During the pastoral retreat in October last year, our Senior Pastor said that, after 30 years, he still could not recite the vision statement of our church, so he simplified it to "Be a Loving Family to a Broken World", which is also the 2022 annual theme of our church. This makes our vision more specific, conspicuous, prominent, clear, and easier to remember. However, we are almost halfway through the year 2022, can you feel it leading the whole church in that direction ?
I still remember that, after three years of pastoring, a brother asked me one day, "Our church has a vision statement and we set a theme annually but how is your preaching related to the church's vision or theme?” His question left me speechless. Our church’s vision or theme should dominate the direction of all our ministries, but why aren’t my sermons directed at them? Is it because I myself was not clear on the vision, or am I not praying and seeking enough? Really, many times church vision or annual theme are merely spiritual catchphrases or just for reference. Visions come from God, telling us the purpose of the existence of the church, so that we can focus on God's will, accept the mission from Him and reject what is not from Him, to avoid going astray and wasting the gifts and resources given to us. That being the case, if we do not understand what it means for us to "Be a Loving Family to a Broken World" or how to achieve it, then we should fervently seek God in prayer. But it is interesting that this is most often overlooked, because people tend to be overconfident and quickly come up with plans and strategies based on their own ideas, traditions, and habits. They follow the direction they think is right, isn't it true? Do you remember when was the last time, whether in fellowship, or in church-wide gatherings, you asked God for guidance, direction or clarification about His vision? All we need is to turn our eyes upon Jesus. In order for the church to fulfill God’s purposes, the most important thing is to seek through prayer, which should also be the norm in the church. God-given visions will always be fulfilled because it defines the value and purpose of our church's existence. There will be failures and doubts in the process of fulfilling the vision of the church, but this is also the time when we learn to trust in the grace of God. The church belongs to God, He will be responsible for her and His will will never fail; We, too, belong to God, and God will never let us down but will use us to fulfill His will. Comments are closed.
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