In an earlier blog I wrote about Mission and Values. Today I would like to solicit your input on Vision. But first, let me briefly recap. With over 130 interviews conducted, I am now more convinced than ever that I have identified a set of core values that our congregation is very highly aligned around. These values go beyond the New Life, New Community, New Creation “Christian Mission”. The Christian Mission is what NCC is all about. The core values define who NCC is as a congregation and what makes it unique in God’s kingdom. These core values, when applied to the Christian Mission, should define how we uniquely go about accomplishing the Christian Mission. Together, with a forward view toward becoming a more externally-focused missional church, the core values and the mission should describe the NCC Vision.
There is a whole host of Christian core values that I believe are part of the fabric of who we are. These include loving and worshipping God, loving His Word, believing it to be wholly accurate, sharing the Gospel with others, believing in salvation by grace, living out Biblical truths in all areas of our life, transforming our culture, believing in the one true Triune God as defined and revealed to us in Scripture, etc. These values are core values for NCC as a Bible believing, contemporary, Christian church.
However, there are an additional set of values that make our church the unique force that God designed it to be. These distinctive values include attributes such as:
• Inviting & Welcoming
• Warm & Friendly
• Loving & Non-Judgmental
• Authentic & Real
• Open & Honest
• Learning & Growing
• Serving & Supporting
But in this blog I would like to focus on the concept of “Vision”. I want to solicit your input on the NCC Vision. A vision for NCC is an image of the state of our church at some point in the future. It is a dream, a mental picture, an image of what we could be some day. It requires foresight, forethought, farsightedness, and imagination. It should be your view of what you hope our church is becoming as we pursue our Christian Mission, utilizing the unique Values God has given us.
For the purpose of this exercise, let’s set a target of 5 years from now. Tell me what characteristics and attributes you hope describe our church. In addition, tell me what the people are like, what the ministries are like, what the programs are like, what our goals are, what the facility is like, and any other thoughts you would like to share.
If you would like to post your thoughts online, click on the word “comments” below. I understand this can be very personal, so if you are uncomfortable posting your thoughts online, simply email them to me at csonger@new-communitychurch.org
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