1. T.J. ADDINGTON BEIRUT, LEBANON 2010 TIM.ADDINGTON@EFCA.ORG Rethinking our philosophy of ministry

2. What are the greatest challenges the evangelical church in Lebanon faces today?

3. John 17:20-23 “My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one: I in them and you in me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved then even as you have loved me.”

4. Our Unity and the Reputation of Christ Our unity as Christ followers – or lack of it has a direct influence on whether the world believes that Jesus is the Savior. Where there is unity…. Where there is disunity…. He was not here talking about unity in the local body but in His church as a whole.

5. In most cases among God’s people We compete rather than cooperate We emphasize our differences rather than our similarities We work independently rather than interdependently We are more concerned about our brand than Christ’s brand In all of this according to John 17:20-23 we hurt rather than help the public reputation of Christ

6. Think About How We Define Success The number of people we have in our church Our programs Our facilities Our budgets Our status Our converts

7. Think About How Jesus Defines Success The spiritual transformation of his people The spread of the Gospel The unity of the church The Love of His people Impacting our communities, cultures, values and practices as His people live out their faith in active ways His reputation in the community at large as evidenced by our unity

8. Compare our Definitions with His definitions The number of people we have in our church Our programs Our facilities Our budgets Our status Our converts The spiritual transformation of his people The spread of His Gospel The unity of His church The Love of His people Impacting our communities, cultures, values and practices as His people live out their faith in active ways His reputation

9. Us Him This is primarily about us The number of people we have in our church Our programs Our facilities Our budgets Our status This is primarily about Him The spiritual transformation of His people The spread of the His Gospel The unity of His church The Love of His people Impacting our communities, cultures, values and practices as His people live out their faith in active ways

10. From Us to Him Too much Christian ministry is really about us rather than about Him and it leaves us weak rather than strong, competing rather than cooperating, fractured rather than healthy,

11. The Cost of Our Independence Our independence from one another hurts us personally Our independence from one another comes from a spirit of pride rather than a spirit of humility Our independence from one another reflects poorly on the reputation of Jesus Our independence from one another hurts the spread of the gospel locally, regionally and globally

12. Moving From Independence to Interdependence It does not mean that we lose our distinctives: Rather our distinctives complement one another It does mean that we care more about Christ’s church and our brand of the church It does mean that we care more about the spread of the gospel than who ends up in our congregation It does mean that we are humble enough to recognize that we are stronger together than separately It does mean that we learn to actively love, pray for, participate with and value our fellow believers

13. Independence On my own

14. Interdependence Ministering together

15. Interdependence Gifts, Strategies, opportunities, people, resources, prayer,,, projects, fulfilling needs,

16. From Independence to Interdependence ReachGlobal moved from replicating the EFCA brand to replicating God’s brand in its missions efforts

17. The Church Together in Buenos Aires

18. Christ Together “Move from Spiritually Struggling to Spiritually Transforming: We help churches to become agents of spiritual transformation, leading people into a vibrant, life-changing relationship with God.” “Move from Relationally Fragmented to Relationally Connected: We help churches to build deep and trust-filled friendships with one another, enabling them to pursue God’s dreams for their city together.”

19. Christ Together “Move from Functionally Anemic to Functionally Healthy: We help churches to overcome the pragmatic ministry challenges that threaten the strength and vitality of their faith community.” “Move from Culturally irrelevant to Culturally Inspiring: We help churches to serve their community together in significant ways, reshaping people’s perceptions of God, Christianity and the Church.”

20. Christ Together “Move from Missionally Ineffective to Missionally Effective: We help churches to fulfill the Great Commission by reaching their community more effectively, one life at a time.” WWW.ChristTogether.Com

21. Christ Together: Beirut and Lebanon We can reach our Cities for Christ Together We can reach out to our communities in real service together We can reach our neighboring countries with the gospel together We can uphold the reputation of Jesus Christ in our community and country together through our unity We can put aside our ambitions and pride for the sake of Christ, and the spread of His gospel And in the end – we all win because Jesus wins

22. Christ Together: Beirut and Lebanon