2
GBPC 2014 Priorities
The restructuring of Session in 2011 has
continued to allow elders to focus on
long-range planning for GBPC, part of
which includes establishing key priorities for each year that serve as a guide
for our ministry teams. During the
months of October and November of
2013, the elders spent time in prayer and
engaged in a corporate discernment process to determine what areas God is calling us to focus more energy on in 2014.
The following priorities were discerned,
the “what” we believe God is calling us
to do, which were shared with the ministry teams, who provided ideas on the
“how” to make these a priority.
We focused on three priorities under the
heading inwardly strong—meaning,
these are things we believe we are being
called to focus on in order to encourage
spiritual growth in the congregation. We
also discerned three priorities in the area
of externally focused, which specifically
focus on our understanding that we are
called to be missional—engaged in acts
of service and evangelism.
2.
3.
ways we can focus on particular disciplines or practices throughout the
year. To this end, we have decided
that 2014 should be the Year of Spiritual Growth, adding other disciplines
to our interest in focusing on God’s
Word. Read below for more info
about the Year of Spiritual Growth.
Preschool—One of the valuable ministries of GBPC is Great Bridge Presbyterian Preschool. We desire to
strengthen this ministry and to build a
stronger relationship of support between the church and the preschool.
Session has established a task force
to work with the Preschool Board,
and are seeking closer connections
between the Preschool and Children’s
Ministry Team.
Children and Youth Ministries—
For a second year, we recognize the
importance of vital children’s and
youth ministries. Ways to make this
a priority include providing more
tools for parents, developing a discipleship strategy for leaders as well as
for children and youth, and creating a
year-round youth intern position.
INWARDLY STRONG
1.
Spiritual Disciplines—Spiritual
disciplines are intentional actions
followers of Christ do in order to
continue to grow in relationship
with Him. Children, youth and
adult ministry leaders have been
working collaboratively to plan for
2.
3.
distribution, homelessness, jail and
reentry missions, and evangelistic
and disciple-making missions. We
will continue to focus on ways for
church members to serve in tangible
ways and create more partnerships
with other churches. We also look
forward to five different mission
trips in 2014.
Combine Word with Deed—
Discerning this as a priority means
Session feels it is important to continue our focus on evangelism, and
to use a strength, our many service
and mission activities, to more intentionally share the name and message of Jesus Christ.
Preschool—Session recognized that
the preschool is also an externally
focused mission, in that the majority
of children and families involved in
GBPP are from the community and
not members of the church. We
want to continue making sure that
GBPP is meeting the needs of the
community, and will be engaging in
processes to evaluate the preschool
and improve our footprint in the
community.
EXTERNALLY FOCUSED
1.
Service & Mission—Anyone who is
connected with GBPC is well aware
of our many service and mission opportunities—55 partnerships all together! We have missions that focus
on children and youth, health, food
2014 is the Year of Spiritual Growth
In the fall, Session God’s word in January-F X