Thursday, October 18, 2007

How are people equipped to serve?

I was reading an article by Alan Nelson earlier this week. You can read it here. He asks the question about how people are equipped to serve. He has four phases of spiritual development and personal growth. They are Education, Inspiration, Application, and Manifestation. Here's the quote that has really got me thinking this week:

"Most Christians are far more informed and inspired than transformed."

I'm thinking that when I stand before the people of Charter Oak Church and preach I am providing the pathway for education and inspiration to occur. It is up to each person to take what I am saying and bring the third phase - application. But it is the last phase, manifestation, that takes both of us to accomplish. Manifestation doesn't just bring ministry by addition, but by multiplication. It is taking what is learned, becoming passionate about it, then applying it to your life, and then finally living it in such a transformational way that others want to do the same thing.

What will it take for more people at Charter Oak Church to move from the education and inspiration phases to the application phase? What will it take for more people at Charter Oak Church to move from the application phase to the manifestation phase?

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