Equipping

This is part 2 of a 3 part series on why ENP believes that to transform Fresno neighborhoods we need the Whole Gospel, Whole Church, and Whole City. 

What denomination are you from? Are you Catholic or Protestant? What do you believe about the topics of the Holy Spirit, Biblical Inerrancy, Women in Ministry, etc?

It is human nature to want to quickly put people into a box or a category. We want to know “are you on my team or are you on the other team?”. We want to know who is in and out is out (I have written here about that issue), but these are questions most often used to divide instead of unite.

This is part 1 of a 3 part series on why ENP believes that to transform Fresno neighborhoods, we need the Whole Gospel, Whole Church, and Whole City.

The word “Gospel” literally means “Good News” in Greek. So as we talk about the Gospel of Jesus Christ we are talking about the Good News of Jesus. Our heart at ENP is to help you and your church be a blessing to our city and to point others to Christ. As we go about the work of pointing others to the Good News of Jesus we have to ask… Is your gospel actually good news to the people of Fresno? Can people taste and see it? Do you have a whole gospel?

I don’t know about you, but I was taught that “The Gospel” was a set of truths to know or believe. The gospel communicated the fact that I am sinful, because of my sin I deserve punishment, and God sent Jesus as the solution – so that by his death and resurrection I can go to heaven.

Is that version of the gospel true or untrue?

Keith Bergthold of Fresno Metro Ministry, Randy White of the FPU Center for Community Transformation, and Artie Padilla of Every Neighborhood Partnership collaborated on the creation of organizing filters to separate the substantive from the superficial in the approaches to true revitalization. ARCHER.

• What elements are absolutely necessary to be present in order to hit the target of authentic community building? This is a useful tool for every community-based organization to take stock of its approaches.
• Do we recognize the true presence of these elements in our approaches.
• Are they supported by our methodologies and the allocation of our resources?

ARCHER is an acronym for Assets, Responsibility, Competence, Harmony, Empowerment and Results.

Download the PDF or view the image below for a full explanation.

This blog is used by permission from Stan of Neighborhood Transformation. See original post and blog here. Garold Elston of Neighborhood Transformation will be hosting our upcoming 20/Twenty on Jan 14th. Click here to learn more and register.

For transformation to take place people and neighborhoods must decide they want something different than what they currently have. Then they must care enough that they are willing to do something about it to see the change take place. If that desire and action are not there then no matter what we do for others might be good, but generally transformation does not take place. Transformation comes from inside people themselves and neighborhoods.

But we as Western Christians are focused on doing things for others. People might say sure I would like that and gratefully accept whatever we do for them but does that transform them or their neighborhood? The answer is No.

At ENP we believe the Church is central to God’s mission to change our community. We exist to come alongside the Church, not replace it, but to equip and connect the church to serve schools and neighborhoods.

This Fall we have a lot of options for you and your congregation to get equipped. Check them out and sign up today!