The NewLife Vision 3.0:  Serve
Vision 3.0
by Eric Stillman 
January 21st, 2007

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This church exists for transformation.  We are here because we believe that there is nothing that compares to knowing God and joining Him in His mission in this world.  We are a people who long to see God transform people’s lives, to awaken them to eternal life, heal their hurts and transform them into people of love, truth, joy, peace, and purpose.  We want to see our world become a place where violence and hatred cease, where injustice is no more.  We want to be a church that works for justice and peace in the love of Jesus Christ. 

If all you want is to be a part of a social club, or to fulfill some sort of religious duty so that you can feel good about yourself, this may not be the place for you.  This is a church that follows Jesus Christ, the one who gave up everything in order to love and save us, and we follow His example to the best of our ability in the power of the Holy Spirit.  Lord, give us hearts that burn for you, hearts that will not be satisfied until your kingdom has come on earth as it is in heaven.

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?”  I believe our little church is at a great place right now.  We have hearts that want to know God and bring His gospel to this town, region, and world, and we have the opportunity over the next few months to try some new things in our desire to fulfill our God given mission.  This mission, as I have been teaching on, is this:  To join God in His mission of transforming lives, transforming our community, and transforming our world.  And the corresponding vision, what we hope to see in our future, is this:  To be a church where people are being transformed by God into people of love, truth, joy, peace, and purpose, who are in turn transforming our community and world into a place of love, peace, and justice.

I’ve mentioned this the past two weeks, and I believe it bears repeating – taking time to talk about mission, vision, and strategy as a church is essential, because if you don’t, I believe there are three things that happen to you:  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.  This is why the elders have spent the past few months talking about mission, vision, and strategy, and why I am preaching about it in January.

Remember also that mission & vision are things that give parameters and focus, a framework within which to work, but don’t necessarily answer the specific questions of how they will happen.  For this reason, you may come away from this sermon saying “that’s nice, and all, but what am I supposed to do with it?” 
Part of the answer to that question is that at the end of this sermon you will be filling out a brief survey with some ideas you have and ways you are already joining God in His mission in this world, so that we as a church might not say yes to everything but specifically to what God is calling our church to be.  Pray for the elders to have discernment as we make those decisions.