Yesterday, I talked with some of our church leaders about things we learned from attending the Exponential 2010 Conference. Here are three things that are shaping how I think about our church context at Brooklife now:
- We must be clear on vision, strategy, values, and aims: Through Will Mancini‘s pre-conference workshop, I was challenged to consider how clear we are as a church in who we are and where we are going. While we do have clear mission and values, our aims and strategy are at times murky, at least in how they are communicated. If we are not clear on this at the leadership level, we will not communicate clearly. If we do not communicate it clearly, we will fail to get the church on board with where we are heading. We are moving in the right direction, but still have some work to do. The greater the clarity, the better the outcomes.
- Our space must reflect the identity and mission of the church: As we continue to explore our options for land acquisition and facility development, we need to creatively render space – whether leased or owned – to reflect the uniqueness of Brooklife. It is far too easy to simply follow the trend in the ‘Brook’ family of churches or be status quo in the physical space we utilize. Mel McGowan’s workshop challenged both me and Josh Peterson, one of our elders, to think even more creatively about space.
- What if groups were multi-generational?: A number of our elders who were at Exponential were challenged by Rick Howerton’s workshop on multi-generational groups, especially as pertains to children participating in house groups somehow. Nathan Schindler mentioned yesterday and in some email communication last week that he wants to try to include the children in a tangible way. This last week, his house group included children in prayer at the beginning, having parents pray over their children before dismissing them for the adult’s study time. It was moving and powerful. What if we the concept of ‘family ministry’ flowed into our groups?
Tomorrow, I’ll post about two things that have impacted me personally as a follower of Jesus from the conference. You can also access all of my notes from the conference here.
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Matthew Erickson 
1) not my church
2) sadly, my church
3) not my church
%33 — that’s not bad… I mean that’s about what the Buck’s shot in the playoffs. oh, wait…
Hmm…The Bucks’ play-off shooting percentage in comparison to your church. Interesting…it sounds like you’re saying it’s not exactly successful, or what you would hope for, Matt.
Your answer to the second point is a commentary on a lot of churches. Our architecture does reflect who we are and, if not continually challenged and re-thought, becomes an archaic monument to who we once were. If architecture locks our vision into place for 30 years, then we have stopped being innovative. We’re trying to avoid it. Is it possible, do you think?
I fully affirm 1 and 3. #2 sounds a bit more challenging to work through to completion.
I agree with you, Brian, but it is important for us to consider #2. most evangelicals take a simple functional approach to space reflected in the question, will this help us get a task done? While I don’t want to sweep that aside entirely, we should also give attention to how space quietly communicates, reflected in the question, what does this space say and do in itself?
Great takeaways Matt
Thanks, Jason. I’ll post two more personal takeaways tomorrow morning. Were you at the conference? What were your takeaways?