Comments on: 3 Part Strategy For Spiritual Growth http://www.ronedmondson.com/2009/08/3-part-strategy-for-spiritual-growth.html The Blog of Leader, Pastor, and Church Planter Ron Edmondson Sun, 12 Feb 2012 12:24:50 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: ronedmondson http://www.ronedmondson.com/2009/08/3-part-strategy-for-spiritual-growth.html#comment-9409 ronedmondson Sun, 13 Jun 2010 21:45:22 +0000 http://www.ronedmondson.com/?p=3368#comment-9409 I have given Anne's Mad Church Disease away before. <em> Thanks for your good comments today! </em> I have given Anne's Mad Church Disease away before. Thanks for your good comments today!

]]> By: Joe Sewell http://www.ronedmondson.com/2009/08/3-part-strategy-for-spiritual-growth.html#comment-9402 Joe Sewell Sun, 13 Jun 2010 21:32:20 +0000 http://www.ronedmondson.com/?p=3368#comment-9402 Awesome post, especially about the "self-feeder." I now wonder if that's where I've fallen off the turnip truck (or whatever metaphor you wish to use here). The three points are tremendously valid for an individual (I've always been partial to "Win, Disciple, Send," but that's more of a church-wide thing), as long as you keep those as a set of guidelines, not as laws to set down. There will be people who cannot gather at times. There will be people who are called to step down from serving in any traditional or visible sense from time to time. <b>That's OK,</b> as long as that's what God has told them to do or refrain from doing. When someone starts to "feel the heat" because they're not serving, it isn't always from God. This is true especially for those with a "sensitive conscience," or those for whom serving has been such a big thing that it has outpaced their relationship with God. (I refer you to Anne Johnson's <i>Mad Church Disease</i> for details.) It's also true when there is a service need and not enough people are coming out to fill it. Children's ministry seems to suffer regularly from this, but that doesn't mean just anybody has the ability to dive in there & help out. (My wife is blessed with that. I, on the other hand, tell people I help out by staying as far away as I can from it. Trust me, it's better for everybody that way.) Awesome post, especially about the "self-feeder." I now wonder if that's where I've fallen off the turnip truck (or whatever metaphor you wish to use here).

The three points are tremendously valid for an individual (I've always been partial to "Win, Disciple, Send," but that's more of a church-wide thing), as long as you keep those as a set of guidelines, not as laws to set down. There will be people who cannot gather at times. There will be people who are called to step down from serving in any traditional or visible sense from time to time. That's OK, as long as that's what God has told them to do or refrain from doing. When someone starts to "feel the heat" because they're not serving, it isn't always from God. This is true especially for those with a "sensitive conscience," or those for whom serving has been such a big thing that it has outpaced their relationship with God. (I refer you to Anne Johnson's Mad Church Disease for details.) It's also true when there is a service need and not enough people are coming out to fill it. Children's ministry seems to suffer regularly from this, but that doesn't mean just anybody has the ability to dive in there & help out. (My wife is blessed with that. I, on the other hand, tell people I help out by staying as far away as I can from it. Trust me, it's better for everybody that way.)

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