Showing posts with label Relationships. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Relationships. 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.


Membership Update - Growing in my Relationship with Christ (June 2010)

Posted by Randy | Labels: , , , , , , , , , | Posted On Thursday, June 10, 2010 at 3:40 PM

Last month, as I began this monthly column for our Gateway members (and anyone else), I talked about the GUIDE. I said the GUIDE (which is a part of our Membership Covenant) is an acronym that both describes what a "fully devoted follower of Christ" looks like, and lists biblical disciplines and practices that God has given us to help guide us in our spiritual journey in order to become fully devoted. Listed below is the GUIDE:


G - Growing in my relationship with Christ
U - Using spiritual gifts to serve
I - Involved in biblical community
D - Dedicated to reaching others
E - Exercising stewardship


Over the next few Updates I'll be examining each of these in more detail, beginning with the "G," which expands to say, "I will pursue a growing relationship with Christ through scripture, prayer and the spiritual disciplines."


The key word here that often gets lost in understanding and living the Christian life is "relationship." A relationship doesn't just happen - we have to work on it. Growing a relationship with Christ is no different.


Part of our Life Journal reading this past Wednesday (June 9) was Ecclesiastes 12, written by King Solomon, the wisest man to ever live. There is a pessimistic, cynical outlook on life through much of Ecclesiastes as Solomon drifted away from God in his later years and wrote this work. But, as he concludes this writing, his last chapter opens with this statement: "Don't let the excitement of youth cause you to forget your Creator. Honor him in your youth before you grow old..." (12:1, NLT2; italics added)


God drew my eye to this verse and the ones that followed. Solomon tells us not to "forget" our Creator. Then, he proceeds to repeat this by saying, "Remember him (God, the Creator)..." seven more times.  Before it's too late, Solomon says we need to remember our Creator. Why? Because we have a natural tendency to forget!


Practices such as reading our Bible daily, praying, reading spiritual books, meditation, journaling, listening to Christian music, etc., are ways God has given us to "remember" Him. (I think of them as sort of powering a "God Radar" that helps me stay tuned to Him and what He's doing in me and around me.) They are especially helpful in times of trial and adversity, but they really do make a difference all the time. 


Doing these practices isn't meant to be legalistic. Legalism is about checking something off my list as an accomplishment, while relationship is always about investing and giving more. Legalism always leads to the idea that if I do these things God will reward me, and likewise, if I fail to do them, He will punish me. Nothing could be farther from the truth! These practices are fundamental to helping us become more like Christ, and not just to please him.


I'll admit there have been many times in my life when I simply read to "check it off my list." But, God has been showing me that's not His purpose or desire for me...or any of us! He wants our relationship to grow, and He's teaching me to approach scripture and prayer and all the other disciplines as ways to get to know Him better and be influenced by Him. They are ways to help me remember who I am and Whose I am. They keep turning my focus back to Christ instead of on me. They prepare me so that when the Holy Spirit does move in my life, I'm ready to respond and grow.




One thing I've realized is that just as no two relationships on earth are the same, or developed in exactly the same way, so no two relationships with Christ are exactly the same or develop in the same way. However, spending daily time with God and His Word, the Bible, and prayer are almost always a part of the life of a Christ follower who is being grown by God.



We offer the Life Journal as one method of investing time daily with God and His Word. We have journals available for sale or you can go to our website and read and journal online free. I've also recently discovered that there is a free Bible app - YouVersion Holy Bible from LifeChurch.tv - for the iPhone, Blackberry, Android operating systems and more that includes the Life Journal reading plan right on your phone.


There's nothing magic about the Life Journal, but it works for me and for many others in our church family. If it doesn't work for you, find another reading plan or another system. Talk to any of our ministry staff about what they do. Go to a Christian book store or look online. The main thing is to do something, because the easiest thing really is to do nothing. And when we do nothing, our relationship with Christ cannot grow, and, in fact, will shrivel. That's not God's desire, and it isn't mine either! 

Meeting People on Their Terms and Turf

Posted by Randy | Labels: , , , , , , , , | Posted On Friday, October 23, 2009 at 12:01 AM

Acts is an amazing and extremely relevant book for anyone seeking to follow Jesus Christ. Every chapter is jam-packed with information about how the early church dealt with issues that are just as real today.

For instance, in our reading today in Acts 17-18, we read of Paul's encounter with the Greek philosophers in Athens. These were men who sat around all day pondering the meaning of life and the universe. They were intrigued by Paul's message about a foreign god. These men were searching for answers and meaning in life, but they hadn't found it yet. Acts 17:21 says that everyone in Athens "...seemed to spend all their time discussing the latest ideas."

That statement sounds so much like 21st Century America to me. While there are many Christians in our land, there are many others who are searching for answers in all the latest fads and philosophies. Maybe they were exposed to a strange form of Christianity, and assumed that was the norm for all of Christianity. Maybe they're just rebels and want to figure it out for themselves. I'm sure you can think of more reasons why some folks seem to be intent on trying the religion or spirituality du jour.

Not much has changed in 2000 years! So, Paul's approach to the Athenians may give us some insight into trying to reach folks today who still haven't made a decision to follow Jesus Christ. And the first thing Paul didn't do was antagonize or belittle the Athenians' beliefs. He took them seriously, rather than just dismissing them as wrong. He complemented them and affirmed them, knowing that God cared about these men as much as He cared about anyone else.

If becoming a Christian were about having all the right facts, then showing the Athenians how they were wrong might have made sense. But becoming a Christian is about developing a relationship with God through Jesus Christ. It starts and ends with relationship, and that also gives us a great insight into how we share our faith with others - through relationships. We don't win friends and influence enemies by pounding them over the head with a Bible or telling them they're going to Hell because they don't believe in Jesus Christ. We influence people as we share the love of Christ with them, as we demonstrate we care about them. Jesus died for those far from him, just as he died for me and you. We're all saved by grace, through faith, so none of us can brag about how good we are or how much better we are than anyone else (Ephesians 2:8-9).

When we show love and respect to someone who believes differently than we do, who perhaps is caught up in the latest spiritual fad, we gain the privilege of being heard. As trust grows, we can go deeper and deeper in our conversations. As the relationship grows, we can share our own experiences and understandings of the Christian faith in honest, straightforward ways. We can have genuine conversations where the love of Christ works in us and through us. I've always heard that loving people into heaven is almost always more effective than scaring them out of hell. Jesus always had time for the sinners - what bugged him were the religious elites who thought they knew it all.

I've been a pastor for over twenty years now, but the more I know, the more I know I don't know. The longer I walk this journey the more the Holy Spirit tries to push that unholy pride out of me. I really am no better than the person far from God, but I am saved by the grace of God - and that makes all the difference in the world. Paul was no better than the Athenians, but he loved them through Jesus Christ, and he tried to meet them at their point of interest and need. Then he walked them along, with integrity and respect. Some laughed at him, "...but others said, 'We want to hear more about this later.'" (17:32) And Verse 34 says, "...some joined him and became believers."

Paul met the Athenians on their terms, on their turf, and some eventually chose to become followers of Jesus Christ. That model is just as relevant today as it was 2000 years ago. Who do you know that needs the love of Christ in their life? How can you love that person and meet them at their point of interest and need? It may take months, even years, but I know that God honors all our efforts, and no relationship with a Christ follower by a person seeking the truth ever comes back void.


Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)