Seeing the Future (Part II)

           

          In my last blog, I shared with you the concept of you having a personal vision of a godly future, a future that is based on God’s calling for your life. What would your Heavenly Father want to see as a fruit of you having lived this life? What difference will you make in this life for the Kingdom of God? Why not take some time one day this week and prayerfully come before God and ask Him what would it look like if you followed His will for your life? And set that as the course for your life that it be a truly abundant life for God’s glory. It may be an amazing exercise that might change your life.

            But the same process applies to churches and organizations. In this blog I would like, for the benefit of the people of St. David’s, but also for all those that might be interested, to share what I believe is the vision that the Lord our God has placed in my heart. This is the vision under which I have been operating during most of my ministry. The vision of St. David’s is this:

            “St. David’s is a Christian Church, with no less than 500 active members, who are fully   equipped in God’s Word, empowered for ministry by the Holy Spirit and sent to carry out  the ministry for which we have been called.”

            First of all this is a very measurable vision, measured by the number 500 but also by the adjectives used to describe it, active, fully equipped, empowered, and sent. By making it measurable we should be able to tell at any given time how we are doing in fulfilling it. Clearly this is a bit of an audacious vision for us, it was always intended to be so, yet reachable, and it will remain so, and in the future, because we are nowhere near 500 active members.

            We are, however, a very active congregation in many ways, locally and beyond, and always looking for new places and opportunities to serve and expand the Kingdom of God. I will not boast here about the many ministries that our people are involved in. St. David’s and its leadership has as a main directive from the Lord the making of Disciples and the Word of God is preached, taught and lived faithfully day after day until every one of our members is fully equipped in God’s Word. The empowerment for ministry by the Holy Spirit is an essential part of who we are and we seek to introduce all of our members to the real presence of the Holy Spirit with all His gifts and fruit. And lastly we are a sending congregation, sending all of our members into the world, wherever they are planted, to love and serve the Lord, whether in the mission field or in the service of the needy in the community, as well as to evangelize and seek those who are away from the love of God, introducing them to a new and abundant life in and through Jesus Christ.

            We have a great deal more to accomplish, this vision is so audacious that I don’t believe that we will ever fully accomplish it and that is the point in a way. A vision needs to be not easily reached but always challenging and dynamic, thrusting us forward beyond our current abilities and realities. This would make it God’s vision for a world in great need.

            I would truly like to hear from our members in response to this blog and the setting down of this vision statement for the present and future of our church, but the invitation is to all who read this blog, share with us your thoughts.

            Let’s blog!

            Fr. Jose+