A typical Sunday’s bulletin featured a listing of the fall line-up of adult Sunday school classes: George Smith’s 25-week study in Leviticus. May Jones’ 14-week “Meander Through the New Testament.” The Young Married’s class was beginning a video study on Boundaries and the Prime-timers were starting a “Dialog” class. Sam Green’s class would continue with the adult Nazarene curriculum. Six choices! What could be better? How about having even more classes for the winter quarter?!

For decades churches have offered an increasingly varied curriculum on all things spiritual with the theory that more is definitely better. Particularly in the areas of adult ministries, success is often measured by the number of adult Sunday school classes available. Classes are developed to address specific needs rather than to accomplish a distinct purpose. That is exactly what we were doing at Living Hope Church in Monterey. Truthfully, classes were more often about a particular teacher’s interests or simply their willingness to teach! Although often successful, classes were never framed in the context of an overall purpose.

Our mission statement at LHC is “to help people develop a meaningful relationship with Jesus Christ and His Church,” but were we being intentional in accomplishing that mission? What does a meaningful relationship look like? What do people need to know to get there? Why not shift our focus and develop classes with a specific destination in mind? Realizing that there’s nothing more exciting than a church full of people who are indeed growing in their faith - a church where life transformation is a reality - we have launched a two-fold “Focus Project.”

We begin with our “Core Values.” If having a heart for faith, God’s Word, prayer and giving are some of those values, then everything we do including Sunday morning worship services, adult classes, small groups, etc. needs to emanate from them. During the fall of 2004 we launched “Focus Classes” on Sunday mornings. We’ve begun with two series of classes - “A Place to Begin” for those needing the basics of faith and “A Place to Mature” designed with more in-depth teaching and life application. Four classes, each four weeks in duration, have been developed in each series. What are they? Either “A New Heart” or “A Maturing Heart” for . . . Faith . . . God’s Word . . . Prayer . . . and Giving. This spring we’ve offered an eight-week class, “A Heart for Evangelism - Becoming a Contagious Christian.” In April and May we had a class called “A Heart for Community - Old Testament Challenge.” Our next class is "Life Keys," where you'll learn truths about who you are, why you are here, and what you do best to add significance and direction to your life. Adopting the philosophy to teach “less for more” has helped us narrow our “focus,” thus developing and using curriculum that clarifies the true essentials of our Christian faith - to know Jesus loves us, speaks to us through His Word, desires to hear from us and wants to see our lives transformed!

Another step in the “Focus” process is to complete a “Focus Packet.” The packet includes an Interview Worksheet that helps “focus” on the spiritual background - faith legacy, as well as classes or training that were taken in the past. There’s a Spiritual Gifts Inventory, and a Discovering My S.H.A.P.E. questionnaire to assist in seeing how God has designed each person to make a difference with his or her life. A Your Heart for Ministry form is designed to provide a list of service opportunities at LHC, where people will be able to prayerfully consider the practical ways God might use them to love and to serve. If they haven’t become a member of LHC, there’s an Application for Membership. Once the packet is completed, an appointment is scheduled for a “Focus Interview” with two of the Focus Team members. The purpose of the interview is to assist in finding just the right spot to be ministered to and to minister at LHC.

“Focus” - the Spiritual Formation Process at Living Hope Church: A purposeful process that is endeavoring to help people develop a meaningful relationship with Jesus Christ and His Church!