1. Master’s Group
Session #11

2. Agenda 8:45 Arrival, breakfast and fellowship 9:00 Koinonia Connection
10:00 The Externally Focused Church
12:00 Lunch
12:30 GPS
2:15 Wrap up / Debrief the day / Admin
2:30 Adjournment
Just identify the fact that our content for the day will be focused on ‘The Externally Focused Church’.

3. Information + Feelings
Koinonia Connection X
Information + Feelings
Information only X
PAST Here is something about my past that would help you know me better
DEFINING A difficult life experience which helped me MOMENT grow as a person was..
VALUES Here’s what I stand for…
Ask the members of your group to think about and then share a personal example of a time when they had a need…’a backed up against the wall’ time…and God provided an answer/resource/’a way out’ through some unexpected source. After a few minutes to think, go around the group and have them share. Ask each how they felt before and after the ‘rescue’ occurred. You might want to close this time with prayers of thanks to God for His faithfulness in our lives.

4. Take a few minutes to write out an answer to this question:
“From your perspective, what would be the ideal response from the Mayor of your town if he/she were asked to describe the impact your church is having on the local community?”
Ask your group members to take a couple minutes of quiet to write out an answer to this question.

5. Now jot down what you think the Mayor would actually say if asked that question tomorrow.
Take a couple of more quiet minutes to have each group member jot down a response to this question. Then ask a few volunteers to read their two responses out loud. You may want to ask a few follow up questions but there’s no need to spend a lot of time on this. We’re just trying to get the group members engaged with the day’s topic.

6. The Externally Focused Church
Introduce the fact that today’s content is about ‘The Externally Focused Church’ and we will be listening to a recording of one of Cornerstone Pastors Network “Pastor Resource Calls” with Sam Williams. (Make sure they know these resource calls are provided free by CPN every month and the recordings of the calls are available at Also note that there are some volume differences on the call so you may need to adjust the volume on your computer occasionally during playback. You can access this recording by going to the CPN website, clicking on the PRC tab and typing in ‘Sam Williams’ in the Search box. When that page comes up, click on the ‘Listen’ button when you’re ready to start listening (after bringing up the next slide in the PPT).

7. Jot down some notes for yourself as you listen to the recording.
Listen together to the recording of the Pastor Resource Call titled “The Externally Focused Church” with Sam Williams as resource person.
(Please excuse the occasional volume variations…the content is worth it!)
Jot down some notes for yourself as you listen to the recording.
This recording is about 60 minutes long so if you want to give the group a short break before starting, that’s fine. When the recording is done, move to the next slide.

8. Discuss together the following questions related to Sam’s comments:
1. What is your perspective on Sam’s statement related to the parable of the Good Samaritan that ‘Neighbor’s are at least the people who are in your neighborhood.’
This slide is the first of several slides meant to help the group members think through their own their own perspectives and their own church’s perspective on being ‘externally focused’. For this particular question, you can ask a few people to volunteer their thinking about the meaning of ‘neighbor’.

9. Would you like this to change?
2. Sam says, “The role of leadership is to lead a church to change its ministry mindset from internal focus to external focus.”
What percentage of the people in your church would you say perceive church to be about what happens ‘inside the building’?
Would you like this to change?
Go around the group and ask for a quick response from each on the percentage question. Allow some discussion about the appropriateness of the stated percentages.

10. 3. What stories can you share with the group about acts of service creating the opportunity for people to ‘give a reason for the hope that is in them’?
If it’s hard to identify these stories, why do you think that’s the case?
Take a few minutes for people to think of examples and have at least two or three share their examples. Let anyone who wants to suggest a reason or two for a low number of examples if that’s the case for your group.

11. What is your reaction to that statement?
4. Sam said, “God loves us all but cares most about those in the greatest need.”
What is your reaction to that statement?
Ask for reactions to this statement.

12. Getting started or taking a next step
Sam suggested two approaches:
“Find people in your congregation who are already involved, start with their passion and resource/help them.”
(Take time right now to identify at least one person in your church who could be the right one to help)
This slide and the next one give group members time to consider specific action steps suggested by Sam. Give a little time for thought and then ask one or two to share what they’re thinking. There might be some hesitations about wanting to engage with people in their churches who have this kind of passion. If so, it would be good to talk through some of that with the group.

13. 2. “Find a small group that wants to do something and help connect them to the need.”
(Take time right now to identify a small group…Bible study group, ministry team, etc…that has this passion and could use your help.)
Ask people for some thoughts about how to facilitate something like this. Be sure to refer to some of the ministry examples given by Sam in the recording.

14. Take a few minutes together to pray for your respective communities and the needs that exist. Pray for clarity about how God wants your church to participate in meeting the needs of your neighbors.
As the slide suggests, take some time with your group to pray for their communities and their churches’ involvement in those communities.

15. Growing Past Stress
GPS