Most of you know what I believe God has already revealed to us in His Word about church. He initially set it up as described in the Book of Acts. Church was held in homes and small groups which is ideal for making disciples who in turn will make disciples. This is how church will be, once again, in the coming tribulation prior to Jesus return.

Phil Miglioratti • The #ReimagineFORUM Pray Network has provided a useful guide for church leaders to use post Covid19.

This guide is all about what God calls the church to do: disciple its members and impact its community with the Gospel.

Resist the temptation to merely reopen your church. Instead, reimagine how a church lives out faith, hope, and love in the shadow of a pandemic. Invite the Holy Spirit to take you (pastors, lead teams, affinity groups, congregations) on a journey of rethinking by:

1. Assessing how the new normal impacts the calling and gifting of your congregation
2. Blessing your constituents but also the diverse peoples in your community
3. Confessing your fear and declaring your faith to move into the future

Make a fearless assessment of the new normal.

• Have we made meaningful connections with every member? Attender?
• Have we developed systems to identify practical needs of our families? Our community?
• Are we identifying the degree of difficulty each person/family has experienced?
• Have we surveyed our membership to know how to serve their:
  • Practical needs?
  • Emotional pains?
  • Spiritual status?
• Gather (virtual, if not safe to meet in person) leadership to prayerfully discern:
  • Strengths – what new capabilities have we discovered in our people?
  • Weaknesses – in what ways has our ministry capacity decreased?
  • Opportunities – which needs or new options are we facing?
  • Resources – what undiscovered, unexpected resources have surfaced?
  • Risks/Rewards – have we counted the cost of making changes? Doing nothing?

Begin to daily ask for the mind of Christ so that you (personally but also with congregational ministers) discern how to reimagine how to develop:

• Experiential worship
• Enthusiastic (“in; theos/God”) fellowship
• Equipped leadership
• Extreme discipleship
• Extravagant stewardship
• Engaging citizenship

Pursue a Spirit-led, Scripture-fed journey. God always wants to move you on to a new level of service. Therefore, it should lead you to begin a new chapter of ministry. Your congregation or team may be called upon to make a radical change or to re-calibrate systems or reorient programs. Focus on Jesus. Fear less. Fear wisely. Follow Jesus… to the places where Almighty God is already at work; He is inviting you to serve in the power of the Holy Spirit. As you step out miracles will follow.