Our vision is to help people to experience God’s love in real and relevant ways. To enjoy each others company as a healthy, strong and wonderful community. As a follower of Jesus we desire to live the life He has planned for us honoring Him with the gifts He has given us. Then we want to give back to our world what He has given to us. Or in short, Experience God - Enjoy each other - Life the life - Give back to your world.
A vision statement is the ultimate buy in. This is where you and I say, "This is it!!" A few years ago the greatest pizza giant was Dominos. Their statement was "We Deliver." They made millions off of delivering pizzas. Personally for me, I don’t like their pizza (sorry Dominos) but because they delivered - I bought. Then another company came along and their statement was "Better Ingredients, Better Pizza" and they delivered too! I like Papa Johns pizza!! Soon Dominos began to fall by the way side. Two sentences was the difference between millions of dollars. All Dominos had to do was make a better pizza and all of us today would be saying, Papa who?
A vision statement gives you more than the nut and bolts of a plan. It communicates value, a bright future, who you are and what you are about. First of all we "Experience God". This may not seem like much to you, but to others this is a BIG deal. Most religions don't even claim that you will ever experience God in your lifetime - that's for the afterlife. Among some Christian denominations and fellowships, experiencing God is something that will happen eventually. They just don't place a high value on it. We believe that everyone can and should experience the presence and power of God in their lives from the very beginning. Salvation is a experience - Worshipping God is an experience - His Word is an experience - Prayer is an experience - The Holy Spirits guidance in your life is an experience. Everyone needs to be able to say - I know that there is a God because He has touched my life in some way. There is nothing in the Word that I can find that says we are "selling" a bill of goods to this world that they cannot experience for themselves right now.
Secondly, we "Enjoy Each Other" It irks me when people say that they would rather go to a larger church where they can "blend in" rather than attending a smaller church where they "stand out". Or that they are looking for a church with the programs that their family or kids needs. Let me interpret this for you. "I want to go where they have enough people to do everything so that I don't have to do something." or "I love Jesus, but I don't love His people, at least this way I don't have to get involved with them." Now before you light up the comment board or send me a nasty email remember I've been doing this for a while. I'm not being jaded, I'm telling you what I know as fact. The Bible goes to great lengths to make sure that we enjoy each others company. There are a number of reasons why. The church, that's us, cannot do God's will if we are fighting all the time. The Bible says that we are to invest our lives into each other. Helping to bear each others burdens. Share what God has gifted us to do for Him with each other (that's called ministry). Help keep each others relationship with Jesus as good as it can possibly be. To learn from one another how to live this life with God's blessing and in His will. The list goes on and on but the bottom line is this. The value of being a Christian is found in each other! We will never appreciate what God has given to us unless we give it to one another.
A vision statement is the ultimate buy in. This is where you and I say, "This is it!!" A few years ago the greatest pizza giant was Dominos. Their statement was "We Deliver." They made millions off of delivering pizzas. Personally for me, I don’t like their pizza (sorry Dominos) but because they delivered - I bought. Then another company came along and their statement was "Better Ingredients, Better Pizza" and they delivered too! I like Papa Johns pizza!! Soon Dominos began to fall by the way side. Two sentences was the difference between millions of dollars. All Dominos had to do was make a better pizza and all of us today would be saying, Papa who?
A vision statement gives you more than the nut and bolts of a plan. It communicates value, a bright future, who you are and what you are about. First of all we "Experience God". This may not seem like much to you, but to others this is a BIG deal. Most religions don't even claim that you will ever experience God in your lifetime - that's for the afterlife. Among some Christian denominations and fellowships, experiencing God is something that will happen eventually. They just don't place a high value on it. We believe that everyone can and should experience the presence and power of God in their lives from the very beginning. Salvation is a experience - Worshipping God is an experience - His Word is an experience - Prayer is an experience - The Holy Spirits guidance in your life is an experience. Everyone needs to be able to say - I know that there is a God because He has touched my life in some way. There is nothing in the Word that I can find that says we are "selling" a bill of goods to this world that they cannot experience for themselves right now.
Secondly, we "Enjoy Each Other" It irks me when people say that they would rather go to a larger church where they can "blend in" rather than attending a smaller church where they "stand out". Or that they are looking for a church with the programs that their family or kids needs. Let me interpret this for you. "I want to go where they have enough people to do everything so that I don't have to do something." or "I love Jesus, but I don't love His people, at least this way I don't have to get involved with them." Now before you light up the comment board or send me a nasty email remember I've been doing this for a while. I'm not being jaded, I'm telling you what I know as fact. The Bible goes to great lengths to make sure that we enjoy each others company. There are a number of reasons why. The church, that's us, cannot do God's will if we are fighting all the time. The Bible says that we are to invest our lives into each other. Helping to bear each others burdens. Share what God has gifted us to do for Him with each other (that's called ministry). Help keep each others relationship with Jesus as good as it can possibly be. To learn from one another how to live this life with God's blessing and in His will. The list goes on and on but the bottom line is this. The value of being a Christian is found in each other! We will never appreciate what God has given to us unless we give it to one another.
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