Servant Church Observation

Observations Carl S. Dudley and Sally A. Johnson offer some helpful descriptors in their book Energizing the Congregation. Dudley and Johnson offer five images, survivor, prophet, pillar, pilgrim, and servant to describe the character of different congregations. It is important to take the narrative and ethnography and interpret it to better understand the congregation and how it might meet its missional call. While Dudley and Johnson are careful to point out that it is rare for a congregation to fit into a single image the characteristics of the servant church seem to be most helpful in understanding Woodview.
Service is important within the congregation and the church helps serve several individuals and families that have become part of our church. Dudley and Johnson write, "The Servant church's acceptance of a variety of people also rises from a deep-seated individualism." While Woodview has a lot of unique people, it defies the characteristic of Dudley and Johnson of the congregation being of similar backgrounds as servant church . Woodview, as already observed, has members from all different backgrounds from both a socio-economic and …show more content…
Rouse and Van Gelder state, “It is imperative that care and intentionality be taken to build a supportive, missional leadership team that is comprise of both staff and lay leaders.” On this point, Woodview could give greater emphasis on the development of lay leadership. Most ministries and small groups are led by members of the staff or their families. This unintentionally creates dependency on the staff and their families for leadership among the church. Focusing on the assets of the congregation and developing process by which to mentor, develop and empower lay leadership it could strengthen the congregation beyond the tenure of a particular