The past three blog posts have briefly outlined some general characteristics of three kinds of local church groups and church gatherings. What if you and your friends wanted to start from scratch and nurture a Church Encounter of the 3rd/3-D Kind? What if you felt led to want to be part of establishing an Experimental Prototype Church of Tomorrow–an EPChOT?
One place to start would be to consider what should be some of the Key Purposes of such a local group. Here is a suggested list of eight Key Purposes. Obviously this isn’t a comprehensive list, but it addresses some of the most critical characteristics of an EPChOT.
A healthy, biblically-based local congregation of believers should be striving to:
- Establish its members in sound biblical understanding
- Equip and encourage maturing Christians to use all their natural and spiritual gifts
- Provide a nurturing environment for new babes in Christ
- Provide and promote outlets for the natural and spiritual gifts of all members
- Spread the Gospel both locally and beyond
- Minister to the spiritual and physical needs of the local community
- Reproduce itself through evangelism and discipleship, establishing new congregations as possible
- Educate and train the leaders for the Church of Tomorrow
You might want to consider whether you are currently involved in a local setting in which these goals are part of the group’s Prime Directive. If not… why not?
