CONNECT (Vision Sunday)

Without Vision, People Cast Off Restraint

Mission

Our mission is simple! It is the same mission that Jesus gave us and that we seek to live by. Our mission is “To boldly show Jesus, to love God, and to love others because God first loved us.” This mission guides everything else that we do here at FXCC. Our mission...

Dictates our ministry’s direction (Adam and Eve – Genesis 1:28. Moses was to lead Israel out of bondage (Exod. 3:10). Joshua (Josh. 1:1–5), David (2 Sam. 5:2), Nehemiah (Neh. 2:17), and others. Jesus’ mission (Mark 10:45))

Defines a ministry’s function (Or what matters most. The mission is an expression of strategic intent. It summarizes and provides the church with its biblical task, and it defines the results that it seeks to obtain.)

Focuses our ministry’s future (Philippians 3:13-14 – Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.)

Vision

But, what is vision? Are mission and vision the same? No! The mission is a statement of what the church is supposed to be doing, while the vision is a snapshot or picture of it. Vision is like taking a vacation to some scenic place. The mission is simply where you are going. The travel company, however, provides you with a compelling vision, found in a brochure full of pictures of what your destination looks like. This makes you want to go there.

Proverbs 29:18 – When there is no vision the people live unrestrained (run wild), but the one keeps the law (lives by instruction) is happy.

A vision is a clear, challenging picture of the future of our ministry, as we believe that it can and must be. Our vision instructs us in why we want to go in that direction and live out the mission. So, if our mission is “To boldly show Jesus , to love God, and to love others because God first loved us”, then what is our vision?

Our vision is simply stated “To be God’s heart to this community.” But that is not the whole vision. We understand that to be God's heart to this community we must remain connected to God, and to live beyond our abilities, fears, and imaginations. With God’s power flowing through us, we commit to:

Deepen biblical understanding that produces greater spiritual maturity.

Honor God as the center of our worship and invite others into His presence.

Make the most of our unique location for local and far-reaching spiritual impact.

Provide a home for people seeking unconditional love, peace, belonging, and rest.

Reach out to diverse communities with the Good News of Jesus Christ.

Values

Our vision is truly lived out through what we value most. We might write a vision, but our values will guide it. Values are the constant, passionate, and biblical core beliefs that go deep and truly empower and guide our ministry.

The following values express our most passionate and unyielding priorities.

Connecting with God

…By honoring Jesus Christ as the head of His church, yielding to the Bible as the Inspired Word of God, and faithfully worshipping God.

Connecting with Christians

…By welcoming each other into a home for people seeking unconditional love, peace, belonging, and rest.

Connecting with Others

…By sharing Christ’s truth as a welcome into authentic Christian community.

These values are interwoven throughout all that we do. They are the deep-seeded beliefs that guide our mission and vision. That is what we want to remind ourselves of and focus on through 2021. So, our goal and vision is for 2021 is to

CONNECT

Living in a Disconnected World

In a world where we have connection overload, it's surprisingly easy to get disconnected. In 2020, depression, suicide, loneliness skyrocketed. But all the while we were “connected” through social media. 2020 revealed to us that virtual connection is not true connection. We desperately need connection.

We have discovered this past year that we are disconnected in a “connected” world. We often find ourselves disconnected with God, with other Christians, and with others in the world.

Problem = Disconnect

With God

Savior vs. God

Worship

Prayer

Daily Presence (Apathy, Indifference, Complacency, Intention/Motivation)

With Christians

FXCC Family, Not included, lonely in a crowd

Ministry

Growth Groups

Ideologies & Doctrine

With Others

Isolation from the world

Fear of differences and influence (they vs. us)

Lack of understanding

Justify distance based on theology

Problem is not that we don’t love the poor, it’s that we don’t know them

Don’t know how to connect, so just don’t do it

Worry more about what we are against than what we are for (which connects us with humanity)

Solution = Connect (with purpose)

With God

Awareness that God is God, we are not. Not simply my Savior and Lord who gets me what I want. He is my everything!

Worship as Life, goes beyond a Sunday service but a way of life (Living Sacrifice), worship is about God not about us, how does it connect with the many rather than the few?

Prayer as a regular rhythm of life and ministry

Daily Presence (Awareness, Intentionality, Motivation, Passion)

With Christians

Connected with FXCC family, felt and reality (safe and welcome to join in whatever format, but ultimately tied to the body)

Connected in a Ministry

Connected to a Growth Group

Unity over Uniformity (shift in intent and attitude)

With Others

Connection with a community for the purpose of loving others for Christ

Understanding differences from another's shoes/perspective (us instead of they)

Deepened Empathy for Fellow Sinners

Entering others space without compromising biblical truths (develop a theology that closes the distance/gap)

Know those on the margins better

Provide opportunities for connection (learn through example, discovering that it is not as hard as we may assume and can engage on their own)

Seeking the Kingdom of God first (not our kingdom, but His)

CONNECT (GOD, CHRISTIANS, OTHERS)

Reconnecting in a Disconnected World. We want to help us all fall deeply in love with God, with fellow Christians, and with those outside our church walls.

We want to each family member connect and actively engage their faith.

M.A.P. – Motivate, Activate, Participate in the Mission, Vision, and Values of FXCC

Being a Christian is about more than liking Jesus or knowing about him. It's about becoming like him. Everyone is on a journey of transformation that requires us to take the next step toward Jesus - whether it’s the first or one in a long journey with God. What's your next step? What is our next step as a church family?

Ephesians 4:1–5:2 ESV

I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call— one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. But grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ’s gift. Therefore it says, “When he ascended on high he led a host of captives, and he gave gifts to men.” (In saying, “He ascended,” what does it mean but that he had also descended into the lower regions, the earth? He who descended is the one who also ascended far above all the heavens, that he might fill all things.) And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love. Now this I say and testify in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds. They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart. They have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity. But that is not the way you learned Christ!— assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus, to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness. Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another. Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, and give no opportunity to the devil. Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest work with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with anyone in need. Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you. Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children. And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.

On this first Sunday of 2021, we want to set out our vision to CONNECT (GOD, CHRISTIANS, OTHERS) for this year and beyond. Our desire is to be true imitators of God and walk in love. Will you join us?