Purpose. This document is the practical, year-by-year companion to Documents 1, 2, 3 and 4 of the Sonrise Revival Series. Documents 1, 2 and 3 set out the theology of the Church, the doctrine of the gifts, and the personal discernment process for each believer. Document 4 (the Spiritual Gifts Assessment) is the workbook that captures each member’s gifts and calling. This document is what an eldership does next — the step-by-step process that takes the gift data, surfaces gaps and opportunities, prays through direction, builds program-level plans, and turns the whole thing into an Annual Prospectus the body can fund in faith.
Audience. Elders, deacons, and the lead pastor of a local church. The work can also be adapted by a new church plant’s leadership team, a forming or transitioning eldership, or by a Christian family with a clear sense of shared calling. The same five-stage process applies; the scale changes.
Prerequisites. The congregation has access to and is working through Document 1 (Vision, Purpose, Commission & Mission), Document 2 (The Theology of the Gifts), and Document 3 (The Self-Assessment Guide), and has the Document 4 workbook in hand. The elders and deacons themselves should have completed the personal discernment in Document 3 before leading others through it. The structure assumed throughout is the flat governance pattern set out in Document 1, Chapter 9: Christ as Head, fivefold ministry equipping, elders shepherding, deacons serving, every Saint gifted and called.
How to use this document. Read all of Part One first — it sets the foundations and the biblical pattern that shapes everything that follows. Then work through Part Two in order during the annual cycle. Part Three sets out the recurring annual rhythm. Part Four names the common cautions and pitfalls. Part Five addresses delivering the plan once it has been agreed. Part Six is the practical guide to the templates that support the whole process. The Appendix contains the seven completed templates as ready-to-use forms; copy them and adapt as needed.
A note of recognition before we begin. As Document 1, Chapter 8 makes clear, this process is not a verdict on the faithful work many churches and ministries are already doing. The aim is to honour what God is already doing, to recognise where the body has grown, to fill the gaps where gifts are unused, and to extend faithfully into the fields ripe for the harvest. The annual cycle is a tool for that work — not a critique of past faithfulness.