Welcome!
Sacred Settlement
This will be your home base for tracking progress through the Four Stages of planting your Sacred Settlement. To keep it simple, you only have access to the stages you've completed.
Discern Stage.
First of all, thank you for having such a beautiful heart for the vulnerable members of our society. You are part of a growing movement across the country of churches who have decided to make a big difference in the lives of a few of their neighbors. We believe, as you progress through this process, this work will begin to transform your congregation in so many healthy ways.
As you progress through these tasks, be sure to click the button below each task to mark it as complete. This will help us keep track of your progress.
The fastest way to get your key leadership on the same page is for all of you to watch the Shared Way of Life. It is a 45 minute film that features the leadership from the first two Sacred Settlements. They will share with you the truth of what it feels like to discern, plan, build, and steward a Sacred Settlement. We recommend you watch it together. You can set up a screening, pop some popcorn and have a meaningful discussion afterwards.
After watching the film, senior leaders and lay leaders appoint a three to seven member Discern Team from amongst themselves.
Choose people from among you whom everyone in the congregation trusts, men and women full of the Holy Spirit who are spiritually wise, and we’ll assign them this task of discerning a Sacred Settlement (see Acts 6:1-4).
Select people who are serious in their faith, who receive the message of the Messiah fully, not deceitful, not struggling with an addiction of any kind, not in it for what they can get out of it, or greatly desiring the things of this world. They must think carefully about how they live. People should know they are honest and sincere in everything they do (see 1 Tim 3:8-13).
Let's make it official! Your Discern Team and Senior Pastor review and sign the Discern Commitment.
Seeing is believing. The Discern Team and the Senior Pastor register for and attend Settled’s three-day “Come and See” event which includes a Discern Workshop session. Please discuss with your guide about setting this up with Settled. It is so life-giving to be in the same place and share with you firsthand, how Full Community can feel.
These documents are the blueprint for implementing Full Community. When your team internalizes this information, it will help guide the decisions you make together as you progress through this process:
The Full Community Model (Download PDF)
An overview of the Five Elements and why Full Community is effective
The Shared Way of Life (Download PDF)
The heart behind why we do this work
Based on the Discernment Workshop findings, the Discern Team develops a plan and timeframe for the church's discernment process.
Approximately one month after the Workshop, the Discern Team will meet with the Settled Guide to discuss the plans and necessary support from Settled.
Get your congregation caught up with your process and answer any questions they have. How you do this is up to you. Let us know if we can help.
Identified their church’s unique calling to have a Sacred Settlement and identified any major barriers they must overcome in the next stage.
Facilitated a Leadership/Congregational vote to move to the next stage.
Now is the time to choose your 7-person Planting Team before you enter the Plan Stage.
Plan Stage
