The Great Commission Matrix

HIGH M-PACT Revitalization (HMR) is the process that I have developed over the past eighteen years to lead a church through comprehensive revitalization. Because of its comprehensive nature, many churches have struggled to get revitalization going because HMR is quite demanding of time, energy, commitment and creativity. In light of this, I have moved the starting line back to a "kinder, friendlier" model that I'm calling simply Basic Church Vitalization (BCV).

BCV is a stand-alone approach to establishing health and growth in a church that gives churches and excellent opportunity to move their ministries forward. Seminal elements of HMR are utilized so that, should a church decide to move beyond BCV to HMR, seeds are already planted and momentum already gained so that HMR can be engaged more quickly and effectively. Please note that an entire narrative of HMR is currently available as a download on my website at www.kenpriddy.com.

One of the key concepts of Basic Church Vitalization is the Great Commission Matrix. The idea is simple and yet holds tremendous potential for making ministry happen. First, identify all of the ministries or programs currently active in the church. Then run each through the matrix of the Great Commission. How so? The Great Commission states, "Go and make disciples." Think of "Go" as Outreach, "Make" as Evangelism, and "Disciples" as Discipleship.

Second, run each ministry or program through the Go - Make - Disciples grid. For example, let's say that one of the church's ministries is Youth Ministry. To run Youth Ministry through the grid, church leaders would ask three questions:

1. Go/Outreach: What strategies can we employ to reach out to youth in the community through Youth Ministry?

2. Make/Evangelism: What strategies can we employ to evangelize the youth in the community through Youth Ministry?

3. Disciples/Discipleship: What strategies can we employ in Youth Ministry to disciple youth from the community who have been reached through outreach and evangelism?

Envision every ministry/program of the church having the capacity to reach into the community to build relationships with the lost, to present the Gospel message of Jesus Christ to the lost with clarity, and to grow those who respond to the call of Christ to maturity in Christ through discipleship. The church that is able to make this happen throughout its ministries and programs is a church that will have great spiritual and strategic vitality. The Great Commission Matrix is one of the elements of Basic Church Vitalization.