How Can Valley Bible Church Help People Like You Grow?

Last month in this space I wrote that Valley Bible Church wants to be a place with more emphasis on developing people than on developing programs. God is in the business of transforming disciples of Jesus not creating programs for them to be involved in. We do not expect that just because people participate in the programs or activities we offer they are better off spiritually or growing as a disciple of Jesus.

To help to that end, we would like to engage as many of you as possible in what we will call "guided conversations" or interviews if you will. Following are the five questions that will be the basis of these conversations with some rationale for each.

1) What do you enjoy doing? This is good because everyone likes to talk about what they love. But it is also to talk about that sometimes what we like to do is what God wants to use in spiritual service, how he wants to bless us.

2) Where do you see God at work right now in your life? Do you see God at work in your family, your children, your neighborhood, or your work? We would love to hear about it. We believe seeing where God is at work shows us where we can join him.

3) What would you like to see God do in your life in the next six to twelve months? How can we help? We want to help shape, not determine your spiritual growth pathway. What connections does Valley have for you to grow? What resources do we need or can we point to outside the church to help you grow? It is up to you to want to grow. It is our job to provide growth opportunities.

4) How would you like to serve other people? How can we help? Most people grow most through serving. If we only eat, take in, and never exercise,  work out, we will soon be in trouble physically. If we only take God’s Word in through study or classes, but never exercise we will be fat spiritually. Serving creates the kinds of questions or situations that can motivate us to study even more.

5) How can we pray for you? These interviews can last a few minutes or an hour or so depending on how helpful you think the time is. They can be done either as individuals or as married couples. For the most part Pastors Chad and John will conduct the interviews. It seems like summer may be a good time to do it. So stop by the office when you have time or we will come to you, either in your home or at a restaurant for lunch (John) or coffee (Chad). We want to make it convenient because we think this will help you and us as disciples and servants of Jesus.