Strategy and Measures

Luke 12:42:48

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VISION MAP SLIDE UP

Our Vision is one more for Jesus.

Our Mission says we fulfill our purpose by helping others fulfil theirs.

Our primary values are prayer people and purpose.

Today we explore our strategy and our measures.

Our strategy is built around the four words engage, equip, mobilize and multiply.

Our measures are salvation, surrender, and service.

In a few minutes we will talk more about why measuring things matters. But first let’s see how Jesus talks about it in Luke chapter 12. We will start in verse 42 which starts with the three words… The Lord answered, this of course makes us ask, well what was the question that was asked. And I love what takes place here. Jesus had just told a parable (or a story if you will) about always being ready and Peter posed the question, Lord is this story for us or for everyone? Now, if we were asked such a question we would probably either reply by saying, Peter it’s for you, or Peter it’s for everyone. Instead Jesus just tells another story. Let’s check it out.

We won’t necessarily this is our primary text today as we may reference a couple others, but we will call this our initial text.

Luke 12:42–48 “The Lord answered, “Who then is the faithful and wise manager, whom the master puts in charge of his servants to give them their food allowance at the proper time? It will be good for that servant whom the master finds doing so when he returns. Truly I tell you, he will put him in charge of all his possessions. But suppose the servant says to himself, ‘My master is taking a long time in coming,’ and he then begins to beat the other servants, both men and women, and to eat and drink and get drunk. The master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he is not aware of. He will cut him to pieces and assign him a place with the unbelievers. “The servant who knows the master’s will and does not get ready or does not do what the master wants will be beaten with many blows. But the one who does not know and does things deserving punishment will be beaten with few blows. From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked.”

VISION MAP

When it comes to our strategy. I love the 4 words engage, equip, mobilize, and multiply because we can see Jesus modeling these ideas almost as if he wanted to live out the vision of Cap City Church right? Or maybe we are modeling our vision after Jesus. That’s probably a better perspective huh?

I think that perhaps the least understood word in our strategy could be the word engage. So let me share some insight and do so directly from this passage. Jesus tells a story about those who say Jesus isn’t coming, or let’s not worry about the afterlife, so let’s treat each other poorly, and let’s spend time eating, drinking, and getting drunk, and let’s not worry about getting our work done. In other words we live in a world that is disengaged. Even when most are doing their work they are working to make money and spend time spending their money to experience various pleasures. When people enter into our church we want to help get them engage in the work of the church. This takes some work because so many come to the church seeking God and the things of God but have little room for Him because seeking pleasure so helping each one disengage from certain things that are eating up all of their time and money has to be where we start so they can engage in kingdom work.

Jesus engaged people from all walks of life from tax collectors to sinners, lepers to Sadducees, the infirm to prostitutes, Jesus engaged people who were different and often considered unacceptable. The Gospel message is not just for the righteous. As Jesus put it, “I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners” (Mark 2:17).

Jesus engaged people of all ages.

We love the heart of Jesus as he tells his disciples, “Let the little children come to me and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these” (Matthew 19:14). Jesus’ ministry was intergenerational. The children were intermixed in the multitudes and in the direct ministry of Jesus so that they might learn from him.

Jesus tied his teaching to real life.

From the planting of seeds that would bring a great harvest, to the haul of great fish in the nets of the disciples, to the comparison of the kingdom to the leaven in bread, Jesus spoke in the language of the people and used examples to which they could relate. The stories he told most were generated by his bond with the people and the everyday life they experienced.

Jesus met people where they were on their journey to God.

It is abundantly clear that Jesus did not expect people to be ‘cleaned up’ before they could participate in the kingdom reality. He met them where they were, and he led them towards where he wanted them to be (sometimes gently and sometimes by offering a shock to their system). To the woman caught in the act of adultery, he says, “Go and sin no more” (John 8:11). To the expert in the law in the story of the Good Samaritan, Jesus says, “Now go and do the same” (Luke 10:37).

Equipping - The need for equipping within our strategy probably needs less explanation. Here at Cap City we do equipping through our foundations classes and the opportunity to enter into ministry training from serving children to leading thrive groups, and all the way up to taking courses through our denomination to qualify oneself for greater leadership ministry opportunities. To show what this looks like in real life we are going to make a couple of presentations right here in the middle of the sermon.

Steve and Mike get manual stuff and certificates.

Expound on how they are extensions of me and leadership. If our church is going to go to the next level, one of the greatest transitions we are going to have to make is from seeing me as quote, The Dude. I want to be your pastor and your shepherd, but as we grow… God and our congregation will need me to continue to carry the vision and raise up leaders, and I’ll need help from those leaders to help shepherd all of you. In other words, as we grow as a team I want you to think a little less of me and alot more of our team. Collectively as a team we are here for you. When you see Steve at the hospital with you, Cap City was there. When Mike is leading a ministry effort, Cap City was there. The less you see all the leaders in one place, that means they are more spread out covering the greater population of a growing church.

I’m so thankful Steve and Mike are growing and continuing to allow God to use them.

Give them a hand.

We need to equip ourselves but we also need to equip others because Jesus was an equipper. Let me share two specific ways he did this among the many we could highlight.

First, Jesus was a servant leader.

He knew that modeling a posture of humility and service was key to raise up servant leaders.

Everything Jesus did was for the people God loves. There was no gain, no prestige, no power to be gained from the people who were the focus of his ministry. He paid the ultimate price of selfless servanthood by laying down his life for his friends.

Secondly, Jesus poured himself into a small group of people.

While Jesus proclaimed the kingdom of God to vast crowds, he gathered a small group of men and women around him to disciple in the tradition of the rabbis of his day. It was this group that would be equipped by him to “turn the world upside down” as was said of them in Acts 17. They lived and traveled with Jesus. They received his instruction. They tried and failed and then tried again to do the things he did. They began to understand a kingdom that would find its fullness in servanthood and grace. And they were sent directly to do the work Jesus had begun.

It is interesting to note that while Jesus gathered the twelve disciples to do life together as a team, he also engaged even more deeply with a group of three — an inner circle if you will. Peter, James, and John are mentioned multiple times as a distinct subset within the original twelve disciples. When we think about discipleship in the church, it is often in the Paul-Timothy model (where a mature disciple partners with a novice) or in a programmatic approach to small group ministries. In many smaller congregations, the idea of creating small group ministries is daunting. But what if, instead, we were to focus on encouraging this model of triads to provide teaching, intimacy, discipling, and accountability? It was, after all, modeled by Jesus.

Finally we mobilize and multiply. Time to take a pause for the cause again as we take a couple of minutes to highlight a ministry that has ended here at Cap City.

BOOTCAMP PICTURE

Invite bootcamp up front?

PRESENTATION: Boot camp story, They didn’t have a weekly Bible study. They didn’t play soft music while they prayed, they didn’t get together to gossip, while labeling it as concern for the church, or a prayer request. They got together and dis something profitable together, and just hung out with other Christians. If I may encourage you in this direction, you need more Christian hang time in your life. Don’t put pressure on the thing, just be there for each other.

They participated in something profitable TOGETHER. We need that.

I coach my son’s golf team and this week at a parents meeting, I told the parents of the kids I coach that they won’t make the team by coming to team practices, our goal as coaches at practice is to teach the kids how to practice on their own.

Boot camp here at cap city over the last 3 years has been a great example of this.

They only met once a week, and everyone in this building today has probably figured out it takes more than once a week to stay in shape or lose weight. But bootcamp was a place where the participants inspired one another to keep going.

Joel Pic 172 pound, Josiah Boston Marathon, Mallory and family half, steph mindful of health.

So why did it come to an end? Well because sometimes God calls us to do something for a season. Sometimes God’s will involves a task. I wan to emphasize the fact that any time God calls you to do greater things it might mean leaving something good behind. While it may seem hard to understand in the moment, it really makes a lot of sense. God needs you to be doing good things to call you to do great things. He’s not call those who are lazy and squandering to do great things, He is calling people who have been faithful with what they’ve been given. Chara, the leader of boot camp was faithful showing up to lead bootcamp on thursday nights oftentimes when only 2-3 were in attendance. But she has traded this in to continue being the leader of our prayer warriors and now she leads our children’s ministry and I catch her time and time again raising up leaders. She’s mobilizing and multiplying.

Bootcamp came to an end because Chara equipped people to take care of their own physical well being on their own, and now she is moving on to the next purpose God has for her.

VISION MAP

Jesus mobilized and multiplied.

He mobilized an army of gospel carriers. He sent them 2 by 2 instructing them that if they found peace in a house to stay there, but if not to go on. He even told them to shake the dust off their feet as they left a town if they didn’t receive the message of Jesus. So even when they were sent, they weren’t meant to stay. The church of Jesus is on the move. Sometimes that means we will send leaders to other ministries, sometimes it will just mean we get outside these four walls and find ways to mobilize the scriptural principles we learn about HERE, so we can live it out THERE.

Jesus was a multiplier.

He modeled a significant mathematical truth about how disciples are made. Even though being fully God, Jesus took on our humanity and as Eugene Peterson puts it in The Message, “He moved into the neighborhood” (John 1:14). He chose to transform the world by engaging the world one-on-one. Jesus multiplied his discipling impact by making disciples who made disciples. Jesus sent them out to witness to the kingdom at hand and do the ministry he had modeled. Following his death, those disciples literally turned the world on its head as they, in turn, made disciples across the map.

These general observations about the way Jesus made disciples invite us to consider the techniques we might employ to help people become stronger disciples. One cannot miss the intimate nature of Jesus’ connection with those he discipled. The big group gatherings were focused on vision-casting. The equipping of disciples was very personal. It still is.

Jesus developed followers so it would make sense that He wouldn’t send them away while He was still here. But As He left this earth He told His followers to Go. Interestingly enough once He left it became easier to follow Him because His spirit began to live and exist inside of them through the Holy Spirit and now His leadership was literally living inside of them and leading them where they were to go.

NOTHING HAS CHANGED. That same spirit is in us today.

We are to be a people who are engaged and engage others.

We are to be a people who seek equipping and equip others.

We are to mobilize by being on the move, and multiply by investing intimately in relationships with others to see exponential discipleship continue in our area of the kingdom where we have been given oversight and which we were entrusted. And so while I won’t necessarily be preaching about our measures I am giving you an update because…we want to be good stewards of what has been entrusted to us. In our text today Jesus said, From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked.”

That sounds like we will give an account and numbers might matter so here in a minute we are going to share a few numbers from what happened in the last 12 months at Cap City.

Over the years the church has been given a bad rap for what some call counting nickels and noses. And I’ve seen where the tracking and boasting of attendance and offerings is just exactly that… boasting. But we want to intentionally measure things so that in areas we are not growing we can adapt and re-direct, and in areas where we ARE growing we are slower to deviate.

God is not ok with churches who are dying and losing numbers continually excusing themselves instead of accepting their spiritual condition and doing something to change it. Not being concerned about the loss in spiritual growth or saved souls is poor stewardship. God cares about numbers because numbers represents souls and can represent spiritual growth.

If we aren’t concerned about results we will find ourselves excusing ourselves with an “I did my part” mentality. One more for Jesus isn’t about just doing “our part” but doing whatever it takes to make the next move, and reach the next person for Him.

So how about our measures

Measures: Salvation (Baptisms) Surrender (Discipleship) Service (City Team)

Salvation Baptism - 25 salvations confirmed through baptism, plus an additional profession of faith by 12 children. If you’ve given your life to Jesus we want to help you take that next step of baptism, sign up at the welcome center right after church. And by the way church, if you aren’t getting baptized we need you to join us on location to cheer on these people who are making a public profession of their faith. BAPTISM SLIDE?

Surrender Discipleship - 20 people entered our discipleship pathway through foundations which is our next step after joining the church. This is so important to me because we aren’t just about making decisions but making disciples. If you want to continue on that journey or start off with foundations you will hear about how to sign up for the fall semester within the next month.

Service City Team - 102 people. These are people that said I’m not just a volunteer at the church, but I want to be called on for special projects to reach even more people for Jesus and make a difference. I promise you I have a new project coming up for you real soon so stay tuned.

We measure alot of other things but none as important as those three.

Here in a minute I’m going to give you a really cool update, and also a challenge before you leave today, but before I do that let me close with this thought on our message today.

1 Corinthians 12:4–7 “There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit distributes them. There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. There are different kinds of working, but in all of them and in everyone it is the same God at work. Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good.”

As we continue moving forward here at Cap City living out our mission of fulfilling our purpose by helping others fulfill theirs we must remember that God has gifted us all differently. None of us is superior, none of us is less than, all of us are needed to carry out the mission of Jesus Christ to reach one more for Jesus.

UPDATE AND CHALLENGE

Land sale, share story a little, give update, say much more to come.

Just because we have been blessed with these finances doesn’t mean we are not going to be personally invested and show great generosity as we have in the past.

I’m going to share with you a ministry that is taking place where we are living out one more for Jesus. Six women have said yes to one more for Jesus, because the next step of obedience is the most important one. Each women 17 $25 pledge cards, 102 cards. $2550.

So as you leave, 2 options. Kairos ladies, get your Bible

End of service kairos ladies up front, after service come tell them you will sponsor them