This Sunday begins vision month here at Grace Church and over the course of the 5 Sundays of the month we are going to be sharing the 5-year vision plan of our church.
What is it that limits our vision? In the beginning verses of John 6 a great multitude of people (Luke says 5,000 men which could mean up to 25,000 in total counting women and children) were on a mountain in a very desolate place listening to Jesus teach. It was getting late and they were all hungry. Testing one of His disciples named Philip, Jesus asked him where they could get enough food to feed such a crowd. I’m sure the answer that Jesus wanted to hear from Philip was, “Why, you can do that Jesus…You’re God!” After all, Philip had seen enough of Jesus’ miracles to know His power. But instead, Philip replied that six months worth of wages would not buy enough food for such a crowd. Philip had sight but he had no vision. Why? Because he could not look past the reality of his situation. Neither can many churches today resulting in sight but no vision.
Jesus than asked another of His disciples, Andrew, to go through the crowd and see if there was any food available. Maybe there was more food out there than they thought. However, all Andrew could find was one boy’s lunch consisting of five small loaves of bread and two pieces of fish that his mom had the insightfulness to pack for him that morning before he left home. This was hardly enough food to feed such a large crowd of people. Andrew brings this little lunch to Jesus and pessimistically asks, “What are these among so many?” Like Philip, Andrew had sight but he had no vision. Philip could not look past his reality and Andrew could not look past his resources. Sadly, neither can many churches today, and as a result, vision is often squelched.
Two years ago I put together a Purpose Task Force, made up of our full-time ministry staff here at Grace, in order to revisit and reevaluate the purpose statement of our church. Now understand that our goal as a task force was not to change our purpose as a church. Our purpose is good and it is very Bible-centered. Rather, our goal was to take the overall purpose and mission of our church and to be able to state it in one brief, specific and transferable phrase in easy to understand terminology. For example, here are some one phrase purpose statements of companies that we are all familiar with:
Disney – “To make people happy.”
Boeing – “To push the leading edge of aviation.”
3M – “To solve unsolved problems innovatively.”
Mary Kay – “To give unlimited opportunity to women.”
Pepsi – “Beat Coke.”
This Purpose Task Force came up with the one line statement that has become very familiar to all who call Grace Church home. Grace Church is all about:
“Meeting people where they are and moving people to where God wants them to be!”
What is it that limits our vision? In the beginning verses of John 6 a great multitude of people (Luke says 5,000 men which could mean up to 25,000 in total counting women and children) were on a mountain in a very desolate place listening to Jesus teach. It was getting late and they were all hungry. Testing one of His disciples named Philip, Jesus asked him where they could get enough food to feed such a crowd. I’m sure the answer that Jesus wanted to hear from Philip was, “Why, you can do that Jesus…You’re God!” After all, Philip had seen enough of Jesus’ miracles to know His power. But instead, Philip replied that six months worth of wages would not buy enough food for such a crowd. Philip had sight but he had no vision. Why? Because he could not look past the reality of his situation. Neither can many churches today resulting in sight but no vision.
Jesus than asked another of His disciples, Andrew, to go through the crowd and see if there was any food available. Maybe there was more food out there than they thought. However, all Andrew could find was one boy’s lunch consisting of five small loaves of bread and two pieces of fish that his mom had the insightfulness to pack for him that morning before he left home. This was hardly enough food to feed such a large crowd of people. Andrew brings this little lunch to Jesus and pessimistically asks, “What are these among so many?” Like Philip, Andrew had sight but he had no vision. Philip could not look past his reality and Andrew could not look past his resources. Sadly, neither can many churches today, and as a result, vision is often squelched.
Two years ago I put together a Purpose Task Force, made up of our full-time ministry staff here at Grace, in order to revisit and reevaluate the purpose statement of our church. Now understand that our goal as a task force was not to change our purpose as a church. Our purpose is good and it is very Bible-centered. Rather, our goal was to take the overall purpose and mission of our church and to be able to state it in one brief, specific and transferable phrase in easy to understand terminology. For example, here are some one phrase purpose statements of companies that we are all familiar with:
Disney – “To make people happy.”
Boeing – “To push the leading edge of aviation.”
3M – “To solve unsolved problems innovatively.”
Mary Kay – “To give unlimited opportunity to women.”
Pepsi – “Beat Coke.”
This Purpose Task Force came up with the one line statement that has become very familiar to all who call Grace Church home. Grace Church is all about:
“Meeting people where they are and moving people to where God wants them to be!”
2 comments:
This is a quote my dad found one time:
"If we live by sight, we can only go as far as we can see. If we live my faith, we can go as far as God sees."
I am excited that we are building a vision on faith and are ready to go wherever God leads!
Nancy, that is indeed a great quote! Thanks for your encouragement and support!
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