Firm Family Distinctives

You may ask, “well, what is Firm Family? What are the distinctives?” These are the things that we will continue to develop and emphasize more:

We are like one big family.

We really want to develop the idea that we are a “family”. We are not a business. We are not an institution. We are a family.

It’s impossible to walk with Jesus without practicing on one another.

We’ll continue to move from rows to circles.

We will keep trying to emphasize different ways to connect people together.

Your marriage, kids, and relationships are a priority.

There are a lot of ways we want to show this, but one big way is to get the kids involved with the teaching. I can imagine bringing the kids up to teach for five minutes or directing part of the messages toward the children. We are going to challenge our teachers to try to prepare something that would be geared towards our children to bring them into the message.

We just love having kids and the adults together. We love having babies and small children with us. It really lends toward being family friendly, but it also exposes our kids to testimonies and teaching from the Bible. That is so important.

We also have lots of people who want to help care for the children while we gather.

So those who prefer their kids in Sunday School will have this freedom, and those who want to bring their kids in with them, can.

We are going to start off very hard with trying to protect families from overcommitting. Whether that would be in places they are serving, or whether that would be just in the number of activities they go to.

You may have heard me say, “Guys, our church has got so many things going on, don’t you dare try and do them all. You will kill yourselves and kill your family.”

We think there is great value in relationships and when relationships come, we have time as a family, time with your neighbors, time with your friends. So, that’s another family friendly…

Another thing that we will continue to do, we’ve tried to do, but… Is to equip parents to disciple their children. So, the children’s ministry, the goal will be to assist parents to disciple for their children. We are not going to take over; we just want to assist the parents. So, whether it will be through parenting classes, whether it would be through modeling, whether it would be through just people.

It’s not the pastor’s job to feed you.

Another distinctive that we have tried to develop would be the Priesthood of the Believer. By that we mean that you don’t need a pastor to feed you once a week, but you can spend time with God and allow him to feed you spiritual food each day. He can speak to you through His Word. The Holy Spirit lives in you and He can teach you and lead you.

Changed lives change lives. God often uses one life, your life, to impact another life. It’s not solely the pastor’s job to model a godly life and to love and lead people to Christ. That’s the job we all have!

Firm Family has done it so well. It’s so fun to see the people invite friends–even those who do not go to church. They feel very welcome and loved. We hope this continues.

Everyone is a minister.

Again, the Bible calls us a body. Each part of the body is needed.  Every member is a minister. Yes, some are more prominent than others. The mouth and the eyes are more prominent than my little toe. And yet, my little toe is still needed. And you will all know if you get a blister on your little toe, that’s a big problem.

We want to help find the right spot on the bus. A lot of times people jump into ministries because there is need. My philosophy is “not every need constitutes a call for every person”. If you are in the right spot in the bus, you are going to find joy in serving that spot, God is going to be glorified, and people are going to be blessed. So, part of that is – just find the right spot.

For instance, we’ll need to set up chairs and sound equipment every week. You might wish to be the one up front giving the message, but this is such a huge part of what makes our gathering work. No work is insignificant or unnecessary.

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