Notes

Hey guys,
Since the opportunity for leadership for Kerusso was offered to me as well as the only guy within the planning committee who will be continuing at Kerusso for the next fall semester, I thought it would be best for me to lead the meeting tonight (and most of you seemed to agree). I'm sending this to lay out my thoughts about the future of Kerusso to confirm with the current leadership.

If I were to lead Kerusso, the following are the principles under which I would operate in

First of all, as some of you already know, I am not fond of parachurch ministries. I think that since Christ has purchased the church, he has the right to command how his church should function. His desires for a church are found in scripture and scripture alone. And in my current reading of scripture, we do not see an institution of para-church ministry that we commanded to be members of. In this particular area, rather than being of nature, 'I can do this because scripture does not explicitly reject it, I would say, 'There shouldn't be para-church ministries since God has given us something else, that is, the local church'. The organizational structure of para-church ministries such as independent college group ministries is not biblical and hard to figure out. Any conflicts are hard to sort out.

My initial hope for Kerusso, therefore, was that either the leadership of FocalPoint of NorthCreek would take responsibility and invest their elders both in teaching and ruling oversight. However, due to varied reasons ranging from church focus and time constraints, it did not happen. We were more or less left to our own. And thus, we were turning into more or less, a para-church. It is for this reason that I had initially refused to take up responsibility for Kerusso. I did not want to take up leadership of something outside the purview of the local church.

However, my thinking changed because I realized the need for a ministry at Berkeley that would be beneficial to me and others. And I was convinced that instead of looking at what is perfect and best in line with scripture, we must work with what we have. So this is what I've come up with. Even if para-churches are not biblical, I don't think it's bad for Christians to gather to learn from scriptures. So, instead of looking at Kerusso as a fellowship*, I will look at it just as a bible study. A group of Christians at Berkeley gathering to study scriptures from gifted teachers. So, Kerusso will not primarily be an organization necessarily, but just a bible study.

Practically, speaking, the implications of that is Kerusso will not have some of the things we planned out for, such as 'small groups' and 'Kerusso Chats'. Now, this does not mean that you can't have 'Small Groups' or 'Kerusso Chats'. Its just I don't want it to be associated with Kerusso. You guys can do it, I'll not be involved in planning for it, neither will be responsible. Whether I will be involved in it, I'll have to make that decision when it comes.

I don't think this is a sustainable model though. I don't think the other activities can remain disassociated with Kerusso for much long. Its not gonna work in the long run. So it's my hope that either NorthCreek or Focalpoint will take it up as their own ministry. Past. Charlie had expressed interest in ministry at Berkeley if only he had more time. Therefore, my sincere hope is that soon Past. Charlie will be able to have more time to invest at Berkeley when FocalPoint would take up Kerusso, which would be ideal.

If this system is not acceptable to you, then I have another option on the table. Since Past. Charlie has already expressed a desire to be part of the ministry at Berkeley, I will ask him to be the leader of it. FocalPoint will take up the leadership of this ministry and I will act as a mediator to execute those things. However, I need to ask Past. Charlie if he wants to do it this way.

Finally, it's also possible that someone from NorthCreek will take up complete responsibility for it. If you know of anyone who can do it, then let us know.

Anyways, this is what I am thinking at this point in time.

Let me know your thoughts on this before 7:30 pm so that I can make the necessary changes.

Thank you
Roshan

*Here, I use fellowship to mean how it is understood culturally.