Mel Lawrenz, the senior pastor of Elmbrook Church, spoke in our evening plenary session on “Building a Whole Church.” Mel talked about Paul’s emphasis of following the pattern laid out for us in becoming like Jesus. He described spiritual formation as a “progressive patterning of our inner and outer life through intentional means of spiritual growth.” In the context of a local church, Mel discusses the fragmentation that he sees in his church and the Church at large. These are moments of self-oriented living and acting in order to secure what ‘I’ want. He encouraged us as leaders to look for those moments of cohesion that can be celebrated and used as momentum in Kingdom work. He had four main questions for us and the church are we (1) engaging with God, (2) engaging with God’s people in true koinonia, (3) engaging with the Community, and (4) engaging with the World. Mel defined engagement as “a bringing together of God’s supply with our human need.”
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