what are we trying to do?
At our recent leadership group meeting (which for us is our key governance leadership body), I posed the question - what are we trying to do as a Church? We asked each member of the group to spend some time reflecting individually and writing down their responses. The only qualification I made was that I encouraged the group members to use their own words and avoid the “slogan” words of Northern such as our mission statement (to be the hands and feet of Jesus in the northern suburbs) or our core valiues (developing community, deepening spirituality and demonstrating compassion) or our seven spiritual disciplines. We were interested in how we would express it as individuals rather than our group speak as such.
Here was the responses:
• Recruiting more people to the cause of kingdom
• Seeing existing congregations grow in strength
• Encourage people
• Diverse Congregations Ministering to different people
• To be the centre of a very diverse group of church meetings
• Creating an organistaion popular in the community for it’s Christian outreach
(ie. Through missional teams)
• Be an authentic believing community of faith for local people-based on Church of Christ principals.
• To provide a place of welcome. Be known as a place to go for help.
• To share the message of Jesus Life + Death with others.
• Be a sign and a witness to the community and world.
• Provide an opportunity for Christians and others to do mission/services.
• Facilitate the mission of God to the world through believer’s faith and action.
• Establishing even more ties with other communities in the area.
• Demonstrating what the kingdom looks like.
• To provide assistance to those in the community that need it (compassion).
• Learning to be better followers of Jesus.
• Expand to the community.
I wonder if you did this exercise with your church - how different the words or meaning would be?
May 9th, 2006 at 2:02 pm
Just a thought, …. I think we often run with the assumption that we have ‘arrived’ and from that strength we now serve and show others ‘how its done’.
The idea of continuing our transformation I would suggest needs more succinct inclusion in much of what we do. In fact do we even see that as an emphasis in equiping people to ultimately ‘be’ and ‘do’ the gospel? Probably not.
This is not a criticism, just that the idea we are on a journey of sanctification seems lost these days. Its just not something that comes up.
My other thought is that our core business is to know God and again while we know it, it takes more than osmosis by proximity.
In asking “what are we were trying to do”, I would have to have some comment as to “who we are trying to become” …. because what we do flows out of who we are. And we ain’t all there yet, so its hand in hand. Anyway just a thought as its something kinda hark on a bit.
May 9th, 2006 at 2:12 pm
You forgot “Not get caught”.
Oh, this isn’t the Hillsong thread?