FULLY ALIVE
Congregational Letter | February 2017 | By Rich Nathan
We’re going to be engaged in an all-church campaign called “Fully Alive” during the Lenten season, from February 26 through Palm Sunday, April 9. The purpose of the campaign is to bring a laser-like focus to discipleship in our church.
Last year we were thrilled with our church’s involvement in the Good Life campaign. We saw people’s lives transformed as they explored the life God created them to live. We had over 400 Hosts start new groups and 120 of these groups continued after the campaign. Each of these groups connected people into life-giving community. Our weekly attendance went up during the Good Life campaign because people invited friends, family, and co-workers and attended more regularly themselves.
We also started a new ministry, Transitions, that provides free basic home goods for vulnerable people transitioning into housing. In the past year we have received about 200 referrals for families, and we’ve served over 600 individuals. Sixteen of the referrals were for veterans moving from homelessness to housing.
This year our theme is “Fully Alive”. The scripture we drew this theme from is found in:
Habakkuk 2:4
Look at that man, bloated by self-importance—full of himself but soul-empty. But the person in right standing before God through loyal and steady believing is fully alive, really alive.
A church father named Irenaeus, who lived in the second century in France, said this:
“The glory of God is man fully alive”
Irenaeus, during his life, was engaged in a series of battles for the soul of Christianity. The group that he was fighting against was called the Gnostics. Gnostics were essentially dualistic. They separated human beings between their supposed lower part – their body or flesh – and their supposed higher part, their spirits. The Gnostics taught that only spirit could be saved, but everything that was material and flesh would be destroyed. Irenaeus countered with the biblical message that human beings are a unity and that the work of Jesus Christ was designed to save not only our spirits, but our whole person – our bodies, our intellects, our emotions, our sexuality, our entire lives. So, Irenaeus said:
“The glory of God is man fully alive”
We want everyone to be fully alive, so this campaign is not just focusing on our church.
We will focus on 6 areas:
What will the Fully Alive Campaign look like?
We all learn in different ways. So this campaign will help disciple through:
Listening
Our weekend sermon series for six weeks will be centered on God’s desire and plan for us to become Fully Alive. Children and VC Students will be mirroring what the adults are learning with curriculum written just for them.
Discussing
We produced a Fully Alive curriculum for use in all our small groups, which includes a video of me teaching six 20-minute lessons. We also wrote a workbook with discussion questions for those in a Fully Alive small group. We’re encouraging everyone, including middle and high schoolers, to be in a small group or start a new small group for the six weeks of the campaign. This includes you! We want to see hundreds of new groups form during this campaign.
Reading and Praying
There will be a workbook with five daily devotionals for each week of the campaign.
Writing
There’s space next to each devotional to journal and to actively participate in the exercises through writing.
Doing
The workbook encourages participants to set a goal to become more fully alive in various areas of life. We are also committed to making our community more fully alive. We will encourage every small group to sign up for a service project during campaign and consider continuing serving on a regular basis. We will also be massively increasing the number of opportunities for you to go on a short-term mission trip.
Why are we starting hundreds of Small Groups during this Campaign?
Vineyard Columbus has always taught and believed that discipleship does not happen without close fellowship in which we know others and are known ourselves. Currently, 45 percent of the folks who call Vineyard Columbus their church home are not in a small group. And there are many in the central Ohio community – including many non-Christians – who would benefit from watching the Fully Alive videos we have produced. We want to start hundreds of new groups during this campaign and see hundreds of groups continue to meet after the campaign.
In order to start hundreds of new groups, for six weeks, we need hundreds of people to HOST a group of their friends, family, neighbors, co-workers or others who are not currently in a small group. We are using the acronym HOST to signify the qualities of the person who would volunteer for starting one of these groups. To be a HOST you need to:
To be a HOST, you don’t need to be a gifted teacher, be a long-time Christian, or have everything together in your life. If you can do the few things listed above and gather two or three others, you can HOST a group during the Fully Alive campaign. And, we’ll be providing support for every new group through our HOST Support Team.
Here’s what we’re asking you to do.
If you already lead a small group:
If you are already in a small group, but don’t lead
the group:
If you are not in a small group:
Finally: