Vision night

Welcome to another Vision night… One of the purposes for coming together in this format is —is to gather as the core of our congregation and to focus on whats important for our local church. We might call this our leadership Huddle where we talk about our game plan as we move forward through the year.

For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it?

luke 14:28For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it?

29 Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him,

30 saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish.’

31 Or what king, going out to encounter another king in war, will not sit down first and deliberate whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand?

32 And if not, while the other is yet a great way off, he sends a delegation and asks for terms of peace.

33 So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple.

JEsus Ian talking about the cost of being a disciple… his point is that before engaging in any project—battle one should consider the cost… a few years ago at thrive one of the pastors said some of us would love thriving churches… buy you often don’t see the cost.. There is a cost involved

As a ministry we need to always be thinking through the lenses of our Preferred Future… What is that God is desiring to do in and through us as Faith Community… One of the problems we all struggle with is keeping on mission.. We find in our own lives… we establish a good habit and then we drift a little… it doesn’t mean we fall of the wagon that we stop… we just need continual realignment and encouragement.... My hope is that as we continue these evenings --- that we will be mutually encouraged… Paul said to the church in Rome that he longed to see them

​ NRSVFor I am longing to see you so that I may share with you some spiritual gift to strengthen you— or rather so that we may be mutually encouraged by each other’s faith, both yours and mine.

That’s what should happens when Believers are healthy… Both parties walk away encouraged.

Both parties walk away encouraged.

Most of us love a good Story… whether it is a good movie or a good book.. Good Narratives often have a Good Beginning ---get us hooked into the story line — some sort of tension… and often that tension has kept to the end so they we keep on reading for the resolution to the tension..

The begging matters and the Ending matters. If it’s predicable we loose interest..… or if the hero dies… that’s no fun… Some movies have alternative endings so that you can pick the way the narrative ends...Every church has a narrative that is on going …There is a story that unfolds… challenges… victories… Often Churches have humble beginnings and God does amazing things through a community..

The narrative is often determined by the quality of spiritual leadership that rises up within a congregation.. or the narrative is determined by the lack of leadership.

The Gym that Pam and I go to has been struggling for last several months — the facilities have gone from mediocre to bad and be honest terribleIt started off with water fountains going and not being repaired for a couple months… then one of the shower broke and that was never repaired… the tiles on the locker room have needed replacing…for years… then two months ago the Jacuzzi broke down and now it is just this dangerous empty pit ... One of the swimming pools has been closed for two months… and then this week the second pool is out of order… Nothing works..and nothing is getting repaired.What’s going on? Why aren’t owners investing in the upkeep of the Gym… Either they are Broke… (which I doubt) or they are unwilling to invest in the facilities…

Here is the thing… It is not about the facilities… it’s about membership care.... What is communicated by the facilities is that they do not care for us members… We keep on paying gym memberships…

To be honest the only thing that has kept us going is… is the convenience of its location… and the staff super friendly… but we are at that point where we are ready to give it all up… I can tell you that if this continues they will not be around in five years… What worked for this Gym in the past may not serve them well into future…

This is the leadership Challenge… is just because something worked before… doesn’t mean it will serve you well in the future..

There are some leadership lessons here… Actively Steward the Vision…

1. Don’t leave our vision to chance…

what is the end of the story going to look like? Is it one of a church that impacts its community and world for Jesus… or are we going to be remembered as a church who maintained enough members to cover operational costs? leadership isn’t easy… it is challenging .. that’s why most people would rather just attend and not get involved… but leadership means engagement and involvement.

We should not shy away from a challenge,

2. Don’t leave Community building to Chance ..People Are always the Priority…

Our Goal should always be to be the God’s hands and feet to others… Everything we do is about building healthy Relationships… This happens at every interaction.... Everyone hasn’t a first… first time visitor… .First impressions when someone arrives at the church and the way people feel when they leave… very important...

.First impressions when someone arrives at the church and the way people feel when they leave… very important...

We Build a Healthy Family Community… by doing what healthy families do

What do healthy Families Do?

a. They enjoy spending time together… Every-time I see Ryan He gives me this bear hug… and it’s his way of expressing his love.

b. Families Celebrate Each other… They laugh together...

c. Families Commiserate with each other.d. Families do great Exploits together - they go on trips..

e. Families Build Memories.

f. Families take care of Each other..

g. Families Work together..

James Emery White…was Professor at GCTS and is pastor in Charlotte…talks about the early days of Planting Mecklenburg Community Church. James tells of the early days of his ministry when the church was being planted, they would go to the elementary school on Saturday mornings and mop, vacuum, place chairs, and set up nurseries. He would go by the local doughnut store and load up on doughnut holes as a treat all volunteers, and then they would work as a family. They would laugh, play, and horse around. We made “church work” family time, and the kids learned to look forward to it. They associated going to church with pleasure.

James Emery tells of the early days of his ministry when the church was being planted, we would go to the elementary school on Saturday mornings and mop, vacuum, place chairs, and set up nurseries. I would go by the local doughnut store and load up on doughnut holes as a treat all volunteers, and then we would work as a family. We would laugh, play, and horse around. We made “church work” family time, and the kids learned to look forward to it. They associated going to church with pleasure.

In the early days, when the church was being planted, we would go to the elementary school on Saturday mornings and mop, vacuum, place chairs, and set up nurseries. I would go by the local doughnut store and load up on doughnut holes as a treat for them and the other volunteers, and then we would work as a family. We would laugh, play, and horse around. We made “church work” family time, and the kids learned to look forward to it. They associated going to church with pleasure.

3. Don’t leave our Legacy to Chance!

3. Don’t leave our Legacy to Chance!

We need to be thinking 10 years down the road.... Who is going to be around? If you want a legacy you need children and grandchildren.

- We are at Critical place as a church where there is need to building under us younger… If you are going to build younger — we have think differently… about our methodology.

James Emery White thought of his church being a young church… he went to visit a students church and he had a wake up call because most of the church weekend 20something.

James returned to speak at his own church and looked around and he realized we are old! They had started off young but after time realized that they had all grown old together...Right then and there I made a vow: we will not die of old age!

If the natural flow of the church is to skew older, then that means the leadership of the church has to invest a disproportionate amount of energy and intentionality in order to maintain a vibrant population of young adults. We must not leave this to Chance… James Emery gives three suggestions.

1.Hire young adults

Very few churches intentionally seek to hire people in their twenties. But without twentysomething staff, you are cut off from the next generation’s culture. That includes technology, which is heavily oriented toward new forms of communication. The idea here is the need for reverse mentoring, something that is seldom discussed and much needed.

2. To attract young adults, you have to platform young adults. One of the unwritten laws of church life is this: who you platform is who you will attract. It doesn’t matter whether you want it to be true or not; it simply is.

you want a church of fortysomethings, then be sure to litter your stage with that age group. But don’t then sit back and wonder where all the young people are. While you can platform older folk and disaffect young adults, you can platform young adults and still attract older folk. Lots of them.

3. To attract young adults, you have to acknowledge young adults. To acknowledge a young person is to acknowledge their world, their sensibilities, their technology, their vocabulary, their tastes, their priorities, and their questions. Notice I did not say to cater to such things, only to acknowledge them. A church that does nothing but speak to you

Bottom line? Sometimes bridging a cultural divide is as simple as who you hire, who you platform, and who you acknowledge.

We cannot know the challenges that lies ahead… but we can be prepared..It is like the Kayaker that gets into his boat… doesn’t know exactly what is upstream… but he knows that he could potentially face some challenges… so he prepares himself. If we prepare now in advance we will be able to handle the rapids that we face up stream.

but after time realized that they had all grown old together...Right then and there I made a vow: we will not die of old age! If the natural flow of the church is to skew older, then that means the leadership of the church has to invest a disproportionate amount of energy and intentionality in order to maintain a vibrant population of young adults3. Leadership challenge of building up each of our ministries… I have been calling the the second tear or second string minstry’s.

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James Emery White talks his church always being the young church… but after time realized that they had all grown old together...Right then and there I made a vow: we will not die of old age! If the natural flow of the church is to skew older, then that means the leadership of the church has to invest a disproportionate amount of energy and intentionality in order to maintain a vibrant population of young adults3. Leadership challenge of building up each of our ministries… I have been calling the the second tear or second string minstry’s.