We know that people are looking for authentic love and lasting relationships. Jesus Christ offers both and gives us power to live loved and give love freely here and now, starting at home and extending to the ends of the earth.
The Basic ldea Ministries helps pastor/leader couples “live loved and give love freely…. starting at home” by using 5 strategic methods:
1. Activate Relationship Mentoring:
We activate a mentoring relationship between one of TBI’s Encourager Couples and a pastor/leader couple to help them experience love in new areas of life, heal from the brokenness of the past, and replace misconceptions and unhealthy practices with time-tested, Biblical principles. During the mentoring process, we explore answers to these and other questions:
- What does Jesus mean by “loving one another as He loved us”?
- How do I know a person well enough to establish a heart-connection?
- How do I remove the barriers hindering our relationship?
- How do we fulfill our God-given roles as husband and wife?
- Am I alone in my struggle to love and be loved?
- How can I respond in love and be truthful at the same time?
- What can I do to keep love alive and growing?
- How can we help the world experience the love of Jesus?
Do you and your spouse need to discover or re-discover the abundant love God designed for your marriage?
2. Build Relationship Ministries:
At Basic Idea Ministries, we believe that there must be more churches and organizations intentionally, effectively preparing singles and equipping married couples for successful, love-filled relationships.
Our observation in the 11 countries where we have served is that in too many places culture changes the church instead of the church changing the culture.
People need to find a place where love is powerfully lived, strategically taught, and contagiously caught from leaders whose marriages, though imperfect, serve as worthy models for children, the church, and the community.
BIM desires to walk with churches or organizations to implement relevant marriage ministries and lay the foundation for building a team of healthy couples and families. With the pastor/leader couple at the helm, this team can lead the church and community in key areas of relational health, powerfully modeling the love of Jesus in real time.
This is a “top-down” approach, where the pastor/leader couple (top) leads by example to develop effective relational ministries for the church and community (down). In this phase of TBI ministry we help the Participant Couple and their church prepare and engage in the first complete relational ministry cycle.
3. Create Relationship Conferences/Retreats:
A catalytic event, such as a relationship conference or retreat, provides an environment where people can get away and focus on their relationships with God and each other.
During this focused time not only will people be taught principles of healing and growth, but also they will hear the Gospel message clearly presented. For churches and organizations that wish to provide a marriage conference/retreat, BIM will provide presenters, small group/”break-out” leader training, and a resource list for conference materials.
Relationship conferences or retreats can play a vital role in Relational Ministry Development to either launch a new marriage ministry or create new momentum in an existing one.
4. Help You to Develop Teams of Dedicated Volunteers:
Because each community and culture faces its own set of problems, those of us who seek to effectively share the love of Christ in these environments need help. We certainly need the help of the Spirit of God. We also need the help of other “equipped saints.”
Hiring more staff won’t be enough. An army of volunteers is the answer. The volunteers we need must be ready for the “work of service”, as Paul stated in Ephesians 4:11-13. Paul also wrote, “And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable people who will also be qualified to teach others also” (2 Timothy 2:2), right? Didn’t Jesus say that we are to “ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into His harvest field” (Matthew 9:38)?
In every place where we have been privileged to minister, God has chosen to send great volunteers to expand the impact of the ministry. The experience of the last three decades has revealed how wise it is to provide great training for those who want to serve.
For those who want to work with people who face relationship challenges, providing relevant training is essential. To protect the relational and spiritual health of both the volunteers being trained and the care receivers they seek to serve, we must provide great training, material, and resources.
At BIM, we have the experience from over 30 years of ministry to help leaders discover, enlist, and empower great volunteers and to engage them in meaningful service based on their passion and gifting.
Why do all the ministry alone, when God’s plan is to have “workers” serving beside you discovering what it means to be useful and productive in His kingdom work?
5. Equip Encourager Couples
Because the marital problems among pastor/leader couples are both serious and widespread, we want to equip other Encourager Couples who will multiply the impact of this ministry.
As a growing number of Encourager Couples take their places beside pastor/leader couples across this country and around the world, we will see a revival of loving relationships at home, at church, and in the community. Can you imagine that God wants to see this happen, resulting in a new hunger for salvation in the hearts of those outside the faith?
While serving on the staff of North Point Ministries in Alpharetta, GA, I learned very valuable ministry principles. Among those I learned and implemented as the Director of the Care Network, was the principle of “replacing yourself” or “intentional apprenticing.”
That principle applied to our ministry means that current BIM Encourager Couples have the responsibility and privilege of teaching others to do what they do so that the influence of Christ’s love continues to grow.
Would you prayerfully consider whether or not God would have you join with other BIM Encourager Couples in order to see “[His] kingdom come, [His] will be done, on earth as it is in heaven” (Matthew 6:10)?
We could rightly apply this prayer and ask that His kingdom come and His will be done – in families, churches, and communities – as it is in heaven.
