Mission Servant School
Missional Spiritual Formation
Creekside’s Mission Servant School is missional spiritual formation process designed to transform people into Kingdom witnesses in the world. Our philosophy of transformation - or methodology - is designed to affect change at the core of one's being. The biblical call to "no longer be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind," (Rom 12:2) is a fundamental shift that affects deeply held societal values. This kind of significant change is needed if people are not only going to see a vision of the Kingdom, but actually become Kingdom agents.
The Mission Servant School provides a formation pathway to aid participants in the journey together to becoming an authentic and prophetic Christian community under the reign of God. Our formation courses cover the following topics:
Call
A passion that, when activated, not only brings healing to a hurting world, but also brings healing to your own soul. Have you ever wondered what it would look like to engage your passion for the Kingdom of God? This could be the place to begin discovering just that. As a community, we will learn how to discern God's voice from the voices of family, friends, culture, and self. You will explore how God has used your experiences to form you into a person uniquely prepared to serve Him.
Community
God has given us each other to aid in our healing and forgiveness. These relationships can help us live out our call more faithfully as we journey together toward a deeper commitment to Christ and are bonded together with a common purpose. We were made for community. As a community, we will ask what authentic community really is, and what it take to form and sustain such a community?
Commitment to Kingdom Values
God’s desire is that all people may live a life of loving Him and loving their neighbor. This kind of love works for a just, reconciled, peaceful world where people are liberated from all forms of oppression and treated with God-given dignity. As a community we will the values of the Kingdom and how to live into them in such a way that they sustain this "other focused" lifestyle.
Care for the Suffering
Jesus is our example of the ultimate servant. He lived among us, walked with the poor, had a heart of humility, and displayed self-offering love. His servant character is what we should strive to model. As a community we will explore the kind of heart change that is necessary to do this as well as the practical question of how do we?
Contemplation
Many of us long for but rarely get to experience time set aside for listening to God and being in His presence. We will introduce class participants to the disciplines that bring people into the presence of God. These disciplines are not a legalistic set of rules, but rather practices that, through grace, tap into the healing and transforming love of God. As a community we will explore and experience the practice of disciplines, including meditation, silence, fasting, and solitude and in the process experience the reality that they are meant to heal the heart, not burden the soul.
Cultural Captivity
The Apostle Paul warns us to not be in the world but not to be of (the structures) of the world. Culture is luring us to its lie that inner-satisfaction and "the good life" will come through success, money, security, popularity, comfort, status, materialism, pleasure, and power. This lie destroys the Kingdom vision for our lives. We need a rekindled "prophetic imagination" to strip culture of its power over us, and we need a community that will hold us accountable to be the people we say we want to be. As a community, we will see how each of us is differently addicted to our culture and begin the process of freedom from those addictions.
Strength To Love
"Martin Luther King Jr.'s life serves as a template for putting God's love into action for causes of justice and peace. As a community we look at the life and teachings of MLK to find the kind of character a person needs to be transformative in the world for God. MLK embodied the love, truth and courage needed to do what was right as an advocate for social change; we explore how we too can find the strength to love.