Vision Sunday

Intro

[Thank worship team]

Good morning Bethel Church, and good morning to our network of rural churches that are joining us live on YouTube. And if you are new here, I want to extend a special welcome to you. If you would, there are “Connect” cards in the seat in front of you. If you would fill that out there or at the Welcome Center outside of the sanctuary. We even have a free gift for you if you are new to Bethel. We would love to get in touch with you and discuss how to get connected to our church family.

Announcements:

[Announcement 1]

Dakota Baptist Update

Before and After pictures

Opportunity to continue praying for them and looking forward to partnering with them as we are able

God loves those who live in fort Totton, God loves those who live in devils Lake, God loves those who live in the surrounding regions! He loves everyone, and so we have the opportunity to partner with like-minded ministries to spread the gospel far beyond what we can do on our own.

Today we will be doing something different from a regular Sunday. Part of my role and the role of the elders is to be praying about and considering where God is leading us as a church family. Today I will be sharing with you what God has been doing as He has clarified what specific things we must be working on. This is what is called a “vision” for the future. Today we will cover several passages but we will start in Matthew chapter 28:18-20, which can be found on page 784.

If you do not have a Bible, please stop by the Welcome Center and take one. It is our gift to you.

TRANS: Pray

Opening Hook

Every once in a while, it is important for a local church to look backward.

Bethel Church did not begin with us. Long before many of us were here, there were people who prayed for this church, served this church, gave sacrificially to this church, taught children the Scriptures, shared the gospel, cared for one another, and tried to faithfully pass the faith from one generation to the next. There have been different pastors. Different elders. Different families. Different seasons of ministry. But through all of it, God has been remarkably faithful to Bethel Church. And at different moments in Bethel's history, the people of this church have had to make some significant decisions about what faithfulness looked like for the generation that they were in. At one point, that meant establishing this location. Later, it meant adding the gym. About fifteen years ago, it meant building the sanctuary that we are sitting in today.

And I think it is important for us to remember that none of those projects were ultimately about buildings. Nobody's mission was to build a gym. Nobody's mission was to build a sanctuary. Those buildings were tools. They were responses to the ministry opportunities God had placed in front of the church at that particular moment. And every generation inherits the faithfulness of the people who came before it. Eventually, every generation also has to decide how it will steward what God has entrusted to it.

I believe we are standing in one of those moments today.

God has been very kind to Bethel over the last number of years. We have watched new people walk through our doors. We have seen our children and youth ministries grow. We have seen Sunday School remain strong. We have seen more people joining small groups. We have seen people come to faith, get baptized, become members, begin serving, and grow in their walk with Christ. There is a lot to be thankful for. But growth is not simply something to celebrate. Growth is something to steward. When we talk about attendance numbers, I never want us to care about numbers simply because bigger numbers make us feel successful. Every number represents a person. Every number represents someone Jesus loves. Every person who walks through our doors is someone God has called us to love, serve, teach, equip, and point toward Christ.

So as our elders and staff have been thinking about the future, the question cannot simply be, "How do we fit more people in the building?" (Although that has been a practical thing we have been considering!) That is actually a much smaller question. The larger question is, "What kind of disciples are we trying to make?" Our mission has not changed. We exist to glorify God by making disciples like Jesus did.

TRANS: And as I have prayed about that and thought about where I believe we need to go as a church, there are two areas that I believe we need to strengthen in the years ahead.

Two Priorities

We need to strengthen Christian education

Matthew 28:18-20, Romans 12:1-2

When Jesus gave the Great Commission in Matthew 28, he did not simply tell his disciples to get people to make a profession of faith.

Matthew 28:18–20 ESV

18 And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

Teaching is part of disciple-making.

Paul says in Ephesians 4 that God gives leaders to the church to equip the saints for the work of ministry, to build up the body of Christ until we reach maturity, so that we are no longer children who are tossed around by every wind of doctrine.

And in 2 Timothy 2, Paul tells Timothy to take what he has learned and entrust it to faithful people who will be able to teach others also.

Christianity has always been a teaching faith. And I increasingly believe that one of the things the local church needs to reclaim is its responsibility for Christian education. When I use the word education, I do not mean that I think Bethel needs to start a Christian school. I am talking about something broader than that. I want Bethel to be a serious learning community. I want this to be a church where people learn the Scriptures deeply. Where people understand theology. Where people are equipped in apologetics. Where we learn how to think about the world through a Christian worldview. Where we can talk seriously about marriage, parenting, work, culture, evangelism, ethics, etc. I want us to be a church that helps people learn not only what Christians believe, but why we believe it and how those beliefs shape the way we live.

Sunday morning preaching is absolutely part of that. I believe deeply in the preaching of God's Word. But a sermon cannot carry the entire educational responsibility of the church. There are things that are better learned around a table. There are questions that need time for discussion. There are subjects that require ten weeks rather than thirty minutes. There are teachers in this church who need opportunities to use the gifts God has given them. There are younger believers who need to sit across from mature believers and ask questions. And the encouraging thing is that we are already doing this.

This is not a new direction for Bethel. I am not describing a new vision that we hope to start someday. Our Sunday School ministry is part of this. Our classes are part of this. Our Wednesday night kids and youth programs are not just “fun” nights — we are teaching kids and teens the scriptures! The North Dakota Bible Conference is part of this. The emphasis we have placed on apologetics and theology is part of this. The leaders we are trying to raise up are part of this. I am describing something God is already doing among us that I believe we need to strengthen.

This is especially important because the world we live in is running in the opposite direction. Faith is increasingly seen as something that is private and separate from regular life and personal opinion (not based on reality). This is exactly backwards from the story of Scripture.

Paul says in Romans 12:1-2

Romans 12:1–2 ESV

1 I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. 2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

We are commanded to worship God as a proper response to all that He has done for us - namely, by working in history to bring about a plan of salvation for us hopeless sinners. And we must not be conformed to this world, but to be *transformed* — how?? By the renewing of your mind! Unless we take seriously the mandate to educate, we will not see transformed people.

TRANS: But the church is not just an information center — it is the people of God. This leads to the second key priority.

We need to strengthen Christian community

Acts 2:42-47, Hebrews 10:24-25

And I think it is important that these two things stay together.

Acts 2 describes the earliest Christians devoting themselves to the apostles' teaching and to fellowship. They were committed to truth, but they were also committed to one another.

Hebrews 10:24-25 tells believers the importance of community

Hebrews 10:24–25 ESV

24 And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, 25 not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.

Jesus said that the world would know that we are his disciples by the way that we love one another. Christian discipleship is not simply the transfer of information. We need truth, and we need relationships. That is one of the reasons we have been putting increased emphasis on small groups. Next spring, one of the things we want to do is invest intentionally in raising up more small-group leaders so that more people in our church can live in meaningful Christian community throughout the week.

But small groups do not replace the gathered church. Sunday morning is not simply a time when we arrive, sing some songs, listen to a sermon, and then leave. We gather as the body of Christ. We worship together. We pray together. We learn together. We encourage one another. We see people who are walking through difficult seasons. We meet people who are new. We build relationships across generations. There ought to be something about the gathering of the church that says, "These people belong to one another."

And this is where we run into a very practical problem. Right now, our lobby pushes people out the door. If you have been here for a while, you know exactly what I mean. When the service ends and several hundred people move into that space at the same time, it becomes very crowded, very quickly. There are very few places to sit. It is difficult to have an extended conversation. If you are someone who needs a little bit of personal space, the easiest place to find it is outside.

And if you are new here, that can be especially intimidating. Some of us know everybody, so we can walk into the middle of that crowd and feel completely comfortable. But imagine walking into it when you do not know anyone. We want people to stay. We want them to talk.

We want a young family to meet another young family. We want an older believer to sit down with a younger believer. We want somebody who is brand new to have enough time and space to build a relationship rather than simply getting swept toward the exit.

TRANS: So these are two things I believe we need to strengthen as a church. Education and community. We want to become a church that is increasingly deep in truth and deep in relationship.

Our Next Step

We believe it is time to match our facility to our ministry needs.

And here is the tension we have been wrestling with. Our current facility increasingly works against both of those priorities. On the education side, we simply do not have enough dedicated classroom space. We use just about everything we can use. Classes compete for rooms. The sanctuary itself has to become a Sunday School classroom after worship because we need the space. That works. We have made it work for years. But it also puts a ceiling on what we can do.

And on the community side, our foyer simply was not designed to serve the number of people who are now using it every Sunday. And because this room becomes a Sunday School classroom right after worship, even our largest gathering space cannot easily function as additional fellowship space.

So over time, our elders have found ourselves wrestling with a very simple reality. Two of the things we believe God is calling us to strengthen are two of the things our current facility increasingly limits.

That brings us to the decision we have been working toward.

For quite some time now, our elders have been praying, talking, asking questions, meeting with builders and architects, considering options, talking about finances, wrestling with needs versus wants, and asking what faithful stewardship looks like for Bethel in this season. And we believe it is time for Bethel to take another significant step forward. We are coming to the congregation with plans to add dedicated education space and to significantly expand our lobby and connection space.

The education space exists because we want to strengthen education.

The foyer exists because we want to strengthen community.

The building is not the vision. The building serves the vision.

And I want to stop there for a few minutes because I do not want you simply to hear this from me.

This is not Richard's project. These have been conversations that our elders have had together over a long period of time. We have not agreed instantly on every detail. We have asked hard questions. We have had to think about what we really need, what we can afford, what should happen now, and what perhaps should wait.

So I want to invite a few of our elders to come up and let you hear a little bit about those conversations.

ELDER CONVERSATION

Richard: One of the things I want our church to understand is that we did not arrive here overnight. What have our conversations actually been like as elders? What are some of the things we have wrestled with as we have asked whether this is the right step and the right time?

[Elder response]

Richard: One of the options we have seriously considered is doing this in phases. We could say education is the greatest need, so let's build that first and come back to the lobby later, or vice versa. Why have we increasingly come to believe that doing these together is the wiser approach?

[Elder response]

Richard: There is always a temptation with something like this to say, "Maybe someday." Why do you believe that this is the right season for us to take this step?

[Elder response]

Richard: Let me finish with something that is less about construction. When you picture Bethel five or ten years from now, what do you hope these spaces allow us to do? What excites you when you think beyond the building itself?

[Elder responses]

Thank you, guys.

There are obviously a lot of questions we have not answered this morning. That is intentional. Today is not the full presentation of the project. We are not showing you every drawing. We are not walking through the entire financial plan. We are not answering every construction question. And we are not asking you to make a pledge today. Today is about the why.

During the month of October, we are going to launch a capital campaign, and during that process we will give you a lot more information. We will show you the plans. We will explain the scope of the project. We will talk openly about the cost. We will explain the financial strategy. We will give you opportunities to ask questions. Mark your calendars for a larger gathering on October 18th where we can walk through the project much more thoroughly.

And eventually, we will ask the people of Bethel to consider making a financial commitment toward making this possible. But that is not today's ask.

TRANS: We stand on the shoulders of those who came before us, we look around at what God is doing today, and we anticipate God will continue to work as we seek Him and take steps of faith. Today, there are two things that we must do as a church:

Looking Ahead

Pray and prepare

Pray for our church.

Pray for wisdom for our elders and leaders. Pray that we would have courage where we need courage and caution where we need caution. Pray that we would never allow a building project to become bigger than the mission it is supposed to serve.

Pray for provision.

And pray for the people who are not here yet.

Pray for the people who do not know Jesus today but perhaps five years from now will be sitting in one of these rooms learning the Scriptures.

Pray for the children who will grow up here.

Pray for the future teachers and small-group leaders and missionaries and pastors who may be equipped here.

And then begin preparing.

Not preparing by deciding on a number today. Preparing your heart to eventually ask the question, "Lord, what would you have me do?" Because this really is a stewardship question.

TRANS: We must pray and prepare. Second, we must…

Recognize it is our turn

About fifteen years ago, another generation of people made sacrifices so that we could worship in this sanctuary.

Before that, another generation invested in the gym.

Before that, others took steps of faith that gave us the property and facilities that we benefit from today.

We inherited a lot. And someday, somebody else is going to inherit what we leave behind.

Someday, somebody else will pastor this church.

Somebody else will sit on the elder board.

Somebody else will teach these classes.

The children who are running through our halls today may someday be the parents and grandparents bringing another generation of children here.

And if Jesus has not returned, they will have exactly the same mission that we have… Make disciples.

Until Christ comes, we will preach the gospel.

We will teach the Scriptures.

We will equip believers.

We will raise up leaders.

We will live together as the body of Christ.

We will reach people who do not yet know Jesus.

We will pass the faith from one generation to the next.

That is the vision.

The vision is not a bigger building.

The vision is a church that faithfully makes disciples from one generation to the next.

And we believe that, in this particular moment God has given us, this project is one of the tools we need to pursue that mission faithfully.

Conclusion:

Pray

Father, thank You for Your faithfulness to Your church from generation to generation. Thank You for the people who invested, served, taught, sacrificed, and prayed before us. Give us wisdom to steward what You have entrusted to us today. Deepen us in truth and in our love for one another. Prepare our hearts for whatever You call us to do, and help us remember that every resource You give us is ultimately a tool for making disciples and glorifying Christ. Amen.

Talk About It/Think About It

How can we faithfully steward what God has entrusted to us for the sake of making disciples?

Why is teaching an essential part of making disciples rather than an optional ministry of the church?

Where do you see the greatest need for Christians to grow deeper in biblical understanding today?

What is something Christian community provides that we cannot receive by simply attending a worship service or listening to biblical teaching on our own?

What helps a church move from being a crowd of people who attend the same service to a community of people who genuinely belong to one another?

Why is it important to distinguish between a church’s mission and the tools it uses to accomplish that mission?

Why must the direction and decisions of the church begin first with prayer? What happens if it does not?

If you picture Bethel ten or twenty years from now, what do you hope the next generation will say they received from this generation?