MAKING A DIFFERENCE – NOW AND IN ETERNITY!

Equipping God’s People for Ministry   @   Riverton Baptist Community Church

Our Motto     -  ‘Jesus Christ makes THE Difference, Now and In Eternity’

Our Vision    -  ‘A Growing Family of Believers passionately devoted to Jesus Christ 

Our Mission - ‘To know Christ and make Him known, by what we are, say and do

Since 2001, we have been seeking out God’s purpose for us as a church. God’s Word and the book, ‘The Church of Irresistible Influence’ (Robert Lewis & Rob Wilkins, 2001) have stimulated us to move in the following directions:

1.       To build bridges into the community around us.

2.       To let our light shine in the community.

3.       To help our people identify their gifts and abilities.

4.       To encourage our people to serve within the church and as the church in our community.

5.       To gather information that allows us to see our communities as they really are.

6.       To become involved in practical ways in our communities, demonstrating the gospel.

7.       To redefine success as ‘influence’.

8.       To shift our focus from ‘looking after us’ to ‘caring for our community’.

9.       To reaffirm that we are ‘called’ to glorify God.

10.   To develop effective leaders who can inspire us all to ‘love and good deeds’.

Jesus Christ makes the difference – now and in eternity. We have entered into a personal relationship with Christ and he changed our eternal destiny. He now wishes to make a difference in our lives and in the lives of people around us in the community. To this end, Jesus has given us three clear mandates:

1.       To be the salt of the earth – “You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled by men.” Matthew 5:13

2.       To be the light of the world – “You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.” Matthew 5:14-16

3.       To go and make disciples of all nations – “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” Matthew 28:18-20

A church that carries out these three mandates will be a church that makes a difference now and in eternity.

In order for this to happen, we need to prepare our people for the task. This is clearly shown in the words of the Apostle Paul where he challenged church leaders to  ‘prepare God’s people for works of service’ (Ephesians 4:11). We desire thus to be a church that is actively equipping our people in this regard. Our Senior Pastor, Linton Smith, gave four messages early in 2005 on the basic outline of our journey. Copies of these messages will soon be available on DVD from the church office.

Using small groups as the environment of learning, RBC is thus on an amazing three-year training cycle! Slowly the bridge of training modules is being built as we seek out God’s equipping plan for us. In small groups, people learn the essential elements of ‘community’ as they move on to become a ‘Make a Difference’ group at the end of the training cycle.

We will encourage people at RBCC to commit to:

 Jesus Christ and to living Christ-like lives            

 Praying daily for one another and for others      

 Worshipping regularly with the RBCC church family        

 Participating regularly in a RBCC small group

 Being responsible stewards of time, talent and treasure

 Identifying and using our spiritual gifts to glorify God

 Becoming a member at RBC and being involved in ministry

Our equipping cycle, which is being regularly reviewed, is shown in its current form below:

· Introducing God - This DVD based evangelistic course presents the claims of Christ in an Australian cultural framework.

· Search for Life – A needs based course to be offered when required and when facilitators are available. ‘Introducing God’ and ‘Search for Life’ will be the entry-level courses for people joining the training program. 

· Forty Days of Purpose - This program seeks intentionally to stimulate spiritual growth in our lives. Sunday messages tie in with weekday study materials and daily Bible readings.                           

· Responsible Stewardship - Using video and interactive notes, participants journey through the Bible, seeking to discover what God says about handling money and possessions.

· How to Study the Bible – A series of four studies in a seminar format where small groups learn the basics of Bible study.

·  Y Course – Video based eight-week apologetic course that explores life’s big questions such as:

    Why am I here? What is God like? What about other religions? What about suffering?

·  Christian Basics 101 - Video based doctrine studies, examining the basic theological truths of the

    Christian faith. This course will be spread out over two terms, each of approximately ten weeks.    

·  Discovering Your Spiritual Gifts – Short three-week course on spiritual gifts, with the focus on                  discovering your motivational gifts for ministry.       

·  Church History 101 – Using videos and discussion booklet, a six-week look at two thousand years

    of church history, from Christ to the present day.

· Christian Basics 102 – Second course on Christian doctrine.

· Steps to Freedom in Christ – A seven-week interactive video presentation that looks at spiritual warfare taught in God’s Word and how to find our true spiritual freedom in Christ.

· Church History 102 – Examine over six weeks the period from the time of Christ to Emperor Constantine in 325AD.

· Bird’s Eye View of the Bible – Seek to see the big picture of the Bible by following themes and focusing on Christ.

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Other training courses will be made available at different times and will include:

Church History 103 – Six-week video overview of the key people and events of the Reformation.

Growing in Prayer – Seminar presentation on how to grow in personal and corporate prayer.

Developing Dynamic Small Groups – Seminar presentation on the key elements of building small groups.

Becoming an Effective Pastoral Carer – Seminar-based presentation over three weeks.

Our desire is to intentionally move forward on a three year equipping track that will prepare us for effective ministry in our community and around the world.

Pastor Colin Meadows, Equipping Team  July 5, 2005

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