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I baptized here about thirty or forty infants and seven adults.
We had indeed a precious time at the baptism of the adults.
Thomas Coke(1)
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Rock-the-Cradle Discussion Questions and Genogram Exercises:
1. Would you agree that we have become as a culture more "object oriented" than "people oriented?"
2. Get a copy of Pope John Paul II's 1991 The Lay Members of Christ's Faithful People and use it for group discussion.(24)
3. It has been estimated that if each of ten thousand research scientists trained only ten research scientists in his or her lifetime, within five generations there would be one billion research scientists. Discuss the implications of this formula for evangelism.
4. Recommend here some Spiritual Gifts exercises. Use the resource book What You Do Best in the Body of Christ.(25)
5. Name the Ministers of Food in your congregation, and plan some kind of a celebration to thank them for their ministry in your midst. How does your church's Ministry of Food connect with what the World Bank in its World Development Report 1990: Poverty identifies as "the most urgent question" of the day: poverty?(26)
6. Have someone in your class read and review for the group Susie Stanley's "Empowered Foremothers: Wesleyan/Holiness Women Speak to Today's Christian Feminists."(27) Discuss Stanley's thesis that these Holiness and Nazarene women forebears of ours framed the issues of women's leadership in the church in ways strikingly similar to twentieth century feminists.
7. Attend a one-day forum on lay mobilization sponsored by the Leadership Training Network. Each person attending receives a Starter Kit for Mobilizing Ministry. For more information call 1-800-765-5323 or 903-561-0437.
8. Subscribe to Into Action, a quarterly newsletter published by Leadership Network for Directors of Lay Ministry and churches implementing lay ministry programs. It was released in August 1995. For more information call 800-765-5323 or 903-561-0437.
9. Discuss Kenneth Kinghorn's work on "Discovering Your Spiritual Gifts"(28) and his six-fold methodology:
1. open up to God
2. analyze your desires
3. examine your burdens
4. evaluate your efforts
5. focus on obedience*
6. watch how others respond
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