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The NewLife Vision 4.0:  Grow
Vision 4.0
by Eric Stillman 
January 28th, 2007

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This past month we’ve been discussing the mission, vision, and strategy of NewLife.  It’s a little different for me to preach on these topics, but the more I spend time dealing with it, the more crucial I realize vision is to a church.  Without a clear understanding of what the mission and vision of a church are, a church either goes nowhere or goes in too many directions, unsure of what opportunities to embrace and which ones to reject.  A church without a clear mission and vision doesn’t know which of the many strategies and ministry models to adopt and why they’re adopting them.  And a church without a clear mission has trouble moving people on to greater growth in their faith, because they don’t have a clear vision of the disciples they want to create.

The mission we believe God has given us at NewLife is this:  To join God in His mission of transforming lives, transforming our community, and transforming our world.  First of all, it’s God’s mission, and we are joining His instead of creating our own.  And secondly, our desire is to see lives transformed, to see our world transformed, to see God’s kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven, to see people experience eternal life and salvation through Jesus and to see believers become more and more like Jesus.  Our vision is 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.  Our world is a place full of injustice, full of hatred and wars, and part of our role as members of God’s kingdom is to work for justice, peace, and love in this world, so that the world might see the beauty of life in the way of Jesus. 

The past two weeks, we have focused on two key strategies to achieving this mission:  connecting people to God, other Christians, and those outside of the church, and serving others.  We believe that first and foremost no significant transformation will happen apart from God’s power, and that secondly great transformation happens when we build meaningful relationships with other Christians and those outside the church.  I believe we need both – Christians to challenge us, mentor us, and hold us accountable, and those outside the church to challenge us even further.  I know that personally my faith gets stale when I am only spending time with Christians.  It is when I am spending time with spiritual seekers that I really find myself seeking God more and being inspired in my faith.  Finally, personal and community transformation happens when we are serving, whether individually with those God brings into our path, or in ministries inside and outside of the church.

Having said that, there are some simple questions to ask yourself – how are you connecting to God?  Where are you connected in meaningful ways to other Christians?  Where are you connected in meaningful ways to those outside of the church?  And where are you serving?


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