LIVING GRACE CHURCH
A congregation of Grace Communion International
2009 Vision Document
OUR VISION
God gave his only Son as his gift of grace to the world so that all who
place their trust in Christ may share in the eternal life and love of God who is
Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Motivated by that love, as a community of
believers who experience God's grace, we pursue fulfillment of the Great
Commission to multiply disciple making followers of Jesus.
As we grow together as followers of Jesus, we envision our community
becoming more and more a place of prayer. Emerging from hearts connected to God
in prayer we will become a community empowered to freely and intentionally
express God's grace with those around us. With this will come opportunities to invite
and welcome those who God is calling into our fellowship where they will
experience the gracious, life-giving touch of Jesus.
In our fellowship of grace, people will be invited and enabled to
participate with Jesus in His disciple making mission. Pre-Christians will be
introduced to Jesus. New believers will be built up in their love for Jesus and
for His church. As they grow in Christ-likeness, they will be equipped for
active work in Jesus' disciple making ministry including reaching out to those who
do not yet know Christ. As the Holy Spirit gifts, some will be equipped and
appointed to serve as shepherd leaders of ministries
that serve within and beyond our congregation.
This is our dream of what can be as we walk in obedience to the vision
God has granted us.
OUR CORE VALUES
Our fellowship in Christ is built upon the following essential biblical
values:
We value being Christ-centered. We seek to glorify our heavenly Father by
following the Holy Spirit's lead in exalting Jesus Christ. Our purpose as a
congregation is to be a community that is fulfilling Jesus' great commandment
to love God and all people (John 15:12) and His great
commission to make disciples (Matthew 28:18-20) - helping people come to Jesus,
to grow to know Him more deeply, and to use their God-given gifts and
talents in Jesus' ministry (II Peter 3:18).
In all of this work we seek to be faithful followers of Jesus,
actively pursuing the great commission in our everyday world.
We value being Bible-based. We uphold the Holy Bible as the ultimate
authority in all matters concerning our beliefs and practices.
We value being grace-oriented. Grace involves all the undeserved gifts God freely gives us because of
Jesus. We are saved and live by grace. As a fellowship we want to share the joy
and power of that grace with others. Grace is the essence of who we are
(Ephesians 2:8, John 1:14, Titus 3:4-7; 2:11-13).We emphasize
God's unconditional acceptance and full forgiveness through Jesus Christ and
then guide and motivate people through grace rather than through unnecessary
rules.
We value being relationship-building. The gospel of Jesus Christ is focused on the reconciliation of
relationships - with God and between people. We aim to give priority to healing
and strengthening those relationships in all we do.
We value being fellowship-building
and people-equipping. We emphasize people
over programs. We strive to connect people
actively to one another in meaningful fellowship, and to involve and equip
people for serving Jesus in accordance with
their spiritual gifts (1 John 1:3, 7). We
provide this fellowship and equipping through our core disciple making
ministries with the goal of helping us all make a real difference in our families, communities, workplaces and in all
other aspects of our daily lives.
OUR
Living Grace Church is a
Christ-centered fellowship living and sharing the gospel of grace. We are
committed to being and building disciples of Jesus.
OUR STRATEGY
1. Help the lost and hurting experience grace. We purpose to help the lost and hurting that
they might come to personally experience the grace of God in Christ. This
involves introducing Jesus to pre-Christians and re-introducing Jesus to tired
and burned-out Christians. Our primary tool in this work is a three-part
strategy summarized in the acronym CPR: cultivate redemptive friendships, plant
truth about Jesus into those relationships and then reap a personal,
freely-given, grace-based commitment to Christ. We pursue CPR as individuals
and through our work together as a community that seeks to share God's grace.
2. Build believers through community. We build believers by helping each other grow into the maturity of
Christ through active participation in the life of our worship community. As
believers experience the nurturing grace of God within our congregation, we
grow in our love for God and for people. This love is informed by the biblical
teachings of the historic, orthodox Christian faith and is enhanced through the
practice of the spiritual disciplines of prayer, Bible study, meditation,
worship, service, fasting and simplicity. Finally, this love is deepened in the
intimacy and mutual support and loyalty of small group fellowship.
3. Equip workers to advance fellowship. We equip workers by training and otherwise
preparing our members for the skillful and generous use of their time, talent
and treasure in the service of our Lord's work to
build the fellowship of the church. We
equip them to advance this work within the church, in their homes and out into
their neighborhoods. As we work together we experience the joy of Christ
that comes through sacrificial service involving the stewardship of the gifts
of grace that God has given to us.
4. Multiply and send leaders. We seek to identify those gifted by the Holy Spirit for leadership and
then train, coach and deploy such individuals to be servant-leaders guiding the
work of Christ in and through our congregation.
Faith Goals for 2009
In faith, we beseech God to move in power to cause.
1. Visitors and previous members to return to our services and other
activities again and again.
2. Newcomers to experience Christ's presence in our services and other
activities.
3. Existing members (believers) to make commitments of time and effort
to become equipped workers.
4. More youth to be attracted to and active in our congregation.
5. A balancing in our ministries of seeking, building, equipping, and
leadership multiplication.
Work Goals for 2009
We commit to accomplishing the following mission-enhancing tasks in the
year ahead:
1. Provide a relational developmental program that moves people along
smoothly from visitor, to believer, to worker.
2. Seek out through the local ministry association, local para-church ministries, or public community groups,
opportunities to introduce the lost to the grace of God in Christ.
3. Have two or three "Bring a Friend" services in 2009.
4. Make sure that our social events in 2009 all include an element of
cultivating and planting those not in our church.
5. Utilize small groups more to facilitate and cultivate relationships
both inside and outside the church.