Nothing is more dangerous than a single compelling idea that is lived out and nothing is more harmless than lots of little ideas never applied. By creatively communicating one Big Idea every week your church will transform people into genuine Christ followers who live out the mission of Jesus. Less is more!
Today’s church faces a problem:
* Well intentioned churches offer too many competing little ideas that develop Christians who know (or at least hear) far more than they can ever apply.
* Well intentioned churches offer multiple curriculums leaving Christians with no unifying conversation or context in church, community or home for people to discuss, apply and live out one Big Idea. The solution offered in this book involves this:
* We must creatively communicate one Big Idea that will be discussed in families and small groups.
* The Big Idea provides a unified curriculum and single conversation that will connect the generations and empower parents to be the spiritual leaders in their homes.
* The Big Idea is a process for creative collaboration that brings people together and maximizes missional impact! This is not just true about preaching, it is also true about the teaching of children, students, adults, families and the overall experience in church life.
The church continues to give us too many competing little ideas that never get applied rather than one big idea that is lived out in community. At Community Christian Church, in the Chicago area, The Big Idea not only provides a theme around which creative content is developed, it has also resulted in a collaborative process that involves church leaders from across the country and extends the focus of the celebration service to ministry with children, students, families, small groups, and community. The Big Idea brings tremendous alignment of vision and mission to a church community by focusing on one truth at a time and in so doing it also allows for intergenerational and family based mentoring.
Community Christian Church shares their story, the innovative tools they’ve developed, and the dynamic process for weaving The Big Idea into every aspect of your ministry with results that extend transformation deep (creating followers of Jesus) and wide (reproducing new locations and new churches). There is no single book completely devoted to this topic.
Virtually everything in this book has been created and tested in small, medium and large churches and within a church planting network. The greatest gift this book brings to the kingdom is that it mentors the reader in developing a collaborative creative process customized to his/her ministry environment.
