{"id":5112,"date":"2014-07-17T08:00:30","date_gmt":"2014-07-17T13:00:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.brethren.org\/?p=5112"},"modified":"2014-07-17T08:00:30","modified_gmt":"2014-07-17T13:00:30","slug":"ebrethren-7-17-14","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/blogtest\/2014\/07\/17\/ebrethren-7-17-14\/","title":{"rendered":"Vitally connected"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_5113\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-5113\" style=\"width: 550px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/blogtest\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/39\/2016\/07\/combination-500w.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-5113\" src=\"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/blogtest\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/39\/2016\/07\/combination-500w.jpg\" alt=\"\u201cWe gather to read scripture, share our insights, and pray.\u201d Photos by Cheryl Brumbaugh-Cayford Stan Dueck \" width=\"550\" height=\"330\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/blogtest\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/39\/2016\/07\/combination-500w.jpg 550w, https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/blogtest\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/39\/2016\/07\/combination-500w-300x180.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 550px) 100vw, 550px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-5113\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">\u201cWe gather to read scripture, share our insights, and pray.\u201d<br \/>Photos by Cheryl Brumbaugh-Cayford and Stan Dueck<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><em>By Chris Bowman, pastor of the Oakton Church of the Brethren (Vienna, Va.).<\/em><\/p>\n<p>One of the best things about the <a href=\"http:\/\/support.brethren.org\/site\/R?i=kNdU0Sqm-HzoNg0eH7nAhQ\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Vital Ministry Journey<\/a> is that it is not about the minister\u2014it&#8217;s about the church and our journey together as this \u201cfellowship of Jesus-followers.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>This kind of gathering is not new. Reading the Oakton Church minutes for 1903\u20141913 we see this kind of vital ministry journey was part of every church council meeting (though by a different name). Every three months the whole church would gather, share, and identify the needs in their community. Then someone would \u201cadmonish the Brethren,\u201d which meant \u201cto encourage\u201d or \u201curge forward.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In the same way, this year we met together to hone and sharpen individual gifts even as we knit them closer together through the ministries of the body of Christ. This is what a vital congregation is\u2014continually connecting people to their ministry purpose.<\/p>\n<p>For too long church leadership has said, \u201cWe professionals can do it; you can help.\u201d The emerging church is different. Instead we should be saying, \u201cIf your minister is the one doing your Vital Ministry Journey, you\u2019re doing it wrong.\u201d Thus, at Oakton Church, VMJ is laity led. This is the best way we have found to inspire a meaningful experience.<\/p>\n<p>Ministry is the calling of every Jesus-follower. Our baptism is our ordination. Our personal giftedness shared in community is our training. Wherever God sends us is our \u201cmission field\u201d as God calls us to do our part in the unfolding Kingdom of Heaven. To stay alive, empowered, vital, and connected to God, we gather to read scripture, share our insights, and pray.<\/p>\n<p><em>Visit <a href=\"http:\/\/support.brethren.org\/site\/R?i=KUwvXXs3-zMVeGR11iUhJA\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">www.brethren.org\/vmj<\/a> to learn about the Vital Ministry Journey. Support the ministries of the Church of the Brethren that produce resources for congregations at\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/support.brethren.org\/site\/R?i=SO5IfCpXr38FA1SThmflXA\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">www.brethren.org\/give<\/a> .<\/p>\n<p><\/em>(<a href=\"http:\/\/support.brethren.org\/site\/MessageViewer?dlv_id=36701&amp;em_id=28561.0\">Read this issue of eBrethren<\/a>)\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Chris Bowman, pastor of the Oakton Church of the Brethren (Vienna, Va.). One of the best things about the Vital Ministry Journey is that it is not about the minister\u2014it&#8217;s about the church and our journey together as this \u201cfellowship of Jesus-followers.\u201d This kind of gathering is not new. Reading the Oakton Church minutes<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[273,357,1188],"class_list":["post-5112","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ebrethren","tag-congregational-life-ministries","tag-ebrethren","tag-vital-ministry-journey"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/blogtest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5112","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/blogtest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/blogtest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/blogtest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/blogtest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5112"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/blogtest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5112\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/blogtest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5112"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/blogtest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5112"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/blogtest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5112"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}