Church ALIVE FAQ’s

What is Church ALIVE?

The concept of Church ALIVE is based on the idea that we, as the family of God, are Actively Living In View of Eternity.  How would our lives, our relationship with Jesus and our understanding of being the church be transformed if we prioritize those things that contribute to eternity?  What if for one year, as we fix our eyes on Jesus (Colossians 3:1-4) and our lives keep in step with the Holy Spirit (Galatians 5:25) we seek to immediately practice what we learn.

Church ALIVE is a one-year church mobilization initiative that follows 12 themes which are central to Christian faith and practice.  Each theme will have a month dedicated to it that will help us learn, grow and practice what the Bible has to say about it. The teaching each Sunday will be focused on developing our understanding of the theme.  Realtime and real-life application and practice for each theme will come through challenges that come from ALIVE Teams.

What are the goals for Church ALIVE?

• Close the gap between our biblical understanding and our obedience.
• Increase church engagement and participation through a greater variety of opportunities and access to ministry.
• Recognize and develop spiritual giftings for personal development and edification of the church body.
• Carry an expectation that new ministries will be born and callings to fulltime ministry received.

 

What are ALIVE Teams and what do they do?

Church ALIVE Teams will consist of people who will facilitate the challenges for each month.  Our ALIVE Teams will challenge each member of Parkside to put their theme into practice.   They have the opportunity to direct the activity of the Parkside church family each month in the form of two challenges: one personal, for individuals or families, and one corporate in which the whole church can participate.

 

How are the challenges determined?

Prayer and deliberation.  We want the Team’s gathering time to be infused with intentional times of prayer and spiritually oriented conversation.  Each ALIVE Team will determine the challenge that seems appropriate for the theme they are on.  They will have the freedom and opportunity to customize their challenges as they believe the Holy Spirit is leading them.  In order to arrive at this conclusion, the Teams will go through a process of discernment that includes:

• Definition – coming to an understanding of what their theme means based on Scripture and what a biblical application would be.
• Discussion – brainstorming about how that application could take place at Parkside for each individual and as a group
• Decision – arrive at a consensus for what challenges that they believe the Holy Spirit is guiding them to present to the Parkside family
• Delegate – each person in the Team has a role to help bring the challenge to reality.

Is there a budget for the challenges?

There is not a set budget for each month.  However, we are setting up a Church ALIVE Fund that will allow us to fund the challenges.  As Parkside gives toward Church ALIVE, our Teams will have greater financial resources to work with.

Who leads ALIVE Teams?

The leadership of the Teams will be determined by those who are on the Team.  There will be at least one Elder on each team, however, they will not be the leaders so much as the facilitator.  The Elders will be great guardrails for maintaining the biblical nature of the discussions and challenges but won’t be making the decisions for the group.  The decisions and directions will be arrived at by the collaboration and consensus of the Team.  Expect the Elders to take a back seat and keep pushing the decisions back to the Team as a whole.

 

How many people on a Team? What about Youth and Kids?

We expect the teams to be around 10-12 people in size.  This would include an Elder, his wife, the group and one reserved spot for a teenager.  We would love to see our Youth engaged in seeing how ministry works and how they make a difference in our church. Elementary ages kids are welcome to join their parents as well, providing that their parents believe it will be helpful to them and the group discussion.

 

How much time is required to participate on an ALIVE Team?

We anticipate that somewhere between 4-6 meetings will be necessary to arrive at the challenges, decide how to role them out and get the needed materials together to do them.  Our goal isn’t necessarily efficiency.  We don’t want Teams to meet as little as possible.   We would rather the Teams be more prayerful and deliberate as they work through the process.

 

What do I do if I’m not on an ALIVE Team?

Our hope is that you would respond to the challenges. For everyone not on an ALIVE Team, there is the opportunity to be built up and encouraged in your faith and your church community by participating in the challenges.  No one will be able to do everything and that isn’t the expectation.  We just really believe that you will be blessed and encouraged in your journey of faith as you walk that journey out with your Parkside family.

Is it just for adults or do youth and kids get to participate too?

Church ALIVE is for the whole family.  We want everyone to feel like they can participate in the challenges. Teams will decide if their challenge will include something specific for youth and kids ministries.

 

Do my spouse and I have to be on the same Team?

Not necessarily.  Though, given the expected time investment, you may decide that doing it together is better for your marriage. Or not!?

 

What kind of a mindset would be good to have going into an ALIVE Team?

Good question!  A great way to approach Church ALIVE and being on an ALIVE Team is with boldness and humility.  Boldness to throw yourself into it.  Boldness to share what the Lord is doing in your life and what He has taught you regarding a particular theme.  Humility to offer your aspirations and ideas with a willingness to hear from others.  Humility to submit your ideas to the Team without an agenda and see what the Holy Spirit does with them.

 

Do LifeGroups have to use the Church ALIVE themes for their study?

No.  LifeGroups can either use the Sunday teaching as a basis for their study or they can carry on with what they had already planned.  One expectation would be that LifeGroups would at least take some time to discuss the teaching from Sunday and the overall impact of that month’s theme in their lives.

Where do ALIVE Teams meet?
Typically, the Teams will meet in homes but depending on the size of the group and availability of meeting spaces.  We are also going to make room on the campus.  Particularly if you have families with younger kids, the campus would be a great location.  On Wednesday nights we have our AWANA program which could serve as both a great way to disciple your kids and free you up to meet with your Team.