Showing posts with label Grow. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Grow. Show all posts

Gateway’s Mission, Values & Strategy

Posted by Randy | Labels: , , , , , , , , , | Posted On Saturday, January 5, 2013 at 9:16 PM

As we begin 2013, I want to share Gateway Community Church's Mission, Values and Strategy. But I don't want them to simply words on a page. I'd love to see us begin a conversation about how we as Gateway can bring these to life; how each of us can bring these to life. I'd love to hear from you about your thoughts and ideas. I'll also be adding some more thoughts throughout the week, so keep checking back, or better yet, subscribe to my blog so you can get the latest! Randy


Mission

Gateway’s Mission: to lead everyday people to become fully devoted followers of Christ

Our Mission is not simply the work of the corporate church, but the work of each individual member of the body of Christ who considers Gateway their church family. Our Mission requires each of us to take action, to lead, that we might accomplish it – it’s not up to the staff or a few key leaders and volunteers; it takes all of us – each one of us, doing our individual parts as the hands and feet and voice of Christ.


Values

  • Authenticity – We come as we are to Jesus and his church. We don’t try to cover up our faults and failings, but instead confess them and lay them at the feet of Jesus for his forgiveness.
  • Relationships – Spiritual growth and ministry occurs best through relationships (with God and others), and healthy, existing relationships often help us discern where God is leading us to act.
  • Servanthood – Servanthood is a lifestyle, an attitude, a way of being that puts others first, as Jesus did, and seeks to serve them. Servanthood demonstrates itself in Serving, Surrender and Sacrifice.


Strategy

Our Strategy, through the power of the Holy Spirit, is to Reach those disconnected from God, Heal those who are hurting, and Grow both ourselves and those with us to become fully devoted followers of Christ (more and more like Jesus).

  • REACH – we believe God raised up Gateway from it’s beginning to help connect people to God.
  • HEAL – we believe God has raised up Gateway to be a place of spiritual, emotional, relational and physical healing.
  • GROW – we believe God is raising up Gateway to lead everyday people to become fully devoted followers of Christ, to become more and more like Jesus, which, in fact, is who we were created to be.


"One on ONE" Sermon Notes for 8/14/11

Posted by Randy | Labels: , , , , , , | Posted On Sunday, August 14, 2011 at 4:19 PM

If you were with us on August 14, you know I felt led by God to change up my entire message. It wasn't that the message I had written was bad or wrong - it was just one of those times God wanted to test my obedience and grow my faith and speak in a different way through me. The bottom line of both the message I preached and the message I wrote were the same. The message I wrote had more information. As I shared at the start of my message, I've included the Notes for this message here in my blog for those who want to fill in the blanks:



August 14, 2011
Every 1 Matters – Part 2
“One on ONE”

God created you to change the world!

Romans 5:8 (NLT2): “But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners.”

Every 1 matters – you matter, and so does everyone you encounter.

Jesus: “If your first concern is to look after yourself, you’ll never find yourself. But if you forget about yourself and look to me, you’ll find both yourself and me.” (Matthew 10:39 Message)

The more we focus on Jesus and seek to become like him, the less we think about ourselves and what we can or can’t do, and the more we trust him to do amazing things in and through us.

Gateway’s DNA


Ephesians 4:15-16 (Message): “15God wants us to grow up, to know the whole truth and tell it in love—like Christ in everything. We take our lead from Christ, who is the source of everything we do. 16He keeps us in step with each other. His very breath and blood flow through us, nourishing us so that we will grow up healthy in God, robust in love.”

Romans 8:29 (Message): “God knew what he was doing from the very beginning. He decided from the outset to shape the lives of those who love him along the same lines as the life of his Son. The Son stands first in the line of humanity he restored. We see the original and intended shape of our lives there in him.”

Biblical pictures of what the life of Jesus looks like in us:
  •         The Beatitudes & Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7)
  •        Fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23)
  •       1 Corinthians 13 (1 Corinthians 13:4-8)


Sin in our lives has distorted our God-given nature so that we become self-centered and self-absorbed.

God offers us salvation through Jesus Christ so we can be who He created us to be, and so we can fulfill our God-given purpose to love and serve others.

Ephesians 2:8-10 (NLT2): “8God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. 9Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it. 10For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.”

Jesus: “‘Only God’s Spirit gives new life. The Spirit is like the wind that blows wherever it wants to. You can hear the wind, but you don’t know where it comes from or where it is going.’” (John 3:8 CEV)

This journey of growing and becoming more like Jesus happens through training.

1 Timothy 4:8 (NLT2): “‘Physical training is good, but training for godliness is much better, promising benefits in this life and in the life to come.’” (emphasis added)

We go nowhere unless God’s Spirit leads us, but we can’t go anywhere unless we join in.

Jesus created the church to help us on this journey to grow and mature and live out our purpose.

Ephesians 4:11-12 (NLT2): “11Now these are the gifts Christ gave to the church: the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, and the pastors and teachers. 12Their responsibility is to equip God’s people to do his work and build up the church, the body of Christ.”

Gateway’s GUIDE for Growth:

G –     Growing in our relationship with Jesus Christ
            Ex.: Worship, Bible (Life Journal), Prayer, Gateway Academy, Women’s Ministry

U –     Using our spiritual gifts to serve
            Ex.: Children, Students, Team Gateway (hospitality), Arts Ministry, Missions, etc.

Jesus: “‘For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve others and to give his life as a ransom for many.’” (Mark 10:45 NLT2)

I –      Involved in biblical community
            Ex.: Life Groups (Group Connection), Celebrate Recovery, Women’s Ministry

Romans 1:12 (NCV): “I want us to help each other with the faith we have. Your faith will help me, and my faith will help you.”

D –     Dedicated to reaching others
            Ex.: Inviting friends, Mentoring (Life2Life)

Jesus: “‘For the Son of Man came to seek and save those who are lost.’” (Luke 19:10 NLT2)

E –     Exercising stewardship
            Ex.: Recycling, Giving & Tithing (90-Day Challenge)


Another way that we grow is through adversity.


Challenge for tomorrow at 3 pm and 7 pm…
  • Set your phone or watch alarm now to remind you.
  • Share your experience on our website – Every 1 Matters Postings.


A Culture Shift

Posted by Randy | Labels: , , , , , , , , , | Posted On Saturday, April 16, 2011 at 3:47 PM

On Wednesday night, April 13, I shared with our church family a sense that God is calling us as Gateway Community Church to a culture shift. I said this, and I continue to talk about this, not because of a momentary experience in my life, but what feels more and more like a tidal wave of leadings from God.


The essence of this culture shift is that the mission and the ministry of our church are not the responsibility of the institutional church but of the living, breathing organism of the church made up of the individual members of the body of Christ who attend Gateway. In other words, each one of us is called by God to live as "fully devoted followers of Christ." The mission belongs not so much to the church as a whole, but to the church as in each member of the body. The effectiveness of the church is most obvious when each one in the church family owns and lives the mission, rather than when the mission gets bumped up the line to the overall church body or institution.


I'll admit that I'm still working on the words and language to express just what I sense God saying in all this. I've been talking it out with staff and in Grow Gatherings on Sunday evenings. I've been thinking about it and reflecting on it, and actually preaching on it more than I realized. I see it already happening in the accountability and encouragement that occurs in Celebrate Recovery, as individuals take on responsibility for other individuals and come alongside them. I see it already happening in our Marriage Mentoring ministry, where one couple comes alongside another couple to help and encourage them in their journey. I see it as we've been talking lately about how to help grow and encourage brand-new followers of Christ, who need someone to come alongside them and show them the way. I see it already happening as we talk about investing more into the parents of our children and teens, so parents feel empowered to accept their God-given responsibility to teach and encourage their own kids about Jesus Christ, with the church serving in a helping role.


I've been sensing it in a scripture that has really jumped out at me in the last few weeks:


Jesus: “‘For where two or three gather together as my followers, I am there among them.’” (Matthew 18:20 NLT2)

I've always wondered about this scripture. Why "two or three"? Why not five or six, or a hundred to a hundred fifty? Then, a few weeks ago it struck me - it's in settings of two or three that our relationships are most exposed and open, where vulnerability as well as accountability are most possible and most likely. It's the essence of relationship, and much of our spiritual growth comes in our interaction with another. In the New Testament the phrase "one another" is found nearly sixty times: "accept one another," "be devoted to one another," "greet one another," "serve one another," "instruct one another," "honor one another," "encourage one another," "do not slander one another," and especially "love one another."

There's a sense of Christianity and love being personal - not something that can be done through an institution nearly as well as through one individual to another. We are called to come alongside one another to help, encourage, hold accountable and love one another. And it's in these small settings of two or three or four, where it's impossible to hide from each other or wait for someone else to answer or explain, where we become known deep down, behind the walls.

Yet, too often in my ministry "career" I've rationalized that working mainly with large groups is efficient and a better use of my time. I thought I could reach more people faster, better. But in fact, what I think I've been doing is at the very least fooling myself. It definitely takes more work and we experience more pain when we get up close and personal with someone, yet it's only there that I see behind the curtain of who that person really is, who I am, and who God really is and what He desires in our lives - where two or three of us are gathered.

This is why I believe we need a culture shift. We need to move away from thinking about how others will do ministry and instead ask God what do you want me to do? What person do you want me to come alongside? How do you want me to love another? Words and phrases that have been coming to me lately include "accountability;" "360ยบ mentoring," where as we mentor another, we are at the same time being mentored by someone else; "sacrificial love is normal for the Christ follower;" "every ONE matters to God;" and "personal responsibility for my own spiritual growth." 

And I really don't see this as a program of our church so much as a part of our essence, our culture. We don't plan it and orchestrate it - we empower it and release it. The church then fulfills it's God given purpose "...to equip God’s people to do his work and build up the church, the body of Christ." (Ephesians 4:12)

I've got a lot more praying and thinking to do on this, but I don't plan to wait until it's all clear, either. I'm diving in, wanting to go deeper into the love of God. I hope you will, too. I'd love to hear your thoughts on this, too. This is definitely a work in progress, but I really feel God's presence in the midst of this. And I believe seeking to live our lives this way will radically change our church, but more important than that, it will change our community and our world. It will take time, because relationships can't be rushed or pushed. But I believe God has been planting seeds all around our church, and over the next two to three years I expect to see a real culture shift. The church will be the church, and God will be glorified!
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