Last fall, Outreach Magazine asked pastors of some of the nation’s largest churches to share their thoughts on church growth, discipleship, outreach, and faithful ministry. Jeff Bogue, president of CE National and pastor of Grace Church, Akron, Ohio, was one of them. A portion of the story appears below. Click here to read the complete article.
Jeff Bogue: ‘The Church Is a Spiritual Entity’
We asked pastors of some of the nation’s largest churches to share their thoughts on church growth, discipleship, outreach and faithful ministry.
Jeff Bogue, Senior Pastor
Grace Church
Akron, Ohio
One of the biggest initiatives that we have put in place in the last few years is the idea of “praying for our three.” We encourage every one of our people to pray for three of their friends by name every day. They pray that God would give them a “no-brainer moment” in which they can share the reason for the hope that’s within them. That little phrase has caused them to become very aware of opportunities to be evangelistic and the necessity to be continually in prayer for their friends and family who do not yet know Christ.
At our largest campus right now, we have set a goal that over the next three years we would see a minimum of 1,000 people come to know Christ. We invited the congregation to pursue that goal by praying for their three. Right now the members of just one of our campuses are praying up to 7,000 people every day. Not only does this initiative unleash the power of God in someone’s life, it also creates sensitivity and compassion within followers of Christ for those who do not yet know him.
Click here to read the complete article.