Goals for The Story

Yesterday, we took a look at what The Story is.  Today, we're going to check out what the goals are for us as a congregation in using The Story for the next 9 months.

Goal #1 - Continue to be immersed in the Word as we search for new insights or facts or connections.
There really are two parts to this goal. Let's look at the first part: "Continue to be immersed in the Word..." -- According to recent research conducted by the Barna Group, we are at an interesting intersection in America. 77% of Americans say believe that morals and values are in decline and the most-cited cause for the decline is a lack of Bible reading [here]. Yet, in a LifeWay research study, well over half the people surveyed said that they read the Bible equal to or less than once a week [here]. And those results were also borne out in our FFPN survey we took as a congregation here at Grace, where 74% of those surveyed said that they read it once a week or less. Therefore, it makes sense to get our members into the Word; and what better way to do that then together as a group who encourages and supports one another.

And now the second part: "...search for new insights or facts or connections." -- As we discussed yesterday, from a purely pedagogical standpoint on comprehension, the way that the Bible is laid out leaves a lot to be desired. When read chronologically, we are hoping that this will give us new insights into how God has worked in the past for his people; and once those insights are found, really begin to internalize God's promises that he is never done working and creating; but that he is continuing to work in and shape our lives today.

Goal #2 - See the broader narrative of God's redeeming work through history; but also Christ's redemptive work through our lives.
Our Lutheran hermeneutic is that the entirety of Scriptures points to Christ. From Genesis 3:15 to Abraham and Isaac, to the Passover, to the life of King David, to the exile and return of the Israelites point to Christ and his cross. Then after Christ rose and ascended, it directly led to Pentecost, the growth of the church, and the promise that Christ will bodily return someday to make all things right. It's our hope that Christ will be plainly seen, but also that through these stories of our faith, we can see that Christ is working in each of us as well.

Goal #3 - Come together as families and interact with God's Word to see what it means.
Here at Grace, we are seeking to become a family-centered, church-supported ministry. In other words, we want the main faith formation to take place in the homes. The Story is a great resource to help provide some momentum to head in that direction as this resource includes a book for each 4 different child age groups. It is our goal to have each family read each chapter of The Story with their kids at least once a week, if not more.

Goal #4 - Be spurred into love and service for our neighbors.
This will be a longer-term goal as the leadership of Grace seek to develop a journey, to take place after this journey through The Story, that will encourage ways of discipleship and service to one another. However, The Story provides several resources to help us start that journey. Here are several pages for parents and grandparents that encourage and invite you to go the Extra Mile and get involved in service for one another!