First Free is
affiliated with the
Evangelical Free
Church of America
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Joshua Project Ministry Analysis Draft
Overall Summary: We serve God well in many ways, and we have significant opportunities to serve Him more effectively.
- Strengths of the Church
- Our church is blessed with an abundance of gifted lay leaders and servants who are passionate about ministry and desirous of serving God’s kingdom.
- We have a history of doctrinally sound teaching and outstanding expository pulpit preaching. We are focused on unity in essentials and charity in non-essentials in our teaching and preaching.
- Our church is involved in missions & reaching the world. We have hands on involvement in church plants around the world and send out many full time missionaries from our congregation, as well as having extensive mission trips by our congregation.
- Teaching and discipling our children are a high priority for leadership and the congregation.
- Teaching, ministering to and equipping women for service and outreach.
- Areas of Concern and Weakness
- The church has become a little complacent and has plateaued.
- The Body does not have a clear and shared sense of vision or mission which hampers our ability to plan and execute ministry.
- Overall, First Free tends to focus more energy and resources on ministry activity within the church and meeting our own needs than it does on outward focused ministry activity. We do not have as strong a focus as we should on the spiritual plight of unbelievers in our local communities.
- We do not have a strong and sufficiently effective plan for discipling the growing number of new and less mature Christians that have joined our Body. We are not as strong as we need to be at providing them with appropriate accountability and drawing them into community and fellowship.
- Although improving, action is needed to establish and sustain effective dialogue between the congregation at large and church leadership.
- The size of our facility components is not balanced, with the parking lot a bottleneck to future growth, despite a significantly underutilized auditorium.
- Although significant efforts are underway, effective ministry has been hampered by a lag in developing and implementing communications, decision-making and management structures and processes necessary in a church the size of First Free. We have not been intentional and proactive in identifying, equipping and developing future leaders. Additionally, we have yet to fully embrace a culture of continuous learning and improvement and are still not always willing to face problems and do what it takes to fix them.
- What are the Key, Essential Traditions that are trademarks of our church
- Strong, sound expository preaching and teaching.
- Entrepreneurial leadership of lay members in many ministries.
- Small churches
- A participatory, blended worship service
- Alternate worship services
- Excellence and creativity in our children’s ministry with a focus on teaching and discipling, not just babysitting. Example: Passport
- Non emphasis on numbers and membership.
- What traditions are hampering our church from doing effective ministry.
- Our entrepreneurial lay leadership has not been effectively supported by church leadership in the areas of biblical training, clear vision, proactive planning, and direction.
- Our lack of emphasis on numbers and membership has caused a lack of understanding among many of the biblical expectations of being an ambassador and serving the local body and community with one’s gifts.
- Our tradition of having our communities meet on campus on Sunday may hamper our future growth because of parking lot constraints.
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Service Times
WEEKLY SERVICES
Main Service
Sundays 9:00 & 10:45 am
Main Auditorium
Quest
Sundays 10:45 am
Activity Center
Nursery & Children's Ministry Every Sunday
Contact Us
First Evangelical
Free Church
1375 Carman Road
Manchester, MO 63021
Office Phone:
636.227.0125
Office Fax:
636.227.4081
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