Great Expectations!
North Raleigh Enters a Season of Refocus
and Renewal
In the next few months, we as a body of believers at North Raleigh Church of the Nazarene will be participating in an extensive and prayerful process of seeking God’s direction for our church, and defining the unique ministry purpose to which he has called us in this place and at this time.
As part of that process, members of the congregation will be encouraged to invest time in Focused Living Retreats (FLR). These two-session weekend retreats (Friday night and Saturday to mid-day) will give participants an opportunity to examine their own lives to clarify their personal values, purpose and calling.
Why your commitment to the Focused Living
Retreat is important
Looking back
The retreat includes a time of looking back to assess the significant events, people and milestones in your life.
“Doing this kind of assessment helps you take a kind of ‘big picture’ look at your life,” said one board member. “I am, of course, aware of the individual events in my journey, but I seldom look at them as parts of a whole story, or ‘from above.’ It really helped me see how my perspective about life, my relationship with God, my aptitudes and attitudes have been formed. It also gave me a better sense of the gifts and life experience I have to contribute at North Raleigh.”
Looking inward
Another part of the retreat experience involves thinking long and hard (and honestly) about what we really value.
Another board member said, “It was very telling for me to list on a piece of paper the things I say have the most value to me, and then to compare that list to how I really use my time, energy and resources. The two don’t always line up.”
Looking forward
The third part of the FLR will ask you to prayerfully look forward. What might God be calling you to? What kind of vision does he have for your life, your ministry and your role at North Raleigh?
“During the retreat, we spent a good chunk of time alone with God, prayerfully asking Him what he might want to accomplish through us...through me?” said another board member. “I left the retreat with several ideas for ways to minister to other people, that because of my background (which I had examined during the first part of the retreat) I feel uniquely qualified and called to pursue. Whether those things factor into the bigger vision at North Raleigh is yet to be told, but I have better clarity about where I might fit into that vision.”
“The prayer time opened my heart to let the Holy Spirit in and the lessons revealed to me how he has been a part of my life always,” reported one member of the board. “So he thumped me on the head and said ‘WAKE UP.’ You have been neglecting your wife, your family, your friends, your church, and your God so get up and do something about it. So I have been obedient to God and filled with the Holy Spirit.”
Then what?
This first phase of the renewal process allows a broad range of individuals from across the congregation to do the important work of the Focused Living Retreats. The next phase will be for a smaller group to go through a similar process looking at the life history of our church.
The result
At the end of the Focused Living Retreats, we should all have increased clarity about what we have to “bring to the table” as together we build the future of North Raleigh–
a greater understanding of our backgrounds and experiences; a list of the values that define who we are (and who we aren’t); and hopefully, a shared vision for what God wants to accomplish through those of us who worship every week at 9200 Strickland Road.
The FLR will cost each of us a little time and some effort, but the benefits of the investment could be substantial.
“We could do a lot of dreaming and formulate strategies about our identity and what we want to do,” said Pastor Rick, “but if we do that without a crystal-clear understanding of the talents, history, values and passions of the people who make up North Raleigh, we probably won’t get very far. How much better (and more effective) it will be if our vision rings true to who we are as a community. God can do great things with people who are serving from passionate hearts and a shared sense of calling.”
The Focused Living Retreats also signal the beginning of the formal conversation about North Raleigh’s future and open the doors to a season of dialog and dreaming together of what God might accomplish through us. And it will be at its best if everyone participates in the discussion.
In the coming weeks and months you will hear much more about the refocus and renewal of North Raleigh. Left on our own, we could go through months of evaluation and vision-casting without much success. But with God’s help, the time and heart-felt effort we invest in the days ahead could have deep and eternal benefits to countless others and to each other.
Our expectations can be great indeed.
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