Fall is in the air, and as churches, many of us are launching new or renewed ministry initiatives, but the question we need to ask is, are they effective?

As a VCN staff and leadership, we have been asking that question and even more: how do we make sure we are helping churches be effective?

We spent the last week with other ministry organizations and leadership asking these same questions. I think we can all agree that the American Church is over-programmed and under-disciplined.

We believe that we need to change that. Our calling needs to be coming alongside our congregations to get people on a mission. As leaders, we need to trade the identity of being “the hero of ministry” to being “the developer of hero potential” in others. We need to train individual disciples how to interact with the truth in their own lives and to pass that along in their sphere of influence. We need to develop learning leaders to engage in the relationships around them and to be an ambassador sent out to make disciples.

Our vision of success needs to shift from counting numbers within our churches to a vision of disciple-making. We are honored to do ministry with you.

We’re praying for you and excited for what God will do in the days ahead.