City Startup
ALL IN
To Extend our Reach and Impact
“Moving from a Church of Success to a Church of Influence and Impact.”
As we begin the next 40 years of Perimeter’s history, it is foundational to remember not only who we are but whose we are and what we are called to be. We look to Christ Jesus the Head of the Church, His life and the Word. We also look to our place in the story: Perimeter Church and her founding Pastor, Randy Pope. Perimeter Church’s ALL IN campaign cast the vision for her continuing the journey from a “church of success” to become more and more a “church of influence” and impact in the communities and cities where we live, work, and play - for the sake of the nations.
In Randy’s book The Intentional Church, he shares the vision he had for Perimeter Church, which is ultimately a picture of what Jesus wants from His Church. Here are some excerpts from that chapter:
And what you really long for is a church that matters, a church that influences and impacts her people and her community for the glory of God and His Kingdom. You long for a transformational church. This is the church Jesus had in mind: a place where God’s power is demonstrated with such force in its people that the community it serves is marked with a indelible spiritual imprint, transforming the lives of worshipers and those whom they contact. (19-20)
First, I saw a church that could impact an entire metropolitan city by the quality of its disciples. Second, I saw a church geographically broad enough to touch people throughout the entire city. Third, I saw a church sociologically, economically, and culturally diverse enough to reach every kind of people in Atlanta. Last, I saw individual congregations of equipped believers linked together to alter the spiritual, political, educational, and social structures of Atlanta - that is, a church that would bring Atlanta into an encounter with the kingdom of God (62-63).
And more specifically,
“We are seeking to bring the people of greater Atlanta and all places where we serve into a life-transforming encounter with the kingdom of God” (63).
Today, we believe God is calling us to bring the cities around Perimeter Church into a “life-transforming encounter with the kingdom of God.” Perimeter Church is indeed an intentional church who is on mission from Christ to extend His Kingdom’s reach and impact in her community, city, state, nation and the world. Christ already has the victory secured and is sure to return. Living in that victory, Christ has commissioned His church to fight daily skirmishes and has promised her power to advance His Kingdom, its influence and impact.
Christ has not only given his people power but has given His church gifts to effectively engage in the battle.
“And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and from by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.” (Eph.4:11-16)
God has blessed Perimeter Church with tremendous resource: our members with their gifts and abilities; our facilities, and our ministries. We must not trust in what we see, but we must go out in total dependence upon Him! It is His work in and through us that will extend His Kingdom and Impact our cities. Our part is to step out in faith and follow His Spirit and we will see His hand at work! We the members of Perimeter Church are being called to join together under Christ’s authority through the Church to engage in the advancement of His Kingdom. We are called to be ALL IN for the Extending Our Reach and Impact where we live, work and play!
CITY IMPACT
City Impact Overview
Perimeter’s strategy to Extend our Reach and Impact is to support the intentional deployment of Perimeter members through the establishment of member led Impact Teams. The member led City Impact Leadership Teams begin to oversee Perimeter’s vision and mission for their city. They will support Perimeter members and their families in discovering their gifts and role in extending the Kingdom in their homes, neighborhoods, school districts and cities. Members supported by the City Impact Leadership Team who are in turn supported by Perimeter staff for Kingdom advancement, family transformation and the flourishing of their city.
Perimeter Church has developed key ministries in support of the advancement of the Kingdom, the transformation of families and the flourishing of the city. These include the following ministries: shepherding, men’s discipleship, women’s discipleship, community outreach, education, women’s ministry, family ministry, communication, and welcome host. Each of these ministries are building member led ministry teams to give oversight to the ministry across all the cities where Perimeter members live.
You might be wondering what exactly is a City Impact? Is this another new ministry of Perimeter Church? Well, it is NOT a new ministry of Perimeter Church, rather, it is the ministry of Perimeter Church in each city under the oversight and coordination of a member led ministry team for the city (City Impact leadership team).
The City Impact leadership team will then be made up of leaders who live in the city and represent the ministries of Perimeter in that City. The team will begin the ongoing process of determining the strategic targets and strategies in their City for advancing the Kingdom (making disciples), transforming families, and seeking the flourishing of the city. These member-led ministry teams will then be supported by the departmental ministry teams and the staff of Perimeter. This is a critical transition from staff lead ministry to member lead ministries for impacting the cities in which we live with the Gospel!
Member-Led Ministry Teams
*** City Ministry Teams *** | --- | ***Departmental Ministry Teams *** |
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Alpharetta - Milton | Communications | |
Berkeley Lake | Community Outreach | |
Duluth | Education | |
Johns Creek | Faith & Work | |
Norcross | Family Ministry | |
Peachtree Corners | Members at Large | |
Roswell | Men’s Discipleship | |
South Forsyth | Prayer | |
Suwanee - Sugar Hill | Shepherdess | |
Dunwoody-Sandy Springs | Shepherding | |
Welcome Host | ||
Women’s Discipleship | ||
Women’s Ministry | ||
Channels of Influence* |
Role Descriptions
City Impact Lay Leader Role Descriptions can be found here.
Staff Support
PLACE HOLDER FOR STAFF SUPPORT TEAM with CONTACT INFO AND PICTURES
Target Cities
C I T I E S & C I T Y M A P S - TABLEAU CONNECTIVITY? (7/06 -Omari says yes)
PATHWAY
To Extend our Reach and Impact In the City
We are recommending that the CI leadership teams use the following planning and execution process to extend our reach and impact in the City.
Step 1. Prayer.
Perimeter began the current ALL IN to Extend our Reach and Impact Campaign with a 40 day season of prayer and fasting in 2017. It helped us remember that it is His work and apart from His being in all we do we are doomed to failure toward any Kingdom impact! Therefore, as we began this new chapter of Perimeter so let us continue in dependence upon Him through prayer and fasting.
Details
Perimeter kicked off the ALL IN to Extend Our Reach and Impact Campaign with a call to prayer and fasting. This was a call for all our members to pray individually and as families. We developed a 40 Day Prayer Guide for our members to use. This guide is available as a resource to the CI leadership team. In addition, we asked members to consider periods of fasting during the 40 days of prayer and provided a Fasting Guide as well. It too is available to the CI.
Now for the launch of City Impact, we are asking the CI leadership team to commit to 40 Days of Prayer for your city using the ALL IN 40 Day Prayer Guide. Beyond the CI leadership team praying we are asking that the CI develop a prayer strategy(ies) for your city. Rather than being prescriptive in when and how the CIs Prayer strategy should be done, we are asking that the CI Leadership team develop and execute on a prayer strategy and plan that underscores our dependence upon the work of the Holy Spirit in and through us to being about Kingdom Impact.
We would suggest the CI follow our Life on Life Missional Discipleship motto: “Think Big, Start Small, Go Deep”. Think Big. We do have a big vision, seeing your city transformed by the power of the Gospel! Start Small. Perhaps begin with your City Impact members praying together as a group as well as individually and with your families. Go Deep. Extend the prayer through the ministries of Perimeter in the City: Officers, Connect Groups and Journey Groups. Extending even further into the Schools, city channels of influence, neighborhoods through prayer walking.
The goal is to be in step with the Spirit, hearing God’s heart for your city and the plans He has for your role in advancing His Kingdom in total dependence upon Him.
Step 2. Begin to build your team.
Establishing a few core key team members to come along side you and pray for the launch of your city will be an important next step. We recommend identifying a Prayer Coordinator is the best place to start.
New Lay Leader Vetting and Selection Procedure can be found here.
Step 3. An Assessment of the City.
Develop a basic knowledge and understanding of the city’s history, its identity, its districts, demographics, commercial/industrial, religious, government, ethnographic and demographics, etc. This would also include gaining an understanding of what the city leaders (government, business, religious, school, non-profit, public safety) see as the most significant issues facing the city today and the near future. Finally, identify the interdependence of the City on other cities, nearby or father away. This Step can seem overwhelming at first. We grant that it can be a quite extensive step to do a complete assessment of the City. Initially, we are asking for the teams to develop a basic assessment to provide a fundamental understanding of the city and the major issues the city faces. Over the coming years the CI can go deeper in its assessment of the City. We have developed a base outline for the CI to use to complete the Assessment of the City in the dropdown below:
Toggle me!
City Assessment Methodology
- Perimeter Assets in the City. Determine the Perimeter assets that currently exist in the City. The answers to these questions can be obtained through the various Perimeter Ministry Departments, then main one being through James Smith in the IT department for the data off our Perimeter’s Ministry Platform (MP) database. a. Deployment of Perimeter Members and Officers. b. Deployment of Connect Groups c. Deployment of Journey Group Leaders d. Deployment of Community Outreach Non-Profits. e. Deployment of Education partner schools. f. Perimeter membership demographics: age, race, etc. g. Deployment of Perimeter members in the workplace in the city. h. Unite! Partner Churches in the City.
- Demographics of the City. Develop an understanding of the sections/districts of the City and their demographics: Population, age, households, ethnicity, income level, etc. This data can be obtained from the City or public library. If possible obtain not only the current demographic information for the forecasted demographic changes. James Smith might also have access to some of this data as well.
- Civic and Social Structures of the City. Identify the key civic and social structures that exist in the City and who the key leaders of these each. Conduct interview of these leaders to obtain their top priorities for the city as well as what they see as the strategic issues facing the city. a. City Government. b. Public Safety. c. Chamber of Commerce d. Industry or business groups e. Public Schools f. Private Schools g. Churches h. Neighborhood HOAs i. Non-Profits j. Healthcare
- What a cross section of citizens see as the top issues they are facing. Public domain information and supporting demographic IT and team will be assisting us with a survey and tools to conduct the survey of a cross section of citizens. This will provide input to our target and strategy process as well as helping us measure impact in the future.
- Strength/Weakness/Opportunities/Threat Assessment (SWOT). Recruit teams of 2 to conduct interviews with the leaders of the civic and social organizations above to obtain their assessment the current strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats they see in the City.
Nested toggle! Some surprise inside...
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Step 4. Selection of Strategic Targets.
Based on an assessment of the City begin by selecting Strategic Targets for Extending the Kingdom and its impact in the City. We suggest the CI Leadership team select strategic target for (1). making new disciples in neighborhoods and districts where there is little Kingdom presence today; and of course, where there are no or few Perimeter members living there today. (2). The transformation of families; and (3) the flourishing of the city. Select at least one target in each area but we would suggest no more than 2 or 3 in any area.
Step 5. Strategy Development.
Begin to develop the strategies that will be employed to begin to impact each of the strategic targets. How does the CI plan to utilize the ministries of Perimeter Church to impact the strategic targets for impact in their City?
Step 6. Methodology for Assessing Impact.
What systems and methods will be used to assess the impact of the strategies over the coming years? How will we know if we are making progress and actually achieving impact? We realize this can be a challenging step. Most churches and non-profits like to measure activity, but this does not help us to assess if the activity we are doing is actually producing the desired results or impact. The staff of Perimeter are researching existing tools and methods being used in community development. We are seeking to develop methods and tools for the CI leadership teams’ use in this step.
Step 7. CI Ministry Annual Ministry Plan.
Complete the CI Ministry Plan planning template and submit for approval each year in April. The CI Ministry Plan will then be reviewed and approved as a part of Perimeter’s annual ministry plans in August of each year. The CI Ministry Plan template can be found in Section 3.7 of this Handbook.
City Assessment Methodology
- Perimeter Assets in the City. Determine the Perimeter assets that currently exist in the City. The answers to these questions can be obtained through the various Perimeter Ministry Departments, then main one being through James Smith in the IT department for the data off our Perimeter’s Ministry Platform (MP) database. a. Deployment of Perimeter Members and Officers. b. Deployment of Connect Groups c. Deployment of Journey Group Leaders d. Deployment of Community Outreach Non-Profits. e. Deployment of Education partner schools. f. Perimeter membership demographics: age, race, etc. g. Deployment of Perimeter members in the workplace in the city. h. Unite! Partner Churches in the City.
- Demographics of the City. Develop an understanding of the sections/districts of the City and their demographics: Population, age, households, ethnicity, income level, etc. This data can be obtained from the City or public library. If possible obtain not only the current demographic information for the forecasted demographic changes. James Smith might also have access to some of this data as well.
- Civic and Social Structures of the City. Identify the key civic and social structures that exist in the City and who the key leaders of these each. Conduct interview of these leaders to obtain their top priorities for the city as well as what they see as the strategic issues facing the city. a. City Government. b. Public Safety. c. Chamber of Commerce d. Industry or business groups e. Public Schools f. Private Schools g. Churches h. Neighborhood HOAs i. Non-Profits j. Healthcare
- What a cross section of citizens see as the top issues they are facing. Public domain information and supporting demographic IT and team will be assisting us with a survey and tools to conduct the survey of a cross section of citizens. This will provide input to our target and strategy process as well as helping us measure impact in the future.
- Strength/Weakness/Opportunities/Threat Assessment (SWOT). Recruit teams of 2 to conduct interviews with the leaders of the civic and social organizations above to obtain their assessment the current strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats they see in the City.
Selection of Strategic Targets
Based on the Assessment of the City, in particular the Strengths/Weaknesses/Opportunities/Threats (SWOT) analysis the CIT did, the next step is to begin to select strategic targets of impact for the making of disciples, the transformation of families and the flourishing of the City. There will likely be numerous potential targets for each of these three areas: Making Disciples: elementary school districts with almost no Perimeter members; neighborhoods with no Perimeter members living in them; large areas of the city with no Connect Groups where people can begin to feel like they belong; not enough Journey group leaders to help people grow to become disciple makers, etc. The Transformation of Families: There will be all kinds of issues facing families in the community like divorce, drugs, over scheduled stress out families, suicide, single parenting, blended families, etc. Flourishing of the City: likewise, there will be many significant issues facing the city; such as, affordable housing, traffic, economic development, crime, healthcare, gentrification, etc. It can be overwhelming, especially when we are in a position of having to depend on us, what we can see and know we can do! Again, we must seek the Lord and what He has planned for us. One suggestion is to pick no more that 2 targets per area. Even better picking targets that overlap the areas.
Add vision: in our cities, we want to see a life transforming encounter with God for the kingdom
Strategy Development
The next step, after the Strategic Targets have been selected, is the development of the team’s strategies to move toward impact. CI needs to determine how it will Perimeter members be deployed in the city through the various ministries of Perimeter to extend our reach and impact.
A reminder that we are not looking to create new ministries but rather to better utilize existing ministries focused on the cities needs and targets to accomplish the desired impact.
Here is an example of what this might look like for a city:
We plan to deploy Perimeter members in the neighborhoods, school districts and the channels of cultural influence to make mature and equipped followers of Christ and sponsor them into membership by:
Neighborhood GBI: Members will Greet people in their neighborhood and Invite them into their homes for meals and fellowship and to join them for a Connect Group Gathering.
New District/Neighborhood GBI: Deploy members into a school district where none of, or few members currently live; to Greet people living there and invite them into their homes and Connect Group for fellowship.
We plan to bring about family transformation by:
Missional Connect Groups: Our Connect Groups will leverage Perimeter Campus Family Events to Bridge families living in their neighborhoods into their Connect Group for follow up discussion and mutual support to take action in their families.
Journey Groups: Journey Group leaders selecting their Journey Groups in the context of relationships in their Connect Group to help families live life together toward transformation.
We plan to deploy our people for community and global transformation by: Tutoring at risk children: Raising up members to be reading tutors for the three elementary schools in Perimeter City AND math tutors for the middle school in Perimeter City. Community Service: Deploying members to serve through community organizations (HOAs, PTAs, Nonprofits, civic clubs, etc.)
Methodology for Assessing Impact
In development
City Ministry Plans for FY 2020
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Why Do We Exist? (Our Purpose) To glorify God and to enjoy Him
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What Are We Trying To Accomplish? (Our Vision) To make and deploy mature and equipped followers of Christ1 for the sake of family2, community transformation in (City).
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How Do We Plan To Accomplish Our Vision? (Our Mission) We plan to deploy Perimeter members in the neighborhoods, school districts and the channels of cultural influence to make mature and equipped followers of Christ and sponsor them into membership by:
We plan to bring about family transformation by: 1) 2)
We plan to deploy our people for community and global transformation by: 1) 2) 4. What are our strategic Targets for Impact? 4.1 Expanding the Kingdom by Making New Disciples. • (Goal) 4.2 Seeking the flourishing of our families. • (Goal) 4.3 Seeking the flourishing of our city. • (Goal) 5. How will we measure/assess our progress toward these goals and Impact?
- What Ministry Resources we will need from Perimeter to accomplish our plan? 6.1 Shepherding. 6.2 Connect Groups. 6.3 Discipleship. 6.4 Community Outreach. 6.5 Education. 6.6 Family Ministry (children, youth, adult). 6.7 Women’s Ministry. 6.8 Facilities. 6.9 Communications. 6.10 IT/Ministry Platform.
- Who will be the Leadership Team for FY’22 Ministry Year? Convener: Shepherd: Men’s Discipleship: Women’s Discipleship: Community Outreach: Education: Family Ministry: Women’s Ministry: Channels of Influence: Communications/IT:
Meeting Types and Recommended Cadences
*** Type of Meeting *** | Cadence | ***Purpose and Recommended Meeting Times *** |
---|---|---|
CI Staff + Conveners | Quarterly | On the Month Prior to the OLM Quarterly Meetings on First Thursdays. Purpose to Share Best Practices, Results, and Mobilization in The Cities |
City Impact Officer Engagement | As Needed | To Continue Officer Support, involvement, and Equipping of officers leading their flocks with an eye toward City Impact as we deploy through Area Pastors and City Shepherds |
City Leadership Team Meeting | Monthly | On Third Thursday of the Month to Discuss What is Coming Up the Next Two Months. Review of Lay Leader Monthly Reports for Progress, God Stories Upcoming Opportunities, Events, Initiatives, Etc. |
Dept Head + Lay Leader Coaches | Monthly or as needed | On Second Tuesday or First Thursday of Each Month to Emphasize Equipping, Ministry Planning, Share Success Stories Across the Cities, New Tools. These include City Leadership/Core Department Cross-Functional Sharing meetings by city to share directionally what is working well and opportunities for improvement within a particular city (2nd Wednesday By City in Annex) |
Individual Departments + their CI Team representatives from each city | At Least Quarterly | Departments should be gathering their representatives from each city team for specific ministry equipping, collaboration, vision casting, and best-practice sharing. |
Dept Heads | 2x / year | To collaborate together to guide the city lay leaders, share successful techniques of preparing and equipping lay leaders for particular ministries. |
Dept Heads + Conveners | 2x / year | Learning Sessions to Discuss and Improve Collaboration and Effectiveness of Ministry Support and Lay Leader Execution in the Cities and Evaluate Results Toward Mobilization and Spiritual Multiplication. |
MANDY: SUGGESTING THE BELOW BE REPLACED WITH THE CHART ABOVE Second Thursday night of the month Officer Leadership Meetings: attendees are Officers and Deacons. Dinner, Worship, Sr. Leadership vision casting & sharing. These would be held at Perimeter’s 9500 Medlock Br. Rd. campus. City Ministry Leadership Meetings: attendees would be the CI leadership team members and spouses. These meetings would be held off campus in a location in the city (home, clubhouse, community center, Outpost). Ministry Team Leadership Meetings: These would be held on Perimeter’s 9500 Medlock Bridge Road campus. Each Perimeter Ministry Lay team would meet: Shepherding; Connect Groups; Discipleship(Men and Women’s); Community Outreach; Education; Family Ministry; Channels; CI Conveners. MONTH Sept. Oct. Nov. Dec. Jan. Feb. Mar. Apr. May Jun. July Aug. LEADERSHIP TEAM MEETINGS
Officer Leadership Officer Leadership Officer Leadership (CI vision) Officer Leadership (Christmas) City Leadership Teams Ministry Lay Leadership Officer Leadership City Leadership Ministry Lay Leadership Officer Leadership (interview) Officer Leadership Celebration Ord./Install and Commissioning of All Leadership LOCATION 9500 9500 9500 9500 City 9500 9500 City 9500 9500 9500 9500
SEPT. 9, 2018 SEPT. – DEC. 2018 JAN. 10, 2019 JAN. – APRIL 2019 APRIL 11, 2019 APRIL – AUGUST 2019 AUGUST 8, 2019 T I M E L I N E CI Kickoff CI Prayer and Assessment of the City CI Meetings in the City Prayer, SWOT Analysis CI Strategic Targets and Strategy Development CI Meetings in the City Prayer, Complete FY’20 Ministry Plan for submittal Prayer, begin executing plans, selecting leaders for the coming year City Ministry Plan for FY’20 Approval by EMT
Communication Guidelines
The full City Impact Communication Process can be found here. You'll reference this often!
Coaching Model
COACHING MODEL images PLACEHOLDER
LEAD/DEVELOP/CARE IMAGE PLACEHOLDER
Recommended Reading and Resources
https://www.rightnowmedia.org/ - All Perimeter Members have access to this library of resources, if you are interested in having it. To get access, you need to send an email to sabinap@perimeter.org, and she will set you up with an account.
GO THEREFORE AND MAKE DISCIPLES OF ALL NATIONS, BAPTIZING THEM IN THE NAME OF THE FATHER AND OF THE SON AND OF THE HOLY SPIRIT, TEACHING THEM TO OBSERVE ALL THAT I HAVE COMMANDED YOU. AND BEHOLD, I AM WITH YOU ALWAYS, TO THE END OF THE AGE. MATTHEW 28:19-20