Worship Gathering
Every Sunday @ 10:00 AM
131 Griswold Street (former Hitchcock Building)
Glastonbury, CT
 [Get Driving Directions]
« < May 2012 > »
S M T W T F S
29 30 1 2 3 4 5
6 7 8 9 10 11 12
13 14 15 16 17 18 19
20 21 22 23 24 25 26
27 28 29 30 31 1 2
Home Listen Vision The NewLife Vision 2.0: Connect
The NewLife Vision 2.0: Connect PDF Print
Article Index
The NewLife Vision 2.0: Connect
Page 2
Page 3
Page 4
Page 5
Page 6
All Pages
Page 1 of 6

The NewLife Vision 2.0:  Connect
Vision 2.0
by Eric Stillman 
January 14th, 2007

Listen to this sermon Play Download this Sermon Download mp3
This month we’re taking time to discuss the mission, vision, and strategy of our church, answering questions like “who are we?” and “where are we headed?”  As I mentioned last week, there are always going to be some people in church who couldn’t care less about vision & mission, but just want a good sermon and some good friends, and don’t really care what direction the church is going.  However, I think mission, vision, and strategy are essential to a church, because if you don’t have them, there are three things that happen to you:  the first is that you don’t know what opportunities to say yes to and what to say no to.  The second is you wind up changing strategies and ministry models often, usually to whatever seems to be working for other churches.  And thirdly, your back door is as wide as your front door, because you don’t know what to do with new people who come or people who have been around a long time. I don’t want our church to blow here and there with the popular winds of the day or to be dominated by forceful personalities, and I certainly want to be purposeful about caring for and discipling those whom God brings to our church.  For these reasons, I think it’s essential if we are going to seriously serve God to seek Him for our church’s mission & vision and do our best to strategically implement it.

Last week I unveiled the church’s mission & vision that the elders have come up with.  As I said last week, this is not necessarily new – the words may be new, but the spirit is in line with the way our church has always been.  I’m incredibly excited about the direction I see our church going, but I also understand that mission and vision are lofty things, and some of you may have come away saying, “that’s nice, and all, but what am I supposed to do with it?”  Mission and vision are supposed to give you focus, purpose, a framework within which to work, but they don’t necessarily give you the specific strategy needed to achieve that goal.  We know that our goal is transformation, both on the personal and on the community and world level.  We want to see God transform people by awakening them to eternal life and by transforming them into the image of Christ, into people of love, truth, peace, joy, and purpose.  We also want to see His kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven, to see His dreams become reality, to see our community and world become places of love, peace, and justice under His reign.  That is the end to which we will work.  We will work for love, peace, and justice as we seek to bring His transformative power to our world. 

I’m telling you, that’s what excites me.  There is nothing exciting about coming here and going through the motions, or not being engaged with people of this world or making a difference.  If all we are is a social club, we might as well close the doors.  But if we are willing to let God transform us and then let him use us to transform this world, now that’s a church I want to be a part of.  I want to see transformation on a personal and community and world level.


Prev - Next >>
 

© 2011 NewLife Christian Fellowship