Even if you’re not an American citizen, you recognize the significance of July the fourth. That unique day is more than just the 185th day of the year, it signifies the birth of a nation over 240 years ago. The original 13 American colonies experienced birth pains during that revolution. Because so much time has elapsed, most people think of the American Revolution as the signing of the document on a single day, a few fireworks—yes, there were a few battles—but all of the sudden there is a brand new nation.
Every pastor I know would be overjoyed if after reading a book or attending a conference, a clear and easy direction would be revealed that made everything better. In fact, the most prominent pastors struggle with how to know if what they are doing is even working. They are in good company because America’s Founding Fathers were unsure their “great experiment,” as they called this new representative republic, would even work. People from other nations came to see for themselves how such a shift in nation-building would work when all the world really knew was monarchies and dictatorships.
The church world struggles today to emerge from the traditional measures of health and growth, or lack thereof, but the people still come to see what family ministry can do to shift the classic segmentation of generations in church. Church leaders are discovering how to balance age-specific ministries while doing life together as generational disciple-makers. But like the founding of a new nation or any shift in a process, the question is, how do you measure or evaluate family ministry to know it is working? Most churches have counted attendance and offerings for centuries, creating that as the standard of success or judgment.
We picked reCalibrate as the theme of the 2019 D6 Conference to help ministry leaders like you know what should be measured and how to measure it. We have assigned this theme to our speakers for each area of church leadership: lead pastor, student and children’s ministry, parenting, grandparenting, single and blended parents, and several others. They will talk about the current unhealthy norms in the church, show a biblical case for recalibrating, and the practical ways to implementing and measuring your progress. Our theme is reCalibrate: a new scorecard for family ministry.
Other nations thought this fledgling start-up called America would never go anywhere because they didn’t understand how countries are governed. A few years ago, many thought family ministry was the current fad or trend but now ministry leaders from around the world are rediscovering God’s original heartbeat from the earliest passages in Scripture, to pursue generational discipleship through family ministry. Come gather with us in Orlando—it won’t be Independence Hall, but D6 could help revolutionize your church.
Dr. Ron Hunter
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