Lay Church Renewal Journey

  A Journey of Spiritual Renewal--growth and discovery.

Tips for Weekend Team Members
Any long journey requires thoughtful and careful preparation. Surprises and unscheduled stops may occur, but good planning and preparation will enable you to continue the journey through to its conclusion.


Click Here to download the Tips for Team Members Brochure ( Prints out on 8.5x14 paper)

For many, the beginning point on the "Journey of Spiritual Renewal," the renewal strategy for Southern Baptist churches, is a Church Renewal Weekend. A lay team, under the leadership of a coordinator, comes into a local church for the Weekend. This team is used in a leadership role to assist the local church to discover what they have in Christ and in each other, and to celebrate it. The prayerful desire is that many of the members of that local church will also begin a spiritual journey during this 42-hour period. As a team member, you can help in many ways. It is necessary, however, for you to have begun the journey yourself, to have the proper attitude and the necessary equipment. Thus, these "tips for team members."

PRIOR TO THE LAY RENEWAL WEEKEND
Your individual preparation for the Church Renewal Weekend involves three distinct areas:

1. Your Relationship with Christ. Read these verses and reflect on your relationship with our Lord. You have been born anew and, being led by the Holy Spirit, you have His witness within. (See 2 Corinthians 5:17, Romans 8:14, 2 Timothy 1:12.)

2. Your Devotional Life. As above, read and reflect on these verses as they relate and speak to you in your devotional life. You are one who speaks to God and one to whom He speaks; you are also reading His Word and, above all, meditating upon it. (See Psalm 5:1-3, 119:9-11, 97-99.)

3. Your Interim Report. By this we mean your "testimony." This new term emphasizes that it needs to be current at all times. Give it out of conviction. Speak with the authority of God's child. You are! (2 Corinthians 4:13) Give it out of experience. Speak about your witness. God gave it to you! (Psalm 23:4) Give it out of commitment. Speak with the assurance of God's presence. He has promised it!

SOME GENERAL GUIDELINES

1. You are to place the Church Renewal Weekend in the perspective of the "Journey of Spiritual Renewal," the total strategy of renewal among Baptists.

2. You are one of a team that has no "stars." Everyone is an important part of this Weekend. Do not monopolize the time, either in small group sharing or in a testimony before a large group. Follow the leadership of your coordinator. Be appreciative of constructive criticism, if needed, from the coordinator. Experienced team members should offer advice to the coordinator and make him aware of any special talents of team members.

3. You are to magnify Christ. Behave in such a manner that all your actions are above reproach. Do not magnify a Church Renewal Weekend or some "event." It is not necessary to stress the abilities or gifts of any other team member, coordinator, or even yourself. These will be used by the Lord as He chooses.

4. You are complementary to other team members. What you may lack, some other team member will be able to supply. All fit in God's plan for His work in the proper place.

5. You are an invited guest of the host church. You are there to assist this church as a whole and individual members as you may have occasion. You are a representative of your own church on the recommendation of others. Respect it.

6. You are to help edify and build this church. This is done through love and a positive and hopeful attitude. Please do not criticize. Avoid negative comments. If you disagree with anyone or anything on the Weekend, pray about it alone.

7. "Tongues" is not a part of the Church Renewal Weekend or of the "Journey of Spiritual Renewal."

8. Avoid a new "formalism." Some of us react to existing formalisms by adopting new ones, such as holding hands while the group prays, asking someone to pray for you before you share, raising hands or saying "Praise the Lord" repeatedly. Do what you do under His leadership, but avoid anything that becomes "necessary," hence a new ritual.

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