Another New Years Tradition “The vision for Christ Nation Church 2009

Another tradition that we have in our church is each year we spend 10 to 15 minutes talking about the vision for the upcoming year at our New Year’s party. The purpose of the New Year’s party is not really to attend another church service. Throughout the year we have church services. The purpose of the New Year’s party is to celebrate what God has done in the year before and celebrate the coming of the next year. With all that in mind the vision is always a part of the time of festivities.

This year the vision that God has given me for the church is “Building the House of God”. We are a very outreach focused church and we will always be an outreach focused church. We believe that we are called to reach the community. But also with all of the outreach there is an inward strengthening of the church that must take place as well. This year will be the year we focus on that.

As I was praying about this focus for this year I came up with 7 areas of focus. I thought you might like to see what the 7 things on my list were.
1) We as a church will dream again. Galt. 6:9 – When we first started the church two and a half years ago we had big dreams. Mostly because we were young and without experience. Over the course of time and with the general hard knocks of trying to do God’s will the batteries in our dreamer need to be recharged. In 2009 as a church we will start dreaming big again.

2) We will start giving again. 2nd Cor. 9:7-8,:12 – Since the very beginning we have considered the main reason we are in our city is to minister to the city. To do that we need more than just funds to pay for rent, salaries and utilities. We need funds to do show the love of God in the community as well. As we give in 2009 it will allow us to better minister to the community we live in.

3) We will stop getting easily offended. James 1:13 – 15, Mark 4:15 – :17. One of the main reasons why people, not just in our church but in church all over the world, have trouble building The House of God is because they have members that are easily offended. This year we have decided as a church that we will not stay offended with one another or at how God is challenging our lives.

4) We will enjoy our times together as a church family. Acts 2:42 – 46. One of the signs of a healthy church is that they enjoy spending time together. We as a church do that but this year in 2009 we will do it even more.

5) We will make God and the church the center of our lives. Acts 2:41-42. God does not want to be the god of our spiritual life He wants to be the God of our lives. That means that Jesus must have access to every little hidden corner of our lives if we are to build The Church of God.

6) We will appreciate and value those that work in the House of God. 1st Theo. 5:12-13, Hebrews 13:17-8. I have notice that there are people that each week sacrifice to make our church a reality and these members many times go unnoticed. In 2009 we want to make sure these people realize they are appreciated

7) We will have the right mindset about serving in the church. Phil. 2:7. Too many times we come to church to be served. A healthy mindset to have from time is to time is to serve the church so that the church can serve the community.

There are many things we have planned for 2009 but these are the main vision signposts. It should be an exciting year for Christ Nation Church.

We just had great New Year's party last night to usher in the new year.