Sunday, January 25, 2015

One, Three, And Five Year Goals


Minden Evangelical Free Church family, the following are some one, three, and five year goals I have for the congregation. These are all some things that have arisen as I have prayed for and dreamed about the church. I shared them at our annual church meeting.  I am sharing them for those who were not at the meeting. Please work through these, pray about them regularly, and if God places it on your heart to be part of helping to fulfill them, we would love to have you part of the team!
One:

·         See every Bible Fellowship regularly encouraging prayer for and outreach to the unchurched and unsaved, as well as doing life together outside of Sunday morning while inviting unchurched or unsaved friends or family to do life with them.

·         See outreach events birthed out of vision casting and dreaming that takes place within Bible Fellowships, as well as other ministries.

·         See our Unashamed Youth Ministry regularly encouraging prayer for and outreach to unchurched or unsaved friends, as well as intentionally doing life together outside of Wednesday night while inviting unchurched and unsaved friends or family to do life with them.

·         See outreach events birthed out of vision casting and dreaming that takes place within UY leadership.

·         See at least two new Bible Fellowships birthed and two additional BF apprentices in place.

·         See our Sunday prayer meeting regular attendance grow to twenty.

·         Birth a twenty-something outreach-oriented Bible Fellowship.

·         Develop Deacon and Deaconess training similar to what we have done with elders.

·         Have a missions vision and plan-of-action in place with the help of elders and our missions committee. (I hope and pray that we may end up with a crisis-response team; outreach to int’l. students at UNK; regular short-term trips; recruitment of next-generation missionaries; ministries here and abroad; foster care and adoption ministries)

·         See a welcome and assimilation team come together that would help new people be welcomed to the congregation, know how to connect, and to get involved.

·         Start a second service.

·         Have a plan in place for additional administrative staff help.

·         Annually continue our outreach and training ministries of the Art Of Marriage event; Financial Peace University; and the In Step With The Gospel Conference.

·         See our first Spanish-speaking convert(s).

Three:
·         Grow to 130 children regularly in AWANA.

·         Reach 10 new AWANA families who come to know Christ, are renewed in their faith, and/or who are enfolded into our church.

·         Grow by six new Bible Fellowships and six more apprentices.

·         Have in place and functioning well ministries of support for our church and community that would include: (1) At least two support groups (e.g. Mental Illness and Celebrate Recovery); (2) a Training/support ministry for those who are struggling financially/vocationally;  and  (3) a counseling ministry.

·         Start a new building project toward an expanded ministry center and auditorium (“sanctuary”).

·         Have a new staff person who oversees discipleship and support ministries.

·         Be at 1 ½ the times of our current attendance.

·         Have a full-blown outreach to Spanish speakers that would include whatever we need to do to reach and grow them (including a service).

·         Target area where a church needs to be planted—in preparation for plant.

Five:
·         Have a larger ministry center and auditorium in place.

·         An additional staff person.

·         Be at 2 ½ times our current attendance.  

·         See at least three people from the church who have been called into full-time missions of some kind.

·         Have a leadership training institute in place to train future pastors, leaders, teachers—that goes beyond the training received in Bible Fellowships and other classes now.

Plant another church in the are