The Job of an Acts 2 Facilitator

Because of potential facilitators' roles of leadership and experience working with churches, it’s easy to look at difficult church situations with a divided focus—one eye might be on the church while the other eye searches through our tool kit looking for ways to fix the problem.

Before reaching for a “fix,” an Acts 2 facilitator must first love and believe in the church. In many cohorts, there will be Vision Team members (and perhaps even lead pastors) who don’t believe that a better day is possible for the church.

• Some pastors might even be attending a cohort because the district mandated that their districted affiliated church attend. While it’s good to have such churches in our midst, facilitators can face an uphill battle when working with these pastors, deacons, and leaders who might be present against their will.
• Some leaders have been through other conferences and events that have left them feeling frustrated.

Acts 2 Journey facilitators are there to help, bring a template, and give direction, but if the facilitator doesn’t believe, some will leave the room not believing.

From the perspective of the facilitator, the Acts 2 Journey is as much about helping people to believe as it is knowing what to do in a particular set of challenging circumstances.

Facilitators should make every effort to see things from the perspective of the churches they're working with—not just from the pastor's point of view, but from the point of view of the team members.

Begin by believing. Getting this step right will affect how you present and everything you do. Begin by loving them, and let the issue of leading them develop naturally. It's their journey, not just yours!

Please upload your response to the following question before beginning the next lesson:

Describe a time when you helped people believe for a new day in the face of a challenging current reality. How do you plan to leverage your role as an A2J facilitator to instill in teams a belief that a new day is possible?