Integration is blending parts into a unified whole. It brings together into one several things that are separate. It combines and consolidates.

Jesus discipled the group we usually call disciples using an integrated model. He spent three years with them doing ministry together and talking. They observed Him teaching and serving and reacting. They also had opportunities to do those same things. The interaction between Jesus and the 12 was a critical part of His discipling them.

We depend almost exclusively on a class room format to help people grow spiritually. There’s nothing wrong with classes. I’ve benefited from that model and so have you. But there is something wrong with depending on the class room model to the exclusion of other models.

We are shifting some of our approaches to ministry and spiritual development at FBC to an integrated model. That is why we’re developing mentoring programs. It is also why much of our evangelism training will be “hands on.” It is why we will help new believers and others who want to grow spiritually to do so in the context of an evangelistic setting, not just a class on how to have a quiet time. This approach is different than what most of us have been used to, but as I said Sunday morning…“what we’re doing now isn’t working so well, because if it was more of us would be witnessing and growing.”

Another tendency churches have is to create a program for each purpose or a class for each subject we determine is important. The challenge to that approach in today’s world is that people are too busy to give us all the time slots needed to operate that many programs and classes. So we need to integrate our teaching and ministries more than we did in the past. That is one of several reasons AWANA will not be a separate program on Sunday nights this fall. Instead some of the effective elements of AWANA will be integrated into our missions programs on Wednesday nights. It is also why the “unhindered devotionals” that appear on this web site each week day are written the way they are. We want you learn how to ask basic questions when you read a Bible verse. In addition to more easily applying it to your life, asking basic questions about a verse helps you know how to pray using that verse. Your prayers are then a response to what God says instead of a monologue in which you do all the talking. The devotions help you pray for your church, while also helping you through practice learn how to pray scripture.

Richard Adams was an important spiritual mentor when I was a young Christian. We did ministry together and in that process I learn more about living the Christian life than I ever learned in a class. As we made visits and did all the practical things you do carry out a ministry event, we talked. He invested in me and I grew. I learned to share my faith. Nothing beats hands on learning.

Pastor Steve Hogg