it become soft and pliable. In short my ministry must die in order that God's ministry might grow and blossom. I have to stop asking God to help me accomplish my vision and start offering to help God accomplish His.

Ecclesiology Final

Hey everyone I realize that I haven't posted in a while. Ok a long time, anyway finally beginning the last class in the Degree Completion Program though so should hopefully be posting a lot more in the future. Still I thought I would post part of my Theology and the Christian Life final assignment. Basically I had to put together a teaching or series of teachings based on a Theology topic from our studies. I choose to do a youth series on Ecclesiology (the study of the Church), I'm actually hoping to maybe teach it here in a few more weeks we'll see. In the mean time check it out and give me some feedback.

Blessings,

Aaron Brant

Here is the outline for the first week.

Lesson 1: What is the church?

1. Introduction
1. Video: “What is the Church?” by Aaron Brant
2. What is Theology?
3. What is Ecclesiology?
2. There are several different words in the Bible that we translate as Church.

1. Kuriakon “belonging to the Lord”
2. Ekklesia “an assembly of people”

1. The word “church” is not used to describe

1. A building
2. A denomination

1. The word “church” is used in several different ways in the New Testament

1. The Universal Body of Christ

1. Eph. 5:23-32
2. Eph. 3:10&21
3. Col 1:18&24*
4. Mt. 16:18*

1. The local Church

1. Rom. 16:1
2. Col. 4:16
3. Acts 14:27
4. Gal. 1:2&22*

1. House Churches
1. 1 Cor. 16:19
2. Rom. 16:5&23
3. 1 Cor. 14:23*
4. Acts 20:17*
2. The collective church

1. 1 Cor. 10:32
2. 1 Cor. 15:9
3. Gal. 1:13
4. Phil 3:6*
5. Acts 9:31*

‘*’ denotes additional verses not covered in power point but available if needed.

Sorry about some of the weird formatting Blogger apparently didn't like when I copied and pasted from Pages.

Here are the Powerpoint slides from week 1