Vision Night (2)

Vision night 2023

Welcomes - Sit down

What we are going to go through tonight

Talk about where we are | Opportunity for Questions | Future

History

Why have we launched Church 242

God spoke during a prayer | People started talking about starting external ministry | God really convicted me during a conference | God’s word - 1 Timothy

The Process

Pray | Consult both people within our Church and Externally - Liam and Bill | Discuss with Ps. Lee (God spoke to Him) | Elders meeting | Endorsed by Churches of Christ - Who we will stay under

Governance Structure

Oversight/Elders - Titus 1:5-9, 1 Tim 3:1-7, 1 Peter 5:1-4,

Leadership Team / Ministry Team - 1 Tim 3:8, Titus 1:7

Servant Leadership Team - Same as above, in line with Acts 6

Organisation

Organism

Governance

Still being setup - Can’t set that up, and set up a church - 2 different things

Questions - Before that - I want to answer a few that I had during the week.

1. not “Split” - “Release and Replant”

Eldership happy with following;

Senior Pastor

Constitution

Statement of Faith

Mission, Pupose and Values

Leadership Structure

2. Constitution outlines the rules which govern the Church, not to run the Church on a day-to-day basis.

3. Other Leadership structures we just spoke about not in constitution

4. “Model Rules” -

5. Constitution describes Ideal church structure - not what we have right now

6. Elders Make up shepherding Team - not ready at this stage - Wil llaunch without them, but we want them asap. 3 different options.

7. Cornerstone Busselton’s main priority was enough accountability.

8. Membership = Representative membership Structure - Relationship and Trust - Never had Membership - Leadership teams are given authority - Have to be transparent - Rather people just be involved - Membership Horror Stories - Lot’s of paperwork

9. Everyone that is part of our Body will be invited to Church meetings, AGM’s etc.

10. Governance Documents - 1. Accountabiltiy and Relationships 2. Duty of Care. 3. Guiding Purpose 4. Leadership and Relationships. 5. Resource Management 6. Risk Management 7. Worker protection and Employment.

11. Policies: Grievance Policy and Covenant for Christians in time of tension. 2. Leadership Requirements 3. Moral Fibre Documents 4. Leadership Handbook 5. Elders Handbook 6. Volunteer Induction forms 7. OHS and Risk Management Policies 8. Child Safe Documents 9. Role Descriptions for MOST of our ministries. 10. Financial Policies

12. I will not have access to any accounts as the signatory | Deeds etc, -

13. Peter Van Der Laans Job.

14. “The Risk”

What we believe

1. God is the Creator and Ruler of the universe.

We believe that God eternally exists as the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. The three are coequal in Majesty and are one God. The triune God created all, upholds all, and governs all things.

a. God the Father

We believe in the person of God the Father, an infinite, eternal, personal Spirit, perfect in holiness, wisdom, power and love; that He concerns Himself mercifully in the affairs of people; that He hears and answers prayer, and saves from sin and death all those who come to Him through Jesus Christ.

a. Jesus is the Son of God.

We believe Jesus Christ is coequal with the Father and Holy Spirit. Jesus lived a sinless human life and in obedience to the Father, offered Himself as the perfect sacrifice for the sins of all people by dying on the Cross. We believe in His virgin birth, sinless life, miracles and teachings. He rose from the dead on the third day to demonstrate His power over sin and death. He ascended to Heaven and will return to earth in the future to reign as King.

a. The Holy Spirit

We believe the Holy Spirit is coequal with the Father and the Son of God. He is present in the world to make people aware of their need for Jesus Christ. He provides Christians with power for living, understanding of spiritual truth and guidance in doing what is right according to the scriptures. He convicts the world of sin, righteousness, and judgment. He regenerates, sanctifies, and empowers for ministry all who believe in Christ. We believe the Holy Spirit indwells every believer in Jesus Christ. We believe in the present-day exercise of all the gifts listed in the Bible.

2. The Bible is God's Word to us.

We believe the Bible was written by human authors under the supernatural guidance of the Holy Spirit. Because it is inspired by God, the Bible is truth, infallible and inerrant. It is the supreme source of truth for Christian living.

3. People will exist eternally with or without God.

We believe people were created to exist forever. We will either exist eternally separated from God by sin or eternally in union with God through forgiveness and salvation. To be eternally separated from God is hell. To be eternally in union with Him is Heaven. Heaven and hell are real places of eternal existence.

4. Salvation is God's free gift to us, but we must accept it.

We believe we can never make up for our sin by self-improvement or good works. Only by trusting in Jesus Christ as God's offer of forgiveness can anyone be saved from sin's penalty. When we turn from our self-ruled life and turn to Jesus in faith and call Him our Lord and Saviour we are saved. Eternal life with God begins the moment one receives Jesus Christ into their life by faith. At the Cross, Jesus Christ died in our place as our substitute, taking God’s wrath that should have come upon us. Because Jesus died for the sins of the world the invitation to believe is open to all, and whoever desires may come to Jesus for new life and the forgiveness of sins.

5. Baptism is symbolic of the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ.

We believe that once we have accepted Jesus as our Lord and Saviour, baptism is the way for us to publicly declare our new life in Christ. It is also a step of obedience based on God’s commands and allows us to follow the example of Jesus, who submitted himself to baptism to "fulfill all righteousness." Baptism is practiced by full immersion in water and needs to occur as a result of a conscious decision to follow Jesus.

6. We are called to come together as the Local Church.

We believe that we can only live as we are called to by coming together as a community of believers. We will seek to model ourselves on the New Testament Church, applying its truths to our current society and culture. We believe that as Christians we belong to each other, joined together as one body with Christ as the Head. We believe in the expression of the Local Church. We believe in coming together on Sunday to worship the Risen Christ, proclaim the good news, encourage one another, to love and do good deeds, and receive a message on biblical truths.

7. Humanity was created by God with a specific design and purpose.

We believe that when God made humans it was the pinnacle of His work of creation. Our deep worth and identity is based on God’s loving design. Our identity as male and female is inherent to who we are and God’s plan for our life. We believe that God created two sexes – male and female, who together portrays the image of God. As such He created them differently, so as to complement and complete each other; Same in essence and value, different in role. God instituted monogamous marriage between male and female as the foundation of the family and the basic structure of human society. Therefore, we perform marriages in accordance with these biblical convictions.

In addition to Essential Beliefs, we have liberty in Non-Essential Beliefs.

As for the one who is weak in faith, welcome him, but not to quarrel over opinions… Who are you to pass judgment on the servant of another? It is before his own master that he stands or falls. And he will be upheld, for the Lord is able to make him stand.… So then each of us will give an account of himself to God… The faith that you have, keep between yourself and God

Romans 14:1, 4, 12, 22

“All things are lawful,” but not all things are helpful. “All things are lawful,” but not all things build up. Let no one seek his own good, but the good of his neighbor

1 Corinthians 10:23-24

The Name

Mission, Purpose and Values

Acts 2:42-47 -

As a church body we will be devoted to: apostles teaching, fellowship, breaking of bread and prayer;

Creating a community that displays the love of Jesus, reflects the heart of the early church and leads people to be fully devoted followers of Christ.

Why?

Acts 2:42–47 ESV

And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. And awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles. And all who believed were together and had all things in common. And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need. And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.

Psalm 133:1–3 ESV

Behold, how good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell in unity! It is like the precious oil on the head, running down on the beard, on the beard of Aaron, running down on the collar of his robes! It is like the dew of Hermon, which falls on the mountains of Zion! For there the Lord has commanded the blessing, life forevermore.

There is this picture of getting unity right in here first - We often want God to move, but we forsake what comes first - Unity - If we are all in unity, we are listening to what the Spirit is saying ,and in that environment - God will bless, God will add to the number.

We often say that Deliverance starts with a decision, so does Unity, Unity starts with Devotion.

We want the world to look on and say “This doesn’t make sense” - Why do they love each other so much? Why are they so different?

So if that is our Mission, our Purpose needs to flow on from that.

Ok, so what’s our Purpose?

To give glory to God by facilitating growth, love and truth in God’s people, equipping them to serve Jesus and advance God’s kingdom, and be the hands and feet of Jesus for our local community.

Our Values to get us there;

We are Truth-Seeking, Spirit led, Faith Filled Warriors of God

We are being equipped and have BIG Faith to advance God’s Kingdom.

We are spiritual contributors, not spiritual consumers.

The church does not exist for us. We are the church, and we exist to represent Jesus to the world.

We give up things we love for things we love even more.

Jesus gave His life and gives us eternal life, so it’s an honour to sacrifice for Him and His church.

We are building a Church that values and seeks after Discipleship

Jesus practised discipleship and changed the world and we follow his model, seeking for the same.

We will lead the way in being ridiculously generous and wise in stewardship.

We believe it is more blessed to give than to receive. We value the Tithe, we trust the Provider over the provision.

We will be real and genuine, not perfect but seeking to be like the One who is.

We will be humble, open and transparent, making the choice to be vulnerable. If we don’t live with integrity, nothing else matters.

We are all about the local Church.

The local church is the hope of the world, and we can accomplish infinitely more together than apart.

We will do anything short of sin to reach people who don’t know Christ.

To reach people no one is reaching, we’ll have to do things no one is doing.

We will be a part of the "new thing" that God is doing.

God is a Creator, and we will always seek to discern and follow the fresh direction He wants to bring.

We will stand on God’s Word, knowing that the truth leads to life.

We know that God’s loving instructions are for His glory and our good and will seek to follow them in all that we do.

We follow the Holy Spirit and His guidance for our Church.

We believe the Holy Spirit is alive and active in our Church. We seek to listen to His direction to build God’s Kingdom.

We are equipping our Body

My Role in the Body

1 Peter 5:2–3 ESV

shepherd the flock of God that is among you, exercising oversight, not under compulsion, but willingly, as God would have you; not for shameful gain, but eagerly; not domineering over those in your charge, but being examples to the flock.

An Insight

I see part of my role as a Pastor is to equip our people and assist others to live out God’s calling for their life as directed by the Holy Spirit (and not direct their calling, that's God's job, not mine) and part of my role as a Pastor is to assist them in listening to that calling and facilitate personal growth toward a Christ-like character. You will be able to minister to someone much more effectively if you can understand their perspective. We all have different lenses based on personal experience that causes us to see the world differently, if we can seek to understand, before seeking to be understood, it will go a long way toward empathetic leadership.

A big part of doing this is to step out of the trees, so you can see the forest so that you can best plan how to lay the path through it.

After all, we all have a role to play in the Body of Christ and while some may come with different authority levels, they are all equal in importance for the Body of Christ to operate. We are all building the path, the Pastor is simply facilitating the leadership of the construction.

We have to be willing to be transformed, and keep growing toward Christs Character - I remember the relationship of Moses and Jethro, and how that conversation (Jethro rejoiced, and then offered Moses the advice) caused Moses to change and adapt to the new context, release leaders and prologue his leadership by transforming his leadership style to adapt to the context.

I am grateful for the Jethro's in my life who are assisting me to navigate the current landscape, My goal is to activate everyone on the battleship and cultivating a 'we' culture. I would rather be an eastern world shephard with people willing and wanting to follow rather than an australian shephard who are sitting behind the cattle wacking them with a Whip if they get out of line.

Less me and more God. I, like many people, need to humble myself constantly and realise it's God's Church, God's Plan, and God's people, everyone in the church are merely stewards of His Church for a time.

lead the battleship with Conviction and Courage, My role is to Preach the word Passionately, Love the flock sacrificially, equip the saints to advance God’s Kingdom, build team together, protect against spiritual attacks - But the most important thing I need to do, is realise that I don’t do it alone, rather in a body of believers sprinting toward Jesus together!

A place of Love and Connection - Here

Get a seat at the table!!

Groups - Intentional

App

Lighthouse

Lights off - World is going Darker - Need a light in the Vasse Area - What do ships do in the dark near the shore? They look for the light house?

How do we create the light? By loving one another -People should look on and be like “How can they love each other like that” - But Vasse also needs a lighthouse - For the lost Souls, so they know where to go.

This is another story of so many confirmations of our next step as a body of Christ. and two questions should be clear;

What advances the kingdom of God?

And If the church was gone tomorrow, would the communtiy notice?

That is why...

Building

Convicted - God has really spoken to me - First, I thought we build a community centre that we can use on a Sunday, but we should BOLDLY Stand on hte name of JESUS, BOLDLY STAND ON THE NAME OF JESUS - We should build a CHURCH, and let the communtiy use it all week | When they see the love, they’ll know, it was the Church.

A place to serve = A place to call home but a place to serve the community out of

Meet community needs, basketball courts, youth etc.

Soup Kitchen, Child care etc.

BIG FAITH and GOD WILL BRING WHO WE NEED.

It’s also that there is NO MISTAKE of where to go if broken and desperate. The amount of people that say “I didn’t even know you where here” -

We have $42,000 in a current building fund, that people have given in FAITH - If you want to invest, or want to help, come and see me.

Land - and Questions.