Jesus charged his followers (and this includes us) to ...go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you." (Matthew 28:19-20) This quote from Matthew is known as "The Great Commission." First Lutheran's vision  "BRING THEM IN, TURN THEM ON, AND SEND THEM OUT!" is really just an easy-to-remember summary of the Great Commission. We have been given the marching orders to introduce unchurched folks to Jesus Christ and invite them to begin a discipleship journey with us by being baptized (Bring them In). Beyond that, we are to grow them to maturity in the faith until they "measure up to the full stature of Christ ,or, as Martin Luther put it, until they become "little Christs" (Turn them On, see Ephesians 3:12-13), and then commission them to go out into the world to "share the good news of God's love by word and deed with people everywhere." (Send them Out, preceding quotation from our congregation's formal mission statement.) Two years ago, our Congregation Council created a "Ministry Development Team" made up of two people from the council and three from the staff. With the council given the task of setting the vision and long-range goals for the congregation, and the staff charged with the responsibility for carrying out these goals, the idea behind the creation of this team was to unite these two groups in working together to effectively fulfill our mission and vision. I am so grateful for the dedicated leadership of this team, consisting of Mary Jarvey and Beth Hanna from the council and Pastor Tom Pietz and Doug Johnson joining me from the staff. After dozens of hours of hard work, this group has put together a strategy for making this vision come alive in the next few years. With much more work necessary to "fine tune" this strategy, here is an outline of what we hope to accomplish in the next few months: Bring Them In ("Come and See") members of FLC are encouraged and trained to invite their unchurched friends, relatives, associates, and neighbors to ?come and see, just as the woman at the well did in John 4:5-42 a Welcome Team is created who will serve as hosts for first-time worshipers - people who show these new friends around and answer any questions they might have producing a Visitor Packet an envelope filled with information that might be helpful to someone who wants to learn more about our church organizing a Cookie Contact where one or two members deliver a plate of cookies to a visitor's home on the Monday night after their first visit. This could be done by individuals or youth and adult small groups making a Telephone Contact with the new individual/family after their third visit, asking if they have any questions and inviting them to a newcomer orientation assigning a Sponsor to mentor the new individual/family as they begin their discipleship journey with us Turn Them On ("Follow Me") Jesus approached various people, who had no doubt heard his message, and invited them to "follow me" Mark 1:16-20 at an Orientation Seminar we would invite interested new friends to join us on our discipleship journey and outline the mission, vision, values, and discipleship journey we are also on these new friends would be asked to take the Alpha course, an introduction to the basics of Christianity and biblical community, and all present FLC members would be invited to also take the class, so that we all have the same basic understanding of the faith new and present members are invited to do the Christian Life Profile, an assessment tool that helps us see where we are on our discipleship journey, rating our understanding of the core beliefs, practices, and virtues of our Christian walk an Introduction to the Bible course is offered regularly, summarizing the content and overall themes of the Bible, as well as laying out tips in reading and studying the Scriptures for personal growth and enrichment asking all our members to discover their spiritual gifts through an instrument called a Spiritual Gifts Assessment Survey and then following that up with a Designing Ministries Class and Lab where help is given so that individuals can link up their gifts and talents with the needs of the congregation and community Send Them Out ("Remain in Me and Bear Much Fruit") Jesus said that if you "remain in me," in other words, stay connected to him, we are guaranteed to "bear much fruit" - John 15:1-5 offer the Ordinary Day with Jesus course, helping members to take Jesus with them into their ordinary daily activities encourage every member to step into a more focused growth in faith journey through one or more of the following: (1) Discipleship Triad, (2) Renovaré Spiritual Formation Group, (3) Life Transformation Group, (4) Spiritual Renewal Retreat, (5) Individual Spiritual Direction with our Spiritual Formation Director the Becoming a Contagious Christian course is offered regularly to help members to assess their individual evangelism "styles"and preparing them to feel comfortable with sharing their faith in daily life offering a Need-Oriented Evangelism course which prepares members for specific mission opportunities to "share the good news in word and deed" making available these long and short-term mission opportunities for members to share the good news making available a Christian Leaders Who Make a Difference course preparing disciples for various leadership positions in our congregation and the wider church I am particularly drawn to the purpose statement our team developed for this "discipleship journey." It reads like this: At First Lutheran Church, we are committed to being on a journey that leads to mature discipleship for each believer. Everything we do is with the intention of growing in a life-saving relationship with Jesus that will transform our lives here on earth and shape our eternity with our heavenly Father. We commit to provide the kind of environment necessary for growth in such a relationship. Whether or not we achieve these goals depends on all of us, the members and friends of First Lutheran. Are you committed to bring others with you on this amazing discipleship journey? Thank you for your partnership in our congregation's vision! Pastor Dan Kolander