We are excited to announce that the MSPC Elemental Churches team has been formed. Eight MSPC leaders and congregation members have answered the call to serve on the team.
Our team has begun training with Dave Workman, former senior pastor of the Vineyard Cincinnati Church and founder of The Elemental Group. In his book Elemental Leaders: Four Essentials Every Leader Needs and Every Church Must Have, Workman states that all effective leaders possess four traits which propel them toward success: integrity, passion, servanthood, and imagination. He further states that healthy organizations are characterized by the same four traits.
To help us remember these traits, Workman pairs each of them with a foundational element from ancient Greece: Integrity/Earth, Passion/Fire, Servanthood/Water, and Imagination/Air.
Integrity/Earth pertains to how a church is grounded in a clear mission and trustworthy principles. It also considers how the internal systems of the church naturally evolve from the mission and grounding principles.
Fire/Passion pertains to the inner sense of calling and conviction within the church, particularly among the core leadership. The church leaders have a “fire in the belly” for the mission, and that inner fire draws other people in and empowers them for accomplishment.
Water/Servanthood pertains to the outward focus of the leaders and the church. Water pours forth, nourishes, and causes other things to flourish and grow. It’s an inherent spirit of being a part of something bigger and focusing outward.
Air/Imagination pertains to possibility, creativity, and asking “what if” questions. It’s an openness to taking risks and trying new things.
Together with Dr. Tom Thatcher, author of The Elemental Group’s field guide, Workman has developed a program to help church leaders assess how their church is currently functioning within the four elements. The leaders complete inventories which enable them to identify their own primary leadership traits, as well as the predominant traits of their church. The leadership can then clarify the mission of their church and develop strategies for implementing it.
In Phase 1 of the Elemental Churches Pathway, our team will analyze how MSPC is currently functioning within the four elements. During this phase, we’ll try to get a clear picture of where we are and start envisioning where we might want to go. Our team will regularly report back to the congregation during the assessment phase, and we will seek ongoing input from the congregation along the way. We expect interesting questions to arise, such as:
Does the mission of the church need to be clarified?
What ignites our enthusiasm and energy?
What are the needs of our surrounding communities and how might we meet them?
What could we do differently to spark interest and greater involvement?
We’re only at the starting gate of this new venture. Let’s run the race set before us! It’s going to be exciting to see what God has in store for us!
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