Guided Pursuit Strategy: A Customized Sample

[Reimagine Curator]

“Something Needs to Change in Our Church. Where Do I Begin?”

A Sample Guided Pursuit Strategy for a Pastor Seeking Church Revitalization

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Welcome to Your Personalized Pursuit

You may recognize yourself in this pastor:

I love my congregation, but something concerns me. We seem busy maintaining church life, yet I wonder whether we are becoming the church Christ is calling us to be.

Something needs to change. But I'm not sure what. I don't want to impose another program, announce a vision everyone must accept, or create unnecessary division.

Where do I begin? What should I study? How can I become equipped to lead our congregation through a process of prayerful discovery and revitalization?

 

That's what a Customized GPS—Guided Pursuit Strategy—is designed to help you explore.

Your GPS is more than a reading list. It is a personalized pathway through Scripture, articles, interviews, Mini-Courses, Leader Labs, and ministry models.

You'll encounter a Prime Resource at each stage, followed by additional possibilities. You won't need to read everything.

Your task is to select what will help you comprehend the essential concepts, reconsider assumptions, discern your direction, and become equipped to facilitate others.

 

YOUR GUIDING QUESTION

What kind of Church is Christ calling us to become—and how can I lead our congregation to discern and pursue that calling together?

Before asking, “How do we revitalize our church?” let's consider whether we've adequately understood what needs renewal.

 

From: What new program will solve our problems?

Toward: What is Christ inviting us to examine and become?

 

From: How do I convince people to accept change?

Toward: How do I facilitate shared discovery and discernment?

 

From: What is my vision for our church?

Toward: How can we seek Christ's direction together?

 

Our objective is not to abandon biblical truth or dismiss the church's history. It is to distinguish enduring biblical foundations from assumptions, traditions, methods, and practices that may deserve reconsideration.

 

HOW TO USE YOUR GPS

One Guiding Question. Several Resource Choices. Two Passes Through the Journey.

Each movement includes a Prime Resource and optional opportunities for deeper exploration.

• SCROLL — Survey the entire pathway.
• SCOUT — Notice unfamiliar concepts, provocative questions, different perspectives, and possible blind spots.
• SELECT — Choose resources relevant to your situation and learning needs.
• STUDY — Examine Scripture and selected resources until you comprehend their foundational concepts and implications.
• SEEK — Prayerfully ask: What? So What? Now What?

 

Your Two Passes

PASS ONE — My Personal Pursuit

What must I comprehend, reconsider, and discern about Christ, His Church, my assumptions, and my leadership?

PASS TWO — My Facilitator Preparation

How can I become equipped to guide others through Scripture-centered exploration, conversation, prayer, and discernment?

 

A Spiritual Rhythm

Do not rush from reading to leading.

PAUSE • PRAY • PONDER • PRAY • PROCEED

Before you lead others through a Guided Pursuit, let the pursuit lead you.

 

MOVEMENT 1 — WHY?

Begin With Yourself

Your question: Why do I believe our congregation needs revitalization—and what might I be overlooking, ignoring, resisting?

PRIME RESOURCE

WELCOME! — Your Guided Pursuit Orientation and Question Zero

Begin with Question Zero: “Why Start with Why?”

Explore the importance of becoming a perceptive seeker, disciplined listener, courageous unlearner, and faithful follower.

ADDITIONAL POSSIBILITIES

Leader Lab: Why Does Our Church/Team/Ministry Need to Reimagine?

This Leader Lab examines the difference between unchanging biblical truth and changeable ministry methods, inherited systems, and preferred applications.

SCOUT • SELECT • STUDY

• What am I observing that makes me believe something needs to change?
• What evidence supports my concern?
• What might be my interpretation rather than an established fact?
• Which assumptions about ministry success, church health, and pastoral leadership might I need to reconsider?
• Am I willing for my own understanding and leadership practices to change?

PAUSE • PRAY • PONDER • PRAY

I believe something needs to change because...

What I actually know is...

What I still need to understand is...

One assumption I am willing to reconsider is...

Do not rush to diagnose your congregation.

Your first objective is clarity, not a corrective plan.

 

MOVEMENT 2 — WHAT?

ReCenter Christ Before Reformatting Church

Your question: Is Christ truly central to the way I understand, lead, and evaluate our congregation?

PRIME RESOURCE

Big Question #1 — (re)Center Christ

How can we re-center every message, ministry, and mission on Jesus Christ?

Study Colossians 1:15–20, Colossians 3:17, and the personal ReCenter Christ inventory.

Begin with yourself before assessing your congregation.

ADDITIONAL POSSIBILITIES

How Do We #ReCenterChrist? Personally? Corporately?

Explore perspectives and practices for making Christ central to personal and corporate life.

SCOUT • SELECT • STUDY

• Where is Jesus Christ in the way I am thinking about revitalization?
• Am I primarily concerned about attendance, programs, finances, institutional survival, or spiritual formation?
• What does Scripture reveal about Christ's relationship to His Church?
• How might His presence, authority, character, and mission reshape our understanding of congregational health?

PAUSE • PRAY • PONDER • PRAY

What am I discovering about Christ?

What am I discovering about myself?

What might I need to unlearn?

What deserves further study before I invite others into the conversation?

 

MOVEMENT 3 — WHAT?

Reexamine the Church We Are Becoming

Your question: What does Scripture teach about the Church—and how do our actual practices compare?

PRIME RESOURCE

Ministry Hub — #Reset Church Overview

This Ministry Hub introduces foundational questions about church identity, discipleship, worship, prayer, leadership, ministry, mission, and congregational renewal.

It also connects to additional discussions, interviews, Leader Labs, and ministry resources.

ADDITIONAL POSSIBILITIES

Interview: Josh Hayden — “Don't Revitalize. ReMission!”

Josh Hayden challenges leaders to distinguish improving existing church programs from pursuing deeper transformation of the congregation's identity, discipleship, and mission.

Consider his perspective carefully. You do not have to agree with every conclusion to benefit from his questions.

Leader Lab: Why Does Our Church/Team/Ministry Need to Reimagine?

Revisit this resource if your investigation raises questions about biblical foundations and inherited ministry practices.

SCOUT • SELECT • STUDY

• What kind of Church is Christ calling us to become?
• Which aspects of our congregational life reflect biblical convictions?
• Which practices primarily reflect inherited traditions, preferences, or institutional habits?
• Are we confusing organizational activity with spiritual formation?
• What should never change?
• What might need continual renewal?

A QUESTION WORTH PONDERING

What if our congregation does not primarily need better programs—but a renewed understanding of what it means to be Christ's Church?

That is a possibility to investigate, not a conclusion to impose.

 

MOVEMENT 4 — HOW?

Comprehend the DNA and Operating System of Your Ministry

Your question: What actually shapes the way our congregation thinks, decides, relates, disciples, serves, and engages its community?

PRIME RESOURCE

Leader Lab — Reshape Your Ministry Culture: Examining Your DNA + Operating System

This Leader Lab provides a guided process, five session movements, facilitator guidance, and worksheets.

Ministry DNA concerns the convictions, values, assumptions, identity, and spiritual foundations that shape a ministry.

Operating System (OS) concerns how those convictions actually function through practices, relationships, leadership, decisions, structures, priorities, and behaviors.

A congregation may profess one set of convictions while operating according to another.

ADDITIONAL POSSIBILITIES

SpotLIGHT: Ministry Model

Jim Morgan / Meet The Need — Revitalize Your Church

Explore Jim Morgan's perspectives on discipleship, evangelism, compassion, community engagement, church structures, and revitalization.

Use SpotLIGHT's distinctive rhythm:

ASK — What does this model reveal about its ministry DNA and Operating System (OS)?

ADAPT — Which convictions and practices might be transferable to our context? Which require reconsideration or translation?

APPLY — What might we eventually test or practice after adequate study and discernment?

Do not copy another ministry's Operating System simply because its results are impressive.

SCOUT • SELECT • STUDY

• What does our congregation say it values?
• What do our practices suggest we actually value?
• How do our decisions reveal our ministry DNA?
• Where does our Operating System support our biblical convictions?
• Where might it unintentionally contradict them?
• What would we need to investigate before drawing conclusions?

PAUSE • PRAY • PONDER • PRAY

What am I beginning to comprehend about ministry culture?

What do I need to study more deeply?

How might I explain DNA and Operating System (OS) to our leaders without making the concepts unnecessarily complicated?

 

BEFORE YOU FACILITATE

Do Not Rush From Reading to Leading

You have now surveyed several foundational questions and encountered different kinds of resources.

But reading is not the same as comprehension.

And comprehension is not yet the same as being equipped to facilitate.

PASS ONE — Personal Formation

Return to the resources that challenged your thinking.

Study the relevant Scriptures in context.

Compare perspectives.

Identify assumptions.

Recognize where you still have questions.

Allow your own understanding and leadership posture to be examined.

PAUSE • PRAY • PONDER • PRAY.

PASS TWO — Facilitator Preparation

Revisit the pathway with your leadership team in mind.

SCROLL through the sequence again.

SCOUT for concepts your leaders may need help understanding.

SELECT one manageable question and a small number of relevant resources.

STUDY until you are equipped to explain the foundational concepts, ask discerning questions, welcome differing perspectives, and guide discussion without predetermining conclusions.

SEEK the Holy Spirit's guidance as you prepare.

YOUR FACILITATOR READINESS CHECK

• Can I explain our guiding question and why it matters?
• Do I comprehend the biblical foundations well enough to help others examine them?
• Can I distinguish biblical convictions from inherited ministry methods?
• Can I explain ministry DNA and Operating System (OS)?
• Am I prepared to listen without defending my assumptions?
• Can I guide others toward deeper study rather than immediate conclusions?
• Am I willing to learn alongside the people I lead?

You do not need to have mastered every answer.

You need to comprehend the essential concepts and become equipped to facilitate the exploration.

Before you lead others through a Guided Pursuit, let the pursuit lead you.

 

MOVEMENT 5 — HOW?

Begin Facilitating Shared Discovery

Your question: How can I invite our leaders to explore the congregation's present reality without imposing a predetermined diagnosis?

PRIME RESOURCE

Return to the facilitator guides and worksheets in:

Reshape Your Ministry Culture — Leader Lab

Pay particular attention to preparing participants, making the conversation visible, distinguishing evidence from impression, listening before answering, and testing what the group believes it is hearing.

YOUR FIRST LEADERSHIP EXPLORATION

Suggested participants: Four to eight trusted, representative leaders.

Suggested duration: 60–75 minutes.

Purpose: Begin identifying what deserves deeper investigation—not decide what needs fixing.

RECENTER

Read Colossians 1:15–20.

Invite prayer and silence.

LOOK

• What strengths should we thank God for?
• What concerns deserve our attention?
• What questions have we not yet explored?
• What might we be overlooking?

Record observations without debating or correcting them.

LISTEN

Read Acts 2:42–47 and Ephesians 4:11–16.

• What do these passages illuminate?
• What do they affirm?
• What do they challenge?
• What do we need to study further?

Allow silence and prayer.

DISCERN

Group recurring observations and questions.

EVIDENCE — What can we substantiate?

IMPRESSION — What are we perceiving or experiencing?

ASSUMPTION — What might we be presuming?

QUESTION — What still needs investigation?

PROCEED

Do not finish with a revitalization plan.

Finish with one important question to investigate further.

Identify whose perspectives are missing and what additional information would be helpful.

Agree on a next gathering.

The first meeting's success is not agreement on a solution. It is a shared commitment to deeper exploration.

 

MOVEMENT 6 — NOW WHAT?

Let Your Discoveries Determine the Next Path

A Customized GPS should not force every congregation toward the same conclusion.

Your discoveries determine where you explore next.

If your congregation needs a clearer biblical understanding of the Church:

Continue with #Reset Church.

If the central concern is Christ-centeredness:

Return to Big Question #1 — (re)Center Christ.

If ministry culture, leadership practices, or organizational assumptions require attention:

Explore the DNA + Operating System Leader Lab.

If the congregation needs to reconsider its approach to revitalization:

Study the Josh Hayden interview and the Jim Morgan SpotLIGHT.

If the central concern remains unclear, continue listening, studying, and gathering evidence.

Do not manufacture certainty merely because the group wants a plan.

 

YOUR FIRST GPS MILESTONE

• You comprehend the foundational concepts more clearly.
• You have reconsidered some of your own assumptions.
• You are better equipped to facilitate Scripture-centered exploration.
• Your leaders have begun to listen and learn together.
• You have identified a meaningful question for deeper investigation.
• You have not mistaken a quick decision for genuine discernment.

Success is not that you have already revitalized your church.

Success is that you and your leaders have begun a more faithful process of discovering what Christ is calling your congregation to become.

 

YOUR TURN — REQUEST A CUSTOMIZED GPS

This pastor's journey is one example.

Your situation may be different.

Perhaps your concern involves prayer, discipleship, leadership, evangelism, community engagement, church culture, or your personal calling.

You may know exactly what question you want to pursue.

Or you may simply sense that something needs to change.

Tell us what you're wondering about.

We'll help you explore a personalized Guided Pursuit Strategy through Reimagine.Network's resources, questions, conversations, Mini-Courses, Leader Labs, and SpotLIGHT ministry models.

**Request Your Persoanlized / Customized Guided Pursuit Strategy**

Find your question. Explore your path. Comprehend what matters. Become equipped to facilitate others. Discern your next faithful step.