We have been holding vision meetings every month. Well, almost every month, we took December off and then January had a small snow storm that night. Minnesota, who knew?
The purpose of the vision meetings is to cast a vision for this church and to begin to apply that vision to what we are doing for God's kingdom on this earth. The vision meeting is a hatching ground for a comprehensive vision to then give to the church board for complete gestation and implementation.
We started with dreaming what the church could be and talked about what we are now. We continued as we talked about goals for the next year and then goals for five years from now. We knew that we already agreed on Beliefs and Values. Mainly because we are a part of a denomination that has stated beliefs and values.
So, our next journey was to talk about Purpose. Purpose is answering the question of Why are we here? Why do we exist as a church? Some would mock and say that this is simple. However, things are seldom short nor are they seldom simple. In fact, I would argue that creating something simple takes more work than creating something complex. Because creating something simple doesn't mean that it actually simple, but rather that so much thought has gone into it that is simple to those experiencing it and is simple in application or praxis.
We did after a few meetings arrive at a Purpose. Our purpose is also our process. They are the same. We are using these words to communicate this: Know, Grow, Serve. Allow me to exegete a bit.
Know means to worship God. Our journey above all has to start with worshipping God. It is in the worshipping that we become aware of His great love for us.
Grow means to be a disciple of Jesus. This is twofold. First, we are to be discipled to grow in our application of Jesus' life to ours. Second, as we do this, we will become aware of the imperative to disciple others to do the same.
Serve means to think outside of ourselves. It means that we are to love others through acts of service. It might mean that we help those less fortunate than us with blankets and/or food. It might mean that we volunteer to minister to kids. It might mean that sponsor those activities in places that we cannot go.
After this, we have now moved to Core Values. Andy Stanley said that core values are "an organization's essential and enduring tenets - a small set of general guiding principles."
According to Audrey Malpuhars, 10 reasons Core Values are important are:
- Determine Ministry Distinctives
- Dictate Personal Involvement
- Communicate What is Important
- Embrace Positive Change
- Influence Overal Behavior
- Inspire People to Action
- Enhance Credible Leadership
- Shape Ministry Character
- Contribute to Ministry Success
- Determine the Ministry Vision
Core Values then feed into what strategies we use to accomplish our vision.
All of this to say these two thoughts I had this morning.
First, and this is a difficult one, what would the community be missing if we closed the doors of the church?
And second, what is our purpose?
My thoughts teem more with the second question first. Some would say that we are here to disciple others. Our goal centers around this. However, it goes to some sort of egg versus chicken attitude, doesn't it? I mean, if we are to center on discipleship then our definition of discipleship must indeed be broader. Most of us, I believe, think that discipleship is about edifying those of us that are already Christians (and I use this term knowing the cultural dubiousness of it). This cannot be so.
Making disciples must center around the initial act of having a disciple to disciple. Without a disciple to disciple our discipleship plan falls on ears that already "know" way more than enough to be a follower of Christ. I heard recently that the average Christian knows enough about God after the first year of discipleship to go and disciple others. Our purpose then has to be to larger and more grand than this. It has to include, but not limited to, actually going and making disciples! Making implies a level of creation. Not a level of maintenance. I think, perhaps, that we get bogged down in discipling and forget that the biblical text includes the word "make."
Ouch. Did I say that out loud? My own paltry experience over the years causes in my own level of following Christ.
We are to make disciples in all the nations. This carries with it a heavy charge to make disciples by leading people to the throne of Jesus but also to disciple them to maturity. Are we as a church doing that?
This is not my vision for this church. This is God's vision for all churches. My hope and prayer is that my vision is God's vision for our church. And by acknowledging that we aren't sharing the Gos Pel, the Good News of Jesus, then it is an acknowledgment that we are failing at our Commission.
These thoughts then lead me to the former of these two questions. If our ultimate purpose is not to make disciples and then disciple them, or rephrased, not pursuing our ultimate purpose, then this question answers itself.
If we are not loving people in the community (through service, through worship, through discipling), then I wonder if people would miss those things that we aren't doing?
Don't get me wrong. We are in the visioning process in order to center ourselves in God's purpose for this church. So we are on the road. We are moving forward. And it is better to spend time planning and storm the castle effectively and with intensity than it is to storm the castle and not know which castle. The vision casting process is critical!!
No. What I am hoping to communicate is that when the Bible says GO and MAKE disciples, it means that the activities of going and making are the purpose of the church and that we cannot lose sight of it. We cannot forget it. We cannot ignore it. We must pursue it!
