There's this verse in the Bible that haunts me every time I hear it - Proverbs 29:18 - "Where there is no revelation, the people cast off restraint..." They can't focus, can't reach their goals, can't follow their dream. Another translation says - "without vision, the people perish." And I've seen it true time and time again with my own eyes - without vision, people lose the vitality that makes them feel alive.
Let me connect that with another moment in my short little history. February 1989 - I was sitting in a conference in Chicago, Illinois..and the speaker began painting a picture of how the church is supposed to function. And he read Acts 2:42-47..And he said something along these lines - "There was once a community of Christ followers who were so totally devoted to God that their life together was ignited with the power of the Holy Spirit. In that community of faith, Christ followers loved each other with a radical kind of love. They shared life with one another - nothing hiding. They laughed and cried and prayed and sang and served together in authentic Christian community and fellowship. Those who had more shared freely with those who had less - and suddenly the social and economic barriers faded away..People related together in ways that bridged racial and gender gaps like never before..and this community of Christ followers..this church..offered those who were seeking God such a vision of life that was so beautiful it took their breath away..It was so bold and dynamic and loving and attractive that they couldn't resist it! In fact, people came every day to join this magnetic community of faith.."
Something happened inside of me that day that I will never forget..
My heart began pounding so I thought it might come right apart within me. My mind was racing as this picture of the church began to get clearer..
I found myself overwhelmed with emotion and these huge tears rolled down my face..and I remember thinking - God please let me be part of building that kind of church in Saskatoon. Make Lakeview that kind of church. And then I made a promise (25 years old) - I will give my life to seeing that church being duplicated in Saskatoon.
Then in 1996 or so I had moved into this role as Senior Pastor and 3 or 4 of us were sitting around a table in a restaurant in Toronto..
(Gloria/Elizabeth/Lee)..and we were talking about the mission God had called us to as a church..the practical steps we needed to have in place to further reach this vision of a God-empowered authentic community..
Well, God met with us in Toronto that day and scratched in a napkin at the end of the meeting were 3 words: Finding - Maturing - Caring. And the decision was made that those 3 words would define what we would be about as a church..We felt that those 3 words best defined the Acts 2 church and would best clarify who and what this community would be about.
(Walk through Acts 2:42ff)
Acts 2:42-43 - "They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles." -- MATURING
Acts 2:44-47a - "All the believers were together and had everything in common. Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people."
-- CARING
Acts 2:47b - "And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved."
-- FINDING
Now - over these past 5 years or so, our church has undergone unbelievable change in how we go about accomplishing our mission but the focus has always been the same - We are about people finding a relationship with Jesus (vital) and then we're about those people maturing and growing in that relationship with Jesus..And the natural outcome of a mature spiritual church would be that the level of care would not be surpassed in any other segment of life..
So, the first big changes came in 1998 as we really got serious about something we called small groups. (PICS?) See, we saw that God was gonna start brining and drawing hundreds of people to Lakeview and as that happened..it started to feel really big. And how could it be a caring environment if we didn't even get to know each other..So God placed a vision in Elizabeth Nickel's heart to start small groups..Groups of 8 or 10 or 12 people that would gather every week or so to share life together. To pray, to eat, to laugh, to cry, to read and study the Bible..And to love and support one another..(sounds kinda like some verses we just read..) And as Lakeview continued to be blessed by God and so many people were drawn here, small groups became part of the glue that helped hundreds of people stick and find authentic community like they never had felt before..
Folks - I gotta be really honest with you today..If you are looking for some support or a relational connection in this church - if you're looking for a way to grow and learn and develop your faith..If you're looking for a place to learn to pray or simply a way in which you could develop your spiritual life..If you're looking for any of the above and call Lakeview Church your church..then sign up for a small group. Call Elizabeth Nickel. Check out the Connection Board (down the hallways). Take the first step and get some information. We'd love to answer some of your questions.
Here's the deal. Until God shows us another way, when we read Acts 2 and see the level of community and love that that church had..Our answer to that at Lakeview falls within small groups. When I look back on the last 5 years, small groups are the single biggest catalyst for life change this church has had. Small groups are where God ahs chosen to work most powerfully in people's lives here at Lakeview Church.
FOCUS ON MISSION
At our Leadership Retreat in Waskesiu last October..our leaders got excited about some goals our church would focus on this ministry year..
Pretty basic goals..but ones that we believed God would use significantly in our lives and in yours. Here they are:
1. FINDING - That everyone at Lakeview would connect one seeking friend to an outreach opportunity during this ministry season.
2. MATURING - That everyone would find an area to serve within 6 months of attending Lakeview.
3. CARING - That everyone at Lakeview would be involved in at least one act of compassion during this ministry year.
Let me talk first about Goal #3 - Caring. Now this may sound to many of you like a weak-hearted goal..Just one act of significant care all year. (Notice it doesn't say that you can only do one..) But that one singular focus lead by our Care Ministry Department has seen a rush of very cool acts of kindness and care happen in this church. Literally hundreds of you have been involved with food hampers and clothing exchanges and Christmas stockings for kids or meals for families in need..or visiting people in the hospital or just simply meeting practical needs when people are hurting or life has taken a turn for the worse. I want to publicly thank Jacqui Acree and the Care Leadership Team for championing this goal and leading us to new levels of care and compassion as a church.
Now before we get too excited about that today..picture this. What if every one of us began to not only see with our eyes - but with our hearts - the needs around us. And what if God continued to call us to a higher level of compassion. And what if we started seeing our money and our possessions as only instruments of God's love that could produce life change within someone who was in need..What if God called us to be a community of radical love - and to erase social and economic walls and differences within this community - by sharing everything God had given us..
What kind of picture does that paint for you? Well, for me it would paint a life-changing, city-changing, culture-changing environment where people would know and feel and sense the power of God..because it would be only God that could do that.
Folks, God has called us to be a caring community..We're just starting to scratch the surface of what that means..We're only beginning to see the impact of God's love that will spread from the thousands of practical loving acts of kindness that will flow from this church..
I personally believe thousands of lives and families will see God clearer in the years ahead..Not because they heard a sermon, but because their needs were met..and God's love was shown in a tangible way.
Goal #2 - Maturing
"That everyone would find an area to serve within 6 months of attending Lakeview."
Listen to Acts 2:42 again - "They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer."
There's a couple words here I want to focus on. The first one is devoted - they "devoted" themselves - to teaching - to the fellowship (the church) - to the breaking of bread and to prayer..
Now, here is what I think..This verse is more about application than it is about knowledge or ability..Here's what I mean. Notice - it doesn't say how good the teaching was - or if the teaching was what every person needed at a specific season of their life..It doesn't say how the fellowship (church) was organized or how the church made leadership decisions or financial decisions. It doesn't say how the church or church services functioned..that's not the focus at all. The focus is on the desire of the people to be devoted..to teaching and ministering in the church and to prayer..
Here at Lakeview we have always taken this response to the phrase spiritual maturity..Spiritual maturity happens because we (you and I) have a desire to learn - we have a desire to pray - we have a desire to be taught spiritual things - we have a desire to be devoted to owning the church and giving our time, talent, and treasure to see it move forward. Spiritual maturity will never happen because we have a great church or great teaching..or we have great ministries or an incredible organization..
Spiritual maturity will only if we (you and I) have a desire to be devoted to teaching and prayer and to the ministry of the church..
Here's a straight bold statement..The church isn't responsible for our spiritual maturity - we are. The church is responsible to resource and equip and to teach and to provide lots of opportunity to help us move along in our spiritual journey..But it's our responsibility to have the desire. So here's my thoughts -- Spiritual maturity church goal. In the next 6 months this church will provide an amazing number of opportunities for you to mature in your spiritual life..
- Sunday nights..new twist on Date With God. Worship - teaching - testimonies. Moments of closeness with God..Community.
- Weekend series - February: Great Sex.
- March: Spiritual Discipleship
- April - Jesus and His Life
How's your desire? One stat here -- 10 years ago, families would miss 5-10 weekends per year. 5 years ago - 10-15. Now 15-25. Now, this is not all bad..no guilt..But here's a thought -- How are you gonna really get connected if you're only here 50% of the time.
Let me talk a little bit about the 3 rd aspect of our mission - the reason we exist as a community..
FINDING
Acts 2:42-46 describes this incredible picture of a biblically functioning community - this place of life change and relationship depth and spiritual development..Amazing. And then the last verse says this great lien. "And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved." Obviously this environment was contagious.
This community was like a magnet. What was going on there was incredibly attractive and people wanted it in their lives. See, when the church is functioning in the way Jesus designed it..lives will be transformed by the power of God..And when that happens, they can't keep it quiet. It just makes sense to tell people about the changes and it makes sense to give the praise to God for what He has done..
Now, this church's history has been marked by those stories..Those stories of life change have been with us by the hundreds for many years - amazing to see - people being transformed in their souls..This one thing (finding) above everything else is what has separated Lakeview from other churches. We've said - this is what we will focus on more than anything else..We'll put an unbelievable amount of energy and time and money into it. We'll design services specifically targeted to help seekers find God. We'll design children's and youth programs for your kids and kids in the community to be able to seek God at an introductory level. We'll do outreach events that take hundreds of hours of preparation - just so new people can have a few barriers broken down about what church is..As a church we've said..We'll do it - whatever it takes - because this church is not just about the 1200 or so of us that will be here this weekend - no. This church is also about the next 1200 people who want to seek and find God..but haven't been able to connect to community somewhere yet.
Now - I gotta be honest with you. This is a state of the church address..has a bunch of good stuff but also some stuff we need to work on. Finding is something that has slipped as of late...to the bottom of our priority list. I'll give you a couple reasons why. (Catch this). I believe the future of this church is at stake. We have been undertaking a couple huge tasks that have taken nearly 100% of our leadership energy. Administrative restructuring, new facility.
Let me first say these are absolutely the right tasks to focus on..
We are about 75% through a complete leadership and staff reorganization.
Which basically does 2 things. First it puts a greater emphasis on all leadership creating the vision and direction of the church together..a plurality of leadership..And secondly it provides a more developed system for our staff to work in and around.
In the next 8 months we will be putting an Administrative Pastor in place to lead in the organizational side of the church focusing on finance, facility, personnel, and communication. We will also be placing a Ministry Pastor to have responsibility in the areas of staff accountability and evaluation. Age level, ministry and adult discipleship. A huge portfolio..of great responsibility and directional development in our church.
Admin. Pastor Senior Pastor Ministry Pastor
- finance - vision - staff resp.
- facility - evangelism/outreach - age level min.
- personnel - preaching/teaching - adult discipleship
- communication - leadership/min. dev't
Now - the Senior Pastor position will have a responsibility to work with the leadership teams in creating vision - leading in outreach - preaching/teaching - leadership development and new ministry development. Sounds like a great job - I should apply..
That's been the first major leadership focus of the past 14 months or so.
Secondly, facility. In June of 2001, we moved forward on the single biggest effort and change this church has undertaken in 20 years - a physical move to a larger facility. Why? Because we cannot continue to live out our mission and calling in the size of facility we have presently. For nearly 2 full years our leadership teams and the FPT has been working tirelessly to fulfill this mandate..Here's the financial formula:
Fundraising campaign + sale of building + 15% mortgage = cost of new building
Here's where we're at presently:
- We are within days of closing the deal on the purchase of land. You'll hear about that in just a couple weeks.
- The FPT is working with several interested groups in the selling of this facility (no offers yet - pray).
- The FPT is in process of putting a business plan together for our financing.
- We are 16 months into our 3 year fundraising campaign.
240 families or so pledged money over 3 years. Please give this money - we will need it very shortly.
If you haven't pledged financially to our new building, think - pray - get on board. We need every dollar as we move ahead.
Now, you're thinking - I thought he was talking about finding..and people seeking God. Here's what I have been learning and thinking (still with me?) 2 things:
- Whenever there is a sustained and concerted leadership and community effort towards internal development like administration and facility, outreach takes a hit..because all our energy is going into these 2 very large community changes and there isn't a whole lot of time to think about anything else.
- (We haven't connected this very well.) The sole reason we're putting energy into administrative restructuring and a larger facility is one word - finding. We're trying to reshape our structure to be more efficient and effective at reaching people with the good news of Jesus Christ. Why else would we do it? To save some money? I don't think so. It's to be more effective with the Gospel. This new facility - hear this - is not about us.
It's about the next thousand people who are gonna come into this community and fins a seat at an hour that makes sense to them..
and their kids will have space to learn about Jesus..And they'll be able to connect to an expanding set of ministries that won't be hindered by lack of space. That's the only reason for us to build a new facility..OK? Not some grandiose building - just a functional, usable, down to earth ministry facility that's about twice as big.
Now, lots of you have said to me in the past year - don't sweat the finding thing. There's seasons for everything and we're in a building season - drawing the troops together - (true). But I believe it's not one or the other - it's both and. I want to call you to our finding goal:
"That everyone at Lakeview would connect one seeking friend to an outreach opportunity during this ministry season."
Matthew 28:19-20 - "Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."
Acts 2:47 - "And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved."
Now, here's where my passion gets going and the bar of my life is set very high. Neither of those verses talk about a new facility or administrative restructuring..even if they take significant effort...being reasons for a community to soften its effort to reach people with the good news of Jesus Christ.
Folks, we have the greatest news in the whole world. We hold a treasure - a gift - the powerful life changing, transforming love of God. |
